Spotlight on Anna Griffin

Over the years, we have been pleased to provide beautiful products to our customers that are creative, expressive, classic and memorable. As one of our most notable product vendors, Anna Griffin has long been one of our wedding product leaders with her extensive line of invitations and accessories. We were able to catch up with Anna Griffin recently and here is what she had to say!

PaperStyle - When, and why did you start Anna Griffin, Inc.?

Anna Griffin - From my experience in working for Vera Wang in New York, I fell in love with the Bridal business. Combining that love with my training in graphic design, it was only natural that I start my own company designing invitations. I started one of the first wedding invitation companies that allowed brides to make three dimensional invitations themselves without having to custom-order. I launched Anna Griffin Inc. in 1994 and we have been growing ever-since.

PaperStyle - When you are looking for inspiration, where do you turn?

Anna Griffin - To the antique patterns and documents that I have collected for years. My love of antiques and prints stems from my childhood, growing up in my great grandmothers house. She had the most beautiful pieces and I have been inspired by decorative arts created in the 1800’s ever since. The rich color and elaborate painting style is what brings most of my ideas to life.

PaperStyle - In the years you have been doing this, what have you learned that you would like to share?

Anna Griffin - I am so fortunate to be doing what I love to do. I think that it is so important to decide what truly makes you happy and do it the best that you can. My whole journey has been a learning experience. Take everything as an opportunity to grow and change and never be afraid of that change, it will only make you stronger. Remember, everything happens for a reason.

PaperStyle - When do you expect the new line of products to be available?

Anna Griffin - We had such a tremendous response to the fabric collections that we launched earlier this year, we expanded the line to include two sizes of hold everything pouches and an assortment of fashionable luggage tags. They will all be available October 1st, so they are the perfect gifts for the holiday season!

PaperStyle - Do you have a “favorite” of your new line of products?

Anna Griffin - That’s a hard one. I love all of the collections, but I have really been in the Maime mood lately. The Maime Collection is perfect for the summertime with cool and breezy patterns. Since I am always traveling, I really love my bamboo inspired laptop tote bag, it makes me feel like a chic jetsetter and I think that is fabulous!

Making sure that love never goes unnoticed

We are always super excited when we receive new style designs from our vendors, and today is no exception! We’ve recently received 17 new items from Doc Milo, and someone said “Wow. I wonder how all these artists come up with such adorable things.” Well, why not ask?!?

As an opportunity to find out more about one of our creative vendors, we caught up with Sarah Sheffer from Doc Milo and here is what she had to say!

Paperstyle: When and why did you decide to start Doc Milo?

Sarah: I wish I had a more businesslike answer but the truth is that I started the company (in 1998) because it was the single most fun thing I could think up to do. Anyone who’s ever started something from nothing will know what I mean when I say it was all just a grand adventure back then. Terrifying and exhilarating all at once. That the company has become what it has all these years later is as much a testament to the joy with which the whole enterprise was conceived as it is to the fantastic energy of not only everyone now working at Doc Milo, but also the creative spirit that drives our vendors and the end users of our papers. I think when you do what you love, you naturally draw other people to you who love what they do, and that spark just keeps getting passed back and forth and getting brighter and more fabulous for everyone involved.

Paperstyle: When you are looking for inspiration, where do you turn?

Sarah: First and foremost, I come from a family of big party throwers. Lots of cousins, lots of weddings, lots of babies...basically lots of milestones. My whole life, at every opportunity, there’s a party. So I think that the fun, fabulous quality that people so respond to in my work is really just the energy of my family, sort of channeled into ink. Nice that I get to take credit for it, but there’s a whole tribe of wonderful people and experiences and memories behind me every time I sit down to draw. Just remembering the good times we’ve had and thinking about the good times to come.

As for sheer style points? Well, my baby sister (who’s now 30, and yes, still my baby) is definitely my fashion muse - very Audrey Hepburn - she’s like the human embodiment of the word “adorable,” but in a very cool way. Because I have the world’s greatest mother, I got to spend a summer in high school studying in the fashion department at the Parsons School of Design, which was just incredible, and probably permanently firmed up fashion design as a cornerstone of inspiration for me forever. Add to that the fact that I was an architecture major at Columbia and then after college worked briefly in interior design and, well, I guess it’s safe to say you see all those influences at play in my work. Color, line, form, all of that. Just the big wide world of art and design, which is endless. And really, that’s the beauty of inspiration...that it can come from anywhere.

So I guess as far as where I “turn?” I turn all around, all the time, looking at everything I possibly can. You just never know...and that’s the fun. There are amazing people doing amazing work all over the place. If you’re open to it, the really good stuff is everywhere. It’s just about getting yourself in a place where you can be receptive and then, corny as it sounds, it sort of just appears as needed.

Paperstyle: In the years you have been doing this, what have you learned that you would like to share?

Sarah: The social stationery business is endlessly complex and fascinating, but the main thing I have learned is actually the simplest. Yes, we’re all terribly sophisticated these days. We shop over the internet. We get paperless proofs. We have overnight shipping to China or Brazil or London. But when it comes to celebrating the special occasions in our lives, we still want the same things we always have.

We want to mark the big events - weddings, births, celebrations of every kind - with a sort of emotional exclamation point. We want beauty and grace and a true sense of festivity, because at bottom, what this whole industry is about is love. What I do? It’s about helping to make sure that love never goes unnoticed.

For anyone who wants to know the secret to my business, it is just this: the closer I come to capturing pure joy on paper, the better able I am to tap into that endlessly elusive, yet immediately recognizable feeling, the better a seller I have. Because what speaks to all of us at these times in our lives is the same. It’s magic. It’s all about the magic. And, really, what else is love if not that?

Paperstyle: Do you have a favorite of your new line of invitations?

Sarah: Asking me which of my designs I like best is like asking someone which of their kids they like best. Anyone who tells you they don’t have a favorite is lying, but they’ll never tell you who it is, and neither will I. :)