You might have noticed that I've been labeling some of my posts "eco-savvy." Eco-savvy is not just about choosing something because it sounds environmentally friendly, like soy inks and baby oil. Being savvy is about being smart and making informed, educated choices. On Earth Day, I wanted to share with you all the ways Joie Studio is being environmentally responsible. I call it eco-savvy letterpress!
Environmentally Friendly Papers
Joie Studio isn’t going green – we’ve always been green! Joie Studio is proud that since our inception, the majority of our ready-made and custom letterpress has been printed on 100% cotton paper and cardstock. Cotton is a tree-free, renewable resource. The paper we use is made from cotton linters and rag from cotton ginning waste and textile cuttings. This recovered cotton is saved from landfills, and made into our ultra-luxurious, ultra-thick letterpress papers.
We carefully choose our other papers to make sure that our eco-savvy standard and our letterpress quality remain high. Most of our complementary papers are made with recycled paper. One paper mill we work with not only makes all their paper using 100% green hydroelectricity, they supply their surplus energy to their local energy company!
Reducing Waste
Joie Studio believes that being eco-savvy doesn’t stop at choosing environmentally-friendly paper. We have carefully chosen inks and solvents that produce the least amount of waste. It does Earth no good if by changing to materials that sound eco-friendlier, we produce more trash. So we have chosen the best letterpress papers, the least wasteful letterpress inks, and the best yet eco-friendly solvents to make our letterpress products so beautiful, our clients and customers won’t want to throw them away!
Eco-Chic Alternatives
Joie Studio recently introduced an eco-chic alternative to paper: wood! In April 2008, we started offering custom wood letterpress wedding invitations. Made from wood veneer, these small pieces of wood are cut from wood grown in private lots, are produced using less electricity and chemicals than regular paper, produce no VOC's in the process, and are recyclable!
Wedding invitation and special event clients looking to cut down on the amount of paper they are sending out can also employ Joie Studio to build custom event websites instead of sending out multiple enclosure cards. Custom-built event websites give event guests more information than a little card ever could, and they are a savvy way of reducing the amount of paper sent out.
Looking to the Future
In late April, Joie Studio will introduce our Nature’s Kiss letterpress collection, a collection inspired by nature with materials that are friendly to nature. The basis for the collection will be the wood invitations and 100% cotton or 100% recycled papers.
In the testing stages is plantable seed paper, which is 100% cotton and 100% recycled paper with seeds mixed into the paper pulp. We’ve got our fingers crossed that these papers are good enough to offer our clients and customers!
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