Featured Stockist: Papersmiths

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UPPERCASE magazine is available in some really beautiful shops around the world. Today, let's take a look at Papersmiths, a stationery, book and magazine shop in the UK.

The store is located in Clifton Village in Bristol. "It’s full of independent boutiques and coffee shops and a short walk from Brunel’s famous suspension bridge."

The store opened in October 2014 and specializes in quality, design-led contemporary stationery and paper goods. "From notebooks to pencil sharpeners and fountain pens to scissors, we've handpicked items from the best designers and makers across the globe. Our carefully considered curation of books and magazines includes interior, architecture, graphics, music, fashion, film, travel, food and children's titles."

"Our customers are all very interesting people. We are visited by lots of creative people with good taste. They might work in design or have a passion for calligraphy, writing, sketching, photography or just good design!"

Papersmiths will be opening a London location in May. You can also shop online. Issue 33 should be available there soon!

The Ink Pad, NYC

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There are only a handful of UPPERCASE stockists in the city. One of them is The Ink Pad, a unique shop specializing in rubber stamps, scrapbooking and paper arts. Located on 37th Seventh Avenue at the corner of 13th Street, the shop has been in Greenwich Village for over 18 years.

There's UPPERCASE openly displayed in The Ink Pad window.

UPPERCASE and other magazines for the creatively inclined.

There's an extraordinary variety of rubber stamps!

We even found a rubber stamp of our dog Percy, a Cardigan Corgi.

Anna Chiang is the owner of the store—she commutes an hour and a half each day to The Ink Pad. Now that's dedication! Patrice, in the middle, created some of the stamped card designs on display throughout The Ink Pad.

Thank you, Anna, for carrying UPPERCASE in your shop! If you're not in NYC, you can shop The Ink Pad online, too.

New store for paper and typewriter-lovers: The Paper Seahorse

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I'd like to introduce you to The Paper Seahorse, a new shop in Tampa, Florida, that is celebrating their grand opening this Saturday. Proprietor Tona Bell has been a very loyal subscriber for a long time and I had the opportunity to meet her a few years back. 

Tona writes, "We are a Southern Paperie + Makerie. We love all things writing and keeping in touch.  Stationery and writing implements, pens, pencils, typewriter, notebooks and such.  We love letterpress, custom and handmade invitations. To celebrate the creative spirit there all sorts of creative classes and workshops….writing, art, crafts, jewelry, sewing, creative business and making! We offer creative parties and special events. We are home to Tampa Type, the largest collection of manual typewriters for sale in the South."

Featured Stockist: Tiny Feast

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Instagram of the new issue by TinyFeast

The new issue is starting to make appearances! Winnipeg-based stockist Tiny Feast is always the first to receive their copies since the magazine is printed in that city. (Tiny Feast has a stylish Instagram feed, follow along!)

For other stockists, see the list here. (My apologies, the list is a bit out of date. It's on my very long to-do list, I promise!) Please inquire with the store first to see if they have what you want in stock. I expect most North American stockists to receive their copies of issue 25 by the end of the week. Due to overseas transportation times, shops in Europe, Asia and Australia and New Zealand will be receiving their copies of the new issue in about a month.

Single copes are also available in my shop if you don't have a stockist near you. If you'd like to carry UPPERCASE in your store, please get in touch or contact one of the distributors.

Featured Stockist: Athenaeum, Amsterdam

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Athenaeum—my best stockist in the world—has posted a video flip-through of issue #22. What makes them the best stockist? They're a great store in a bustling part of Amsterdam with exciting titles with friendly and knowledgeable staff who care about magazines. They support independent magazines and do excellent marketing, like making videos and hosting events like when I was in Amsterdam two years ago. They consistently sell more copies of UPPERCASE than any other single location!

If you're in Europe, purchase UPPERCASE through Athenaeum Nieuwscentrum here. And, they have back issues!

Congratulations on turning 5, CollageCollage

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CollageCollage, a lovely stockist in Vancouver that fosters children's (and parents') creativity, is celebrating a milestone. Five years in retail is a great accomplishment! Erin Boniferro writes, "I really can't believe it's been FIVE years since we set up shop on what was a lonely little street in East Van. And look at us now! A bustling store on a sweet little street. I'm so thankful for our community of small businesses, local families and artists big and small coming together to make this shop what it is."

Join the celebration this Saturday at CollageCollage from 1-4pm.

You can find out more about CollageCollage in issue #14, an UPPERCASE dedicated to play and children's book illustration.

small is mighty

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Visit our stockists this holiday season.

These hard-working shopkeepers will welcome your support. Small businesses actively participate in their communities and make your neighbourhood a more colourful place to live. If there isn't a stockist near you, recommend a shop we should be in.

 

We're a small business too.

Team UPPERCASE consists of only three full-time staff. Your support is vital to ensure that we're able to keep producing the magazines, books and papergoods you've come to love. 

 

Our sale continues.

This weekend only! 10% off store-wide plus FREE SHIPPING in North America! Use the code "freeshipusa" or "freeshipcanada" at checkout.

featured stockist: sérendipité

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Celine Debray founded the Swiss-based company Sérendipité in early 2013, with a vision for a traveling bookstore that offers foreign magazines at creative events, such as antique fairs and design events.  

In less than a year, Sérendipité's clientele has grown beyond events to include boutiques as well as individual customers who subscribe to their imported offerings. 

This past fall, Celine moved the business from her home office into a large coworking space called Carbu that is shared with architects, photographers and other creative companies. (The current issue of UPPERCASE has a lot of inspiring content about the emerging trend of coworking.)

For customers in Europe, Sérendipité's sophisticated online shop is a reliable source of UPPERCASE and many other creative magazines. 

featured stockist: paramour bungalow

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If you're the type of person whose day is improved by things like antler art, modern bird houses, or a even a mug that celebrates the love of squirrels, then make a point to visit Paramour Bungalow the next time you're in Evanston, Illinois.  

Meaning 'lover of the home',  Paramour Bungalow is the sister business to a successful boutique hair salon called RED 7 SALON. The store was born out of a desire to share the aesthetic that made the salon such a pleasant place to be. The result is a shop that is full of the unique, charming and quirky details that can inject personality into your home.  

Here are a few things from Paramour Bungalow that show a kinship with UPPERCASE's aesthetics:

A charming fox-shaped book-end in the same orange as the UPPERCASE office decor.  

This serving platter is reminiscent of the cover of UPPERCASE #13.

“My philosophy is buy what is unique, creative, not everywhere and has something that people would/should love in their homes. there has to be a great STORY behind a product that makes it stand out. ”
— Jason Hall, Paramour Bungalow co-founder.

Winged letters

featured stockist: kid icarus

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We had a terrific time at our Show and Tell in Kid Icarus, a wonderful card and gift store slash printmaking studio. It had been a while since I visited Bianca and Mike's Kid Icarus—their previous studio shop was a tiny one with barely enough room to silkscreen let alone do retail. Their new venue is spacious and full of wonderful things to look at (and buy!) They also host workshops in the basement. 

Above is a small gallery of instagrams I took this evening. We hosted a Show and Tell where creative Torontonians could take a minute or two to introduce themselves and present an idea or example of their work. I look forward to sharing some of those highlights on the blog soon.