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Margaret Haas, Paper Pastries

When did your interest in the epistolary world begin?
I was making birthday cards for family members when I was very young, around kindergarten or first grade. They were mostly decorated with stickers, but a heartfelt message was always the center of attention and what I’d spend most time on. I’m sure there were a lot of typos, but you got the general idea. Picking out just the right postage stamp for the envelope was always the cherry on top.

Tell us about your Pen Pals program and what inspired it.
We get together once a month to pen letters and to show fun mail we’ve recently received. It is fun to share with others this activity that usually you do alone, in a quiet place. The LA Pen Pal Club is never a quiet space! We have typewriters out for people to use, so you can always hear the tapping of keys over the chatter. We love to comment on each other’s mail art or stationery, or postage stamp choice. It’s so much fun to get together with others who share in your love of mail.

What is your favorite step in the process of written correspondence?
Deciding what the letter as a whole will look like—picking out the stationery and pens, and how to decorate the envelope.

If you could be pen pals with anyone in history, to whom would you write and what would you say?
Amy Poehler. I just love everything about her. She is a strong, funny, feminist and I’d love to hear more about what she has to say. I’d ask her what is the best thing she’s learned and the best advice she didn’t take.

To whom do you most often write?
My pen pal Donovan in Chicago, who is a founder of the Letter Writers Alliance.

Describe the most memorable letter or postcard you have ever received.
A scenic postcard from Cinque Terre—it was from my crush and suggested we should “hang out sometime when he gets back to LA.” He eventually became my boyfriend and is now my husband and I tell him it was that postcard that really got me

What makes a particular letter stand out from a stack of cards?
A colored envelope and recognizable handwriting.

Do you have a favorite stamp or stamp series?
These postal employee stamps.

What makes your correspondence distinct?
I try to make my correspondence colorful and fun so it stands out amongst bills and junk.

What do you think classic correspondence will look like in a decade or two?
I’m worried that people’s handwriting might not be legible since schools no longer teach penmanship!

I think the more digital our society becomes, the bigger the draw toward beautifully crafted items becomes. Painted envelopes, color edged paper and hand made papers will be in demand.

Victoria Vu, Paper & Type

When did your interest in the epistolary world begin?
Fourth grade. I was an avid pen pal to a classmate who had just moved across the country and to a favorite cousin who lived only a 30-minute drive away.

Tell us about your Pen Pal Club and what inspired it.
As letter writing is essentially a very personal and solitary activity, it’s nice to share the experience sometimes. LA Pen Pal Club creates that space for letter writing, plus catching up with fellow letter writers to share recent stories and interesting mail or to swap stationery.

What is your favorite step in the process of written correspondence?
All the finishing touches of the envelope—sealing, addressing, choosing the postage and its placement!


If you could be pen pals with anyone in history, to whom would you write and what would you say?
I’d love to have Ray Eames as a pen pal, or perhaps a paper pal, with little to no words necessary (I would be speechless, anyway!). To simply be exchanging paper creations with her would bring so much joy.

To whom do you most often write?
My friend Melissa.

Describe the most memorable letter or postcard you have ever received.
A few years ago I received a vintage postcard from a new pen pal that read “Use a pencil, use a pen / Anything / But write again.”

What makes a particular letter stand out from a stack of cards?
I’m inclined to open any hand-addressed envelopes first.

Do you have a favorite stamp or stamp series?
The 20¢ Flower Love stamp from 1982. And Royal Mail’s issue of Roald Dahl stamps.

What makes your correspondence distinct?
My penmanship. It’s neat and lovely for the first three or so lines, then after that, not quite so! The pen gets away from me.

What do you think classic correspondence will look like in a decade or two?
There will still be an appreciation for classic correspondence, with perhaps growing interest in cards and stationery that use distinctive papers and printing. I look forward to keeping up the tradition!

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“I have adored Crane stationery forever,” said Mrs. Hicks. “Their gold engraving hits the top of my list.”

We’d love to feature your Crane stationery in our Personalized Profile series! Please email submissions@crane.com for consideration.

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Organizers Michael and Nestor. Photo courtesy of Maria Pouchnikova.

When did your interest in the epistolary world begin?
Michael: Oh, we’ve written letters since grade school in my family—not a lot, but regularly. In the past ten years, as email has become just like another task, letters have become special again for me and for the people I write to.

How did Publetters come to be and why do you think so many are jazzed about participating?
Michael: Really, I was just blue-sky chatting with a good friend at her classic Philly corner bar, Doobies. A couple of ales in, I suggested, “What about a letter-writing evening series?” Patti said, “Great!” I talked to Nestor and Cecelia at Casa Papel, the stationery store near Trophy Bikes, my shop. They totally got it, the local newspapers wrote a nice story during our first month and we were off to the races.

I think people like Publetters because we’re all spending too much time in the digital world. In a bar, drinking actual beer, not virtual beer, you really can slow down and think about your friends and family. Scratching out a letter, maybe doodling something on the page, too, is really satisfying, much more so than tapping on a little piece of plastic.

Tara McCray holds up her almost finished letter. Photo courtesy of Maria Pouchnikova.

 Nestor: After hearing the concept from Michael, we understood the attractiveness of Publetters to our customer base, which really enjoys fine paper and bespoke stationery. People are excited because it’s a grass roots thing; it brings local pubs together with a custom stationer, and the quality product causes a tactile and multi-sensory experience.

What do you enjoy most about the event?
Michael: At the end of the evening, we count the letters and note some of the places they’re headed—and it’s like, Wow: Belfast, Ireland, New Orleans, Rome, London, L.A. then little places like Goose Creek, SC or Coal County, PA, and then next I’ll spot an address just a block from our pub.

Nestor, owner of Casa Papel, with a stack of letters, ready to go.

Nestor: For me, it’s seeing everyone with their heads down, getting their words out on paper, and having this worthwhile experience, both visually and physically.

What is your favorite step in the process of written correspondence?
Michael: I call it “the turn.” That’s the place in a letter where you get past the “Hey how are you?” easy stuff and really say what you mean, ask them a hard question or make a joke, or mention something that’s special between you and the person you’re writing to. If I phrase that part wrong, I will often start the whole page over.

Nestor: “The Point”—where you stop the introductions and you reveal your reason for corresponding.

If you could be pen pals with anyone in history, to whom would you write and what would you say?
Michael: Oh, Ben Franklin—hands down—just to get his inside take on the rest of the Signers of the Declaration, and maybe some racy stories about his nightlife!

To whom do you most often write?
Michael: I would say that it’s a tie between my youngest sister, who lives pretty far away, and my mom—she’s 95 and not too fond of computers.

Nestor: My son, who just finds it so amazing to be receiving something addressed to him.

Describe the most memorable letter or postcard you have ever received.
Michael: Well, that letter wasn’t sent to me, exactly. It is one that my dad wrote to the Philadelphia Police Commissioner. In it, he conveyed his gratitude to the officer who rushed my mom in a patrol car to the hospital, where I was born shortly afterward!

Nestor: Receiving a special handmade card from my wife. She used a Japanese linen stock that mirrored the fine fabric and placed on it paper flowers.

What makes a particular letter stand out from a stack of cards?
Nestor: The composition of the actual substrate which the ink is marked upon, coupled with the coordination of additional elements that demand attention—liners, surface texture and so on—this all captures the eye.

Do you have a favorite stamp or stamp series?
Nestor: The Farmers’ Market series. That really gives me a sense of originality.

Michael: I like the musician series featuring Ray Charles, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Cash and Janis Joplin. Really good artwork that connects me with my misspent youth, which included seeing Jimi Hendrix as a teenager.

Ray Charles stamps. Photo courtesy of Maria Pouchnikova.

What makes your correspondence distinct?
Nestor: My mixed use of English, Spanish, cursive and non-cursive handwriting.

Michael: Truthfully, a lot of cross-outs! I use a fountain pen and tend to rush sometimes. I’m also fond of footnotes. It’s probably the influence of my spouse Kathy—a book editor for the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

What do you think classic correspondence will look like in a decade or two?
Nestor: I think classic correspondence will continue its existing form of “pen to paper,” with the substrates becoming more sophisticated and ink becoming more versatile. Everyone will print out stamps at home, saving on trips to the postoffice for stamps.

Michael: Millennials will start experimenting with home laser cutting to put their signatures on stationery; we’re already seeing the revival of fountain pens for cursive—“artisanal” writing, you could call it! And as the “maker” trend expands, younger correspondents will look to their local shops for wilder handmade papers and inspirations. Japan and Spain are a big influence already in this, producing small-batch envelope and stationery sets.

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Michaela and Marieke

When did your interest in the epistolary world begin?
I was a voracious letter writer in my 20s. I would write to anybody and everybody: Politicians, passerby, the company who made my favourite lipstick. I liked to write thank you cards; I felt there were too many complaint letters in the world. (To everybody who received a weird ‘I really love your muesli!’ card from me in the 90’s, you’re welcome!) These days I have lots of secret postcard projects, and obviously Women of Letters means we have to keep the flame alive!

How did Women of Letters come to be and why do you think so many high profile women are jazzed about participating?
Michaela and I met in 2009 at a young writers festival in Australia. There were a lot of incredible women speaking on panels and we became inspired to put together an event that showcased female voices—mixing more high-profile women with what we called the ‘dark horses’… brilliant poets, singers, writers, artists, who may not have a huge commercial profile.

We threw a few different ideas around, but as writers ourselves we kept coming back to the notion of ‘letters’. There’s something intensely personal about the act of writing a letter, and we’ve found a huge intimacy that has developed between reader and audience at our events.

We held our first show in Melbourne in March 2010 and have toured consistently since then. Along with our regular monthly events in Melbourne and New York City, we’ve toured Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Austin, London, Dublin, Edinburgh, Indonesia and all around Australia. We never dreamed it would get so big. We just released our fifth book (a collection of pieces from live shows) through Penguin. Wild!

What do you enjoy most about the show?
The thing I’m proudest of is that we never, ever record, video or podcast our events. We were firm about this from the show’s beginning, and while there has been pressure from outside sources to make recordings of our events available (particularly when they sell out and people can’t get tickets!), we are fiercely protective of our readers.

Audiences worldwide have been very supportive of the ‘safe space’ we’ve created, and I honestly think (and know from people telling us) that women have stood on our stages and shared some very deep and raw thoughts for the sole reason that the show is not recorded. Edie Falco’s piece at our NYC show in March 2014 was an incredibly stirring work. She told us the only reason she did it was because she knew it existed only in that room, for those people, at that moment. In a society where people can’t have a meal without taking a photo of it and uploading it, we think we’ve created something very special. The chance to hear a story you may never hear again.

What is your favorite step in the process of written correspondence?
Oh well there are two. One is the moment of placing the correspondence in the postbox. I always kiss my mail before it goes in, to help it on its way. And obviously when you’re sifting through your mail and see that amongst the dour-looking bills there’s a colourful piece of handwritten love for you!

If you could be pen pals with anyone in history, to whom would you write and what would you say?
I’d say my hero Aline Kominsky Crumb, though I recently received an email from her (asking after her to do WoL) and my life was totally made. As a pen pal it’s hard to go past Dorothy Parker. Can you imagine getting a letter from her? The only bad thing would be the pressure of trying to come up with your wittiest one-liners when it came time to reply.

To whom do you most often write?
My boyfriend and I have a postcard project that we started the year we got together, 2011. Every June we write a postcard to each other, every day for the whole month. The postcards go to a PO Box and we collect them. We’re entering our fifth year of doing it and we’ve still never read them! I think one day we’ll wallpaper a whole room with them and track the giddying roller coaster of our love affair.

Describe the most memorable letter or postcard you have ever received.
I wrote David Sedaris fan mail back in the 90’s and he sent a personalised letter back. Typewritten, before he got a computer. I was so taken by his kindness.

What makes a particular letter stand out from a stack of cards?
Colour and craft! I like to draw and paint and stick stuff all over my correspondence. People who receive my mail know they’re getting something from me. It’s like a ticker tape parade in an envelope.

Do you have a favorite stamp or stamp series?
In Australia there are a lot of weird series to do with rural development and sporting heroes. The 2011 Australian Legends series for feminists Advancing Equality of Women was a favourite, though.

What do you think classic correspondence will look like in a decade or two?
God, this is a depressing question. I feel like I’m shouting myself hoarse trying to make people remember the romanticism of sending things in the post. It’s such a generous act, a patient one. Think of all the letters in a shoebox we’ve kept for years…stained with wine, tears, alive with the fragrance of a teenage love. You don’t get that in an email. I can’t think yet of what classic correspondence will look like in twenty years’ time—I just hope there’ll BE some.

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