When An E-Mail Isn’t Enough

As of late I have been taking on more meetings with aspiring designers, tailors, or fellow bloggers. We usually while away the time “talking shop” or how we can inspire and help one another. Many times, though, I have gone home after one of these get togethers only to shoot off a half drunk e-mail or text about how great it was. Although I believe my heart was firmly planted in the right place the experience of following up or sending a quick missive electronically left me feeling a bit empty. There was nothing to it. I simply ranted, signed, and sent.

The tide of communication turned full force after a friend took me out for a night at The Yale Club here in New York City. We had an absolutely smashing evening and he was even gracious enough to pick up the tab. A day or so later I shot off a rather quick e-mail thanking him and after I hit send an incredible sense of lousy washed over me. The Yale Club is one of the most upscale, classy, and downright elegant places one can be taken to. An e-mail just wasn’t enough. I knew I had to remedy the situation quite quickly the only way I knew how. By writing a simple note on quality stationary.

Yes, stationary.

The first place I went to was Cursive in Grand Central Station. They are a lovely little boutique serving up some very interesting notebooks, cards, even desk ornaments. What makes Cursive well worth their prices are the uniqueness and quality of the product. I ended up purchasing a beautiful little box set of cards called OFF THE CUFF which was more than appropriate as each cards front is inspired from a specific type of menswear suiting fabric (my favorite one being the houndstooth).

Off The Cuff Cards: Box Of 8 for $22.50

But what of those times when you want to send a quick missive to someone just because? Do you really have to drop over 20 bucks each time you run out of stationary?

Enter Phil’s Stationary in Midtown Manhattan on 47th street. This place is about as old school and no frills as you can get. Boxes of odd paper everywhere, pens as far as the eye can see, and lots of interesting notebooks you won’t find anywhere else (there are even some really fantastic briefcases lying about for only 40 beans). As soon as I asked about plain heavy stock note cards the shop keeper knew exactly what I was looking for. He showed me very simple blank note cards with a lightly embossed back and matching envelopes. When I asked him the price he said “50 cards for $15. 100 for $30.”

Sold.

Another stationary destination I HIGHLY recommend is Terrapin Stationers. I particularly love the engraved twitter cards, should you feel the need to promote your feed.

Now that I had the paper I needed a good writing instrument. I have some very nice ballpoint pens but they just don’t look very nice on this kind of stock (think as dull and lifeless as a conversation between two disaffected hipsters who only order Pabst and salad). I ended up going with the pen my boss uses as he’s pretty well versed in the subject of writing. Surprisingly his weapon of choice is a Cross rollerball pen which you can find at any Staples or stationary store for about $30 and the refills are a mere $9 for a two pack. The pen itself is well balanced and writes extremely well.

Cross Rollerball Pen $30 @ Staples

I penned a few notes with this and while completely satisfied with it’s abilities to script, aesthetically I just didn’t like the way it looked. Mostly because my penmanship is that of an ex budding graffiti artist meets a shaky handed alcoholic going through detox. So as my mania for the perfectly written note grew so did my obsession with getting it right.

Enter the typewriter.

At this point you are probably all thinking I am out of my effing mind and, by all means, you are justified in your opinion. Yes, I could type all of these notes out on my trusty MacBook Pro but there is just no heart in that at all. When you actually type something out you can feel the indentations of the letters pressed into the stock and see the intensity of which it was written. For those of you who follow my twitter feed, now you understand just why I was so heartbroken about my typewriter being irreparable. For those of you who don’t follow me on twitter…are you fucking serious? You’re missing out on some drunken hilarity. I digress. I  found a new, functional typewriter on eBay for $16 and a hot tip from one of my Twitter friends brought my attention to this place which had my head spinning.

So after a meeting, dinner, catch up drink, or what have you it’s NICE to tell the person how you feel other than writing on their Facebook wall. If you are wearing a beautiful suit, impeccably polished shoes, silk pocket square, and good cologne a handwritten or typed follow up goes hand in hand with what you are attempting to exude. That being CLASS. And really, how many people write notes or letters (cue PJ Harvey’s “The Letter”) these days?

Some rules of the game:

1. The content of what is written and the speed at which it is sent is equally important. I.E.: you should NOT send the note 5 days after the meeting and you should actually write something witty or heartfelt. As per some advice given from Mr. Flusser, the correspondence should be sent within a day or two.

2. DO NOT WRITE THESE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF ALCOHOL. THESE ARE NOT POSTS AND YOU CANNOT DELETE THEM.

3. If handwritten, make sure it is legible. If typed, make sure not to make mistakes which force you to use white out (not a good look).

4. Please…do not spray cologne on it if writing to a lovely female you just had lunch with (#stalker, #creepy, #waaaaytoomuch).

5. Avoid terms like LOL, ADORBZ, and ROTFL for Christ’s sake.

6. Always make the note about THEM and not YOU.

7. The best time to write is the morning after when your head is clear and still have a fresh idea of what to pen, preferably with morning coffee.

8.  Don’t spill coffee on the note.

9. If you can, find an interesting stamp to slap on the envelope.

10. Refer to THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE if necessary.

The point of this exercise for myself and anyone else who chooses to go through with it is to let the people who inspire us, care for us, or genuinely enjoy our company and opinion know that the feeling is mutual.