first stop was oblation papers and press. on top of it bringing to life all the neat stationers i've come across online, there was a special surprise towards the back of the shop. their letterpress studio! aside from making a visit yourself, only pictures might convey how fun it is.
plus, apparently they make all their own 100% cotton paper, which they use for their letterpress printing. no wonder their paper looked so unique and pretty!
they also have the "standard" goodies you'd expect to find at a fine card store like pretty gift wrap, various greeting cards, notebooks, plus extra treats like a maypole of ribbon.
like i just mentioned, oblation, along with a handful of other stationery shops around the area, carried a bunch of the neat stationery lines i've been seeing online, plus more! like ...
... cecily ink ... cielo blu studios ... dauphine press ...
... whimsy press ... hello lucky ... o plus d ...
... paper*ink studio ... smudge ink ... snow & graham ...
ecru modern stationer was the other shop in the area that carried many of these lines as well. very cute and friendly. and the owner keeps her own blog too.
and new & blue is similar but is focused specifically on the wedding market. very pretty space with two elegant chandeliers, one huge one and one medium one, both assembled crystal by crystal by the owner's husband. paint color on the walls acts as a lovely backdrop.
and that should cover the stationery scene in portland for now ...
because there's so much other great design shops in the area. first we'll start with hive modern. they showcase just a small fraction of the pieces they offer on their site. during our visit, we tried the womb chair and ottoman, the eames lounge chair and ottoman and a couple sofas on the floor. they were fairly nice and said we could try sitting on whatever we saw. it's very similar to dwr, except they carry way more. and while in the shop, i overheard the guy calling up a customer who had ordered a piece and offering to sell it at a 75% discount because it was slightly damaged during shipping. i'd jump on that!
then there's relish which had a bunch of cute stuff by designers like marimekko, urbana design, design house stockholm and monacca.
and out of gray was more on the gift-sized side of things. with similar offerings as relish. they even had the smaller purse-sized version of the monacca bag! and more laser cut felt placemats!!
and(!) portland seems to be into their designer chocolates, but we'll leave that to be explored another day.
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