Inspired to make a pie chart fun!

If only all pie charts were this exciting!

For many years I worked at a financial company, designing and editing financial reports, drawing I don’t know how many millions of pie charts, fever charts and bar charts. Over and over, showing profit, loss, amount of product sold…I could go on and on. However, at Pressed, we are free to take the stale, old pie chart and add some excitement to it! You can see the result in these photos. I bet all of you are excited to see what we have in store for the boring, old fever chart 🙂 We hand printed these letter press cards on a Vandercook, which reminds me…we plan to do a print run this Friday, we will post photos of what goes into making these cards. They are all hand-made, printed individually and very much a labor of love.

–  Stephanie,  pressedinbrooklyn.com

A close up shot.

Our trip to Minnesota

Gold Medal Park in Minneapolis.

I recently took a little vacation to Minnesota to visit friends and catch a Yankee/Twins game. Minneapolis is a pretty cool city. We went to some great restaurants (Strip Club in St. Paul is awesome and the staff couldn’t be nicer). Target Field is a really great stadium (even though that the Yankees lost), and the people are super active. Everyone is running and biking all over the place. Maybe its because they have such amazing lakes and flowers and they are right on the Mississippi.  You really do just want to be outside and enjoy it all. It’s one of the most active cities in the US which is saying a lot because its freezing there for much of the year! On a walk in Gold Medal Park we learned that Minneapolis was known as “Mill City” because it was the world’s flour milling capital from 1880 to about 1930. In 1991 a fire in an abandoned flour mill along the Mississippi almost destroyed the building. It was turned into the Mill City Museum. We didn’t get a chance to visit the museum but it details the history of Minneapolis, the River and the industry that helped build the city. The large Gold Medal Flour and Pillsbury signs are seen in Mill City.

– Caroline

Another view of the ruined building and modern addition in Gold Medal Park.

The old Pillsbury plant, also in Gold Medal Park.

A beautiful place for wedding photos.

The Twins original “Shaking Hands” logo from 1961-1981 recreated in the new stadium. Minnie and Paul only light up and shake hands over the River when the Twins hit a home run.

Enjoying the outdoors!

A Card for the Anglophile

We love England!

As we might have mentioned before, many of our designs are based on our travels. While the British might not be know for their lovely weather, they can certainly lay claim to one of the most amazing looking flags, as well as one of our most favorite dogs, the English Bulldog! These folded note cards are perfect for anyone who loves England as much as we do. Check back soon to see all the other countries we plan to celebrate!

– Pressed

Our English Bulldog meets Union Jack card.

Could it be? Inspirational art in a New York City subway stop?

A beautiful floral mosaic.

I Never Thought I’d Say This But…I think the MTA actually deserves a compliment. I know, I know, if you live in NYC you know how absurd this sounds but I had a nice little surprise today. I took the Q train to Avenue U and East 16th street today which I never do and saw the nicest tile murals in the stairway. Take a look at these great flower designs. A number of Q Train stations have been undergoing renovations for a while now and it was nice to see how great a completed one looks. Let’s hope they all end up looking this good (and that we don’t end up with a fare increase to pay for it.)

– Caroline

Another one.

And one more...

 

Our Word Find, Any Occasion Letterpress Card – circle words that work for you

Circle what ever words fit the occasion.

So, we came up with an idea for a letterpress card that fits any occasion. Great to have around the house for people who need a card at the last minute. Some of the words and phrases that can be found and circled include: Happy Birthday, Congratulations on Your Wedding, Congratulations on Your Baby Boy, Congratulations on Your Baby Girl, Get Well Soon and I Love you…among many others.

Feel free to make up your own sayings! Some of our favorites include: Best Lover Ever, I Love Your Boyfriend, Sorry I Missed Your Wedding and Congratulations on Your New Boyfriend! (ok so maybe you wouldn’t give a friend a card to tell them you are in love with their boyfriend. But just in case…) You can purchase the card in our Etsy Store.

To see more of our cards, check out our website pressedinbrooklyn.com.

A close up. You can see the words Boyfriend, Valentines, Husband, Engagement and Voyage, if you look close.

Our Orleans Design – for Wedding Invitations & Personal Stationery

Our floral Orleans pattern in pink. Based on a piece of 18th century French furniture from the Gulbenkian Museum. This is a letterpress card, pressed by us on a Vandercook.

I spent much of this weekend photographing our work. I can’t say I have ever been much of a photographer, but with practice I certainly hope to improve. This is our Orleans design. It can be used for both wedding invitations and personal stationery.  It is based on a piece of 18th century French furniture, with the most amazing wood inlay work, that I saw while on my honeymoon in Portugal. While in Lisbon, we spent an afternoon at the Caoluste Gulbenkian Museum. Their collection of furniture and art is impressive. I found many items here that inspired me.

– Stephanie

A close up of or Orleans Design.

A slightly different view.

A beautiful piece of art nouveau jewelry at the Gulbenkian.

A lovely piece of French furniture at the Gulbenkian. A similar piece served as the inspiration for our Orleans design.

The restaurant at Les Cols in Olot, Spain

The 13th century farm house that contained the restaurant.

After an amazing night and a lovely breakfast in our room, we wandered around for a little bit and then headed to lunch. No matter that I was still quite full. Once we entered the restaurant, we were seated in the back courtyard, see in the above photo. They brought us drinks and a beautiful assortment of little dishes. After relaxing on this perfect, crisp, fall afternoon, we headed inside the restaurant for lunch. The interior of the restaurant was stunning, as was the pristine kitchen.

One of the dining areas at Les Cols.

The kitchen.

Each dish was a work of art and the quality of everything was simply amazing.

A pumpkin soup.

Local onions stuffed with regional cheese, herbs and bread crumbs. This was amazing!

The steak.

We had an wonderful wine from the town of Girona, but were too consumed by our surroundings and the excellent food to write down the name. As soon as we drove away, back toward Barcelona, I was ready to turn around and head back to Les Cols. For information, you can follow this link.

-Stephanie