Sentimental Gifts for the Traveller

A bespoke gift box by Parvum Opus, jacketed in an Italian
wood-block print style paper by Rossi

Today, I'm delighted to share two recent and memorable commissions, courtesy of our thoughtful and generous clientele. Perhaps these will serve to inspire as we merrily make our way the summer graduation and wedding season. 

The first, seen above and below, is a bespoke box commissioned as a gift for a friend embarking on a long-term travel adventure. Before presenting it, our client filled the box with one hundred stamped post cards. I was struck by the simplicity and warmth of this gesture-- a beautiful invitation to keep in touch as her friend's adventure unfolds. The diminutive box, having travelled along, will make a charming souvenir long after the post cards have been sent, a reminder of the bonds of friendship. I admit that this project will be on my mind as my own friends and family set off on their own exploits!

The next project is similarly adventure-related: this one is a travel escritoire, or traveller's writing set. Contained in the small hinged box are compartments for stationery, a small German Kaweco Sport fountain pen and refill cartridges, postage stamps, address labels, and a travel journal. Besides the requisite blank pages, the hand-sewn journal includes pages for recording addresses, birthdays and anniversaries. It also includes a map of world time zones and stellar constellation charts for the northern and southern hemispheres-- a must for every adventurer, wouldn't you agree?! Of course, all of these functions are easily replaced by the apps on most smart phones, but for many of us, hand-written notes in a paper journal make a denser, more romantic and memorable souvenir of a long trip than typed notes in a phone or laptop.  

A small traveller's writing set, made with a butterfly
and flower print paper made in Italy, also by Rossi.

This project was created for a client whose friend was off for a year-long sabbatical. The box is small and sturdy enough for travel, and is intended by the gift giver to act as a stand-in for a special writing desk that will be sorely missed during the long journey. Given the clear and imaginative directives from our client, I think it turned out beautifully, and can only imagine how lovely it would be to come in from a day's work in a far-away land, and sit down to write with such thoughtfully given tools at hand. 

The writing set as it appears when closed:
a clear elastic band holds the lid in place during travel.

Along with these projects, we have made countless traveller's picture frames and hand-bound journals for clients wishing to send a bit of home along with their loved ones, and we always enjoy these heart-warming collaborations. This sort of work is a great pleasure for us, and I hope that you'll be as inspired by these gestures of friendship and camaraderie as we have been.  

Christmas at the Bindery

A commission-in-progress at the bindery: ingredients for a set of bespoke Parvum Opus Christmas
crackers include fountain pens, tiny bookmarks, ink  cartridges in fun colors,
and of course, a paper crown and a very bad joke. The center of the cracker awaits decoration.

Each Christmas, along with our holiday commissions, we look forward to constructing Christmas crackers at the bindery. We make them in small batches in the traditional way, jacketing cardboard tubes in beautiful papers and filling them with special treats customized for a particular family or event.  Of course the classic ingredients are all there: friction snaps, tissue paper hats and very bad (yet artfully chosen) jokes, but we take great pleasure in choosing extra special  trinkets for our crackers.

Some of the elements for this project gathered on a work table.

In the past, these have included vintage sterling silver charms and lockets, antique bird calls, antique collapsing travel cups, monogrammed seals and sealing wax sticks, custom address labels, and more. Today, we're putting the finishing touches on a set of six crackers for a family of bibliophiles, and so have filled each one with a Kaweco Sport fountain pen. 

The Kaweco Sport fountain pen is available in a variety of fun colors 
and nib sizes, making it a nice choice for these literary crackers.

This petite German pen was chosen for its beautiful line quality, and since it's only 4" long when closed, it's a perfect fit for the limited capacity of the cracker tube. Along with the pen we've included a packet of ink cartridges in festive colors, and a set of tiny handmade bookmarks made here in the bindery. For this particular set, the crackers are finished in a classic embossed tartan paper and tied with bright green double-faced satin ribbons--simple and festive!

A bundle of tiny 4" tall duodecimo bookmarks made with
Italian, French and Japanese papers here at the bindery.

According to Wikipedia, "The Christmas Cracker was devised in 1847 by an English confectioner and stationery manufacturer,Thomas J. Smith of London, whilst on holiday in Paris with his family. In the early days, the crackers were called Bon-Bons - meaning lollies or sweets in French - and as a consequence were still quite small in size with a fairly plain wrapping. Later he added a colored outer wrapper and a friction strip – consisting of two overlapping strips of cardboard coated with a small amount of explosive powder - that is inside all ordinary crackers - and joined together, which became known as a "snap" - because when the cracker is pulled apart the strips rub across each other setting off a chemical reaction that produces an audible bang."

An early example of Tom Smith's Christmas Cracker packaging

Upon his return to London, Mr. Smith combined the elements of the bon-bon with a trinket, novelty gift, tissue paper hat and a joke, and the Christmas cracker as we know it was born. The English tradition of placing a cracker at each place setting at Christmas dinner has spread cheerfully across the globe, and is a highlight of the season for countless families, my own included. 

Another example of a box of Tom Smith crackers, this one ca.1891

Participating in this Christmas tradition is a joy for us at the bindery, and we look forward to these small but meaningful projects all year long.    

We send you all our warmest wishes for a wonderful holiday season, a very Merry Christmas,  and hope that the new year brings health, happiness and all good things for you and your families.