One Paper. Two Wedding Collections

It all happened about a month ago: I found a strange dark emerald paper in a small stationary shop. I just was not able to go back home without a piece of it. Fascinated by the color and the texture, I suppressed my doubts about how I could actually write on such a textured surface. Somehow I'd figure it out later… Well, what I found is that this paper was not suitable for writing: it doesn’t hold the ink. I’ve spent many hours in attempts to find the perfect mixture, only to realize that nothing works and I have only half of that precious material left. Then I made my last attempt and wiped it with a wet dishcloth. And it did the trick! After this little cleaning procedure, I was finally able to write on this paper (it was still quite challenging due to the textured surface). Anyway, I’ve made a whole wedding invitation suite inspired by the Spencerian Script. Then I decided to create another one with a more expressive freestyle writing to match the whimsical character of the paper. Usually, I prefer not to go so wild with my calligraphy, but this time I just allowed myself to forget about the rules and find the flow. The end result may be quite hard to read. Still, it’s always worth trying!

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Wedding Collection inspired by Paris in the snow

My first wedding collection was inspired by Paris in the snow: minimalistic, classy and with lots of cold grey colors. Why Paris and snow? Since this time I was kinda my own client, I decided to draw inspiration from my own little story. I’ve lived in France for 3 years during my studies and I was obsessed with french culture, traditions, and Paris (of course!) Luckily, I lived quite close to this amazing city and was traveling there often.

One winter day I was visiting Paris, and suddenly it started to snow. My shoes were not ready for that, and my feet became wet immediately, but who cares? Paris was amazing that day. The entire city was transformed into incredibly beautiful snowy fairy tale. I was walking around and enjoying the moment. After that small adventure I strongly believe that Paris is the best when it snows (I bet right now that french girl from Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris” is skeptically shaking her head and saying “Actually, Paris is most beautiful in the rain…”)

Since the snowy weather is not common in Paris, the whole experience became even more special for me. If you still feel too warm, here is my shot from that special day, taken with cold shaking hands:

Now back to calligraphy. To keep my work consistent and within a certain visual frame, I decided to create a mood board that reflects the desired colors and feelings.

Mood board for the Wedding Collection "Paris in the snow" by Type and Graphics Lab.
Image references: 1. Pinterest, original source unknown. 2. David Downton 3. "Rouen, place Cauchoise sous la neige," Charles Frechon. 4. Yao Cheng. 5. Pinterest, original source unknown.

My mood board was really helpful, and I was constantly referencing it to keep the right feelings and mood in mind. I didn’t include any calligraphy work in my moodboard for one particular reason: it’s extremely easy to get too much inspiration from other calligraphers and unintentionally copy some of their work. Having no particular examples in front of my eyes was the best thing to boost my own creativity.

Sketching ideas was probably the most time consuming phase. But when I determined the whole layout, the implementation was pretty straightforward. Another time consuming task was taking photos. Hopefully, next time I’m going to collaborate with a photographer for a photo shooting (Universe, you’ve heard me!)

That’s all for today, folks. I hope that you liked this work. Stay tuned for more fun things coming up!