NSS: the Pre-Show Mailer

I can't believe that it's already been one month since we packed up and headed to New York City to exhibit at the National Stationery Show. Since coming back to Toronto, we've been buried under the post-show and Father's Day madness. Now that things have somewhat gotten back to normal, I wanted to share a bit of our NSS experiences while they are still fresh in my mind.

Okay. First up, the Pre-Show Mailer.

The design of my very first NSS mailer actually formed itself quite organically. Exactly one year ago, Christopher and I made a trip to New York. At Brooklyn Bridge Park, we laid on the grass under the beautiful May afternoon sunshine; while C napped, I painted the Manhattan skyline and dreamed about exhibiting at the National Stationery Show someday.

One year later, preparing for our very first international exhibition in NYC, I felt instinctively that using this sketch on the pre-show mailer was the perfect way to come full circle with this dream. Since the painting was elongated, and I needed the mailer to fit into a standard envelope, the accordion took form rather naturally.

Inside the accordion, I left a little space for writing personalized messages. The mailer also featured a little pronunciation guide of "Gotamago", with an explanation of the name's origin and meaning.

I had decided to use Fortune Cookies as a loose theme, largely because of the "Smart Cookie" card that was debuting at the show. (I actually painted this card for my friend Judy, who received a fortune cookie with this very message right before she discovered she was pregnant. True story.) For the mailer version, I changed the fortune from "you will create something amazing" to a cheekier "you will discover something amazing". (At the show, we gave out cookies with custom fortunes to complete the theme.)

To finish this post, some stamp porn. This was my absolute favourite part of the mailer process. I had been saving up my favourite stamps for months for this!