Speak Up Archive: Paper at Your Doorstep

Have you ever tried to order one hundred envelopes to match your letterhead that was printed on Fox, Gilbert, Strathmore or any other good paper company? Well, it’s harder than getting into Charlie Trotter’s. Even small amounts of letter sized paper is a pain to get a hold of. Places like Williamhouse Envelopes, and many others, require an order of at least $250.00 and you must be on their “list” to be able to order.

That’s why it’s great to see two paper companies deliver all the paper you need, in small quantities, right to your front door. The first one to do it, and one of my all time favorites, is French Paper through the aptly named Mr. French which delivers all the colors, flavors and smells it has to offer.

Most recently Gilbert realized what a lucrative option this must be and jumped on the bandwagon with Gilbert Delivers. A fun site, filled with little bitmapped people and an interesting ordering system provides a good part of it’s paper inventory to buy online.

Great resources for those ocassions where Office Depot just won’t do.

Here in New York, there's a place called Limited Papers that sells broken cartons of quality paper. You never know what they have on hand, but they have a lot. They may or may not have envelopes too. I can't find their number, dang. They're down in the Varick Street area. They usually sell to printers, but if you're nice and tell them you're a designer it's usually okay.

On Feb.27.2003 at 09:38 AM

good to see another company doing this. i do so many small run personal projects. anyone know of any other places like the one in NY above? especially in minnesota?

On Feb.27.2003 at 11:35 AM

Brook:

The Paper Depot right next to the Minneapolis Farmer's Market has a pretty large range of envelopes and matching paper. I know they carry (or used to, at least) a lot of the French and Appleton lines.

On Feb.27.2003 at 12:16 PM

Oh...and I'm not sure if this is true anymore. but 7-8 years ago back when I was in school, Appleton was incredibly liberal in their sample's department. You could order up a hundred sheets of something no problem. Shipped FedEx the next day.

Perhaps too many students took advantage of that and no longer do it ;o)

On Feb.27.2003 at 12:17 PM

Gilbert Delivers is amazing. The woman in charge of the whole thing is one Kathy Merckx, who is Thirst's client liaison (and is responsible for the creation of nearly every printed and web piece Gilbert's done for the last decade) regarding almost all of Gilbert's marketing. Kathy knows the paper business backwards and forwards: she's been with Gilbert for over a decade and began her career there on the floors. Mama knows paper and makes sure you get what you need.

I personally use Neutech for almost everything. The tooth is yummy and color holdout on its bright white is some of the best I've ever seen.

On Feb.27.2003 at 12:24 PM

>Perhaps too many students took advantage of that and no longer do it ;o)

There are a couple of paper distributors in town and they used to ship free samples and as many as you wanted. After 9/11 they started charging the shit out of the shipping and you were lucky if you got more than 5 sample sheets. It's understandable, but it was a great way to get 15-20 sheets of paper for a quick proposal or something.

>Mama knows paper

Priceless : )

On Feb.27.2003 at 06:37 PM