Their creations are often described as whimsical, but people sometimes have a hard time pinning down what exactly the artists at Bird and Banner create. Their work is so unique, you almost have to see it, or feel it.
From her studio on South Duke Street in Lancaster City, Nicole Michels feels free to work on her designs. Sunlight streams through a big bay window, and inside the studio is bright, white and open. She shares the space with textile artist Betsy Olmsted, and feels a sort of kinetic energy working alongside another artist. While she always envisioned herself working from home, Michels says her energetic 4-year-old son was often distracting. Here she can split her day between designing and running her business.
Bird and Banner (www.birdandbanner.com) creates customized invitations for clients all over the world. Malvern-native Michels, who moved to Lancaster six years ago with her husband, is one half of the business; the other is Nicole’s design partner Erin Mulcahy, who lives in Philadelphia. The two met while working as designers for Urban Outfitters several years ago. Both women planned their weddings around the same time, designed their own wedding invites and loved the experience so much, they didn’t want it to end. Thus, the idea for a business making custom invitations was born.
“When we started our business, we just gelled,” Michels explains. “We are trusting in each other’s design aesthetic.”
For a while, it was a side project for the design duo, with many friends approaching them to design their wedding invitations. But soon blogs picked them up and things started rolling. By 2007, Michels and Mulcahy were designing for Bird and Banner full-time and finding national recognition for their creative projects. Martha Stewart Weddings did a profile piece on the designers and featured their work in six or seven issues. Philadelphia Magazine and The Knot always ask to see their new projects. Their designs for Tiny Prints as well as Anthropologie and its sister bridal company BHLDN have been well-received.
“We like to take something really beautiful and juxtapose it with something practical or unexpected,” Michels says.
Back in her studio, Michels sits behind a glass desk. Behind her, a long fabric board is tacked to the wall and many of her projects, from printed handkerchiefs to intricate invitations, are pinned to the board. She pulls out a box stuffed with former projects. There are wedding menus, baby announcements and party invites, all printed on a variety of surfaces: fabric, wood, muslin bags. “We’ll do it on just about anything you can print on,” Michels says. She explains that the process of creating custom handkerchiefs is especially time-consuming, as the women will actually scour antique markets looking for vintage cloth that they can hand-paint. She pulls out a sweet floral handkerchief that reads, “Will you be my bridesmaid?”
“People really think they got something special in the mail when they get them,” Michels says.
Clients often come to them with a general idea. From there, Michels and Mulcahy will chat with them to learn more. “It’s fun when brides and grooms come in with the story,” she says. For those who think they don’t have a story worthy of a custom-invite, Michels draws it out of them. “Everyone has one. Everyone has something sweet about how they fell in love,” Michels says.
In the future, Michels envisions an expansion of the business: more corporate projects, fewer wedding clients. Perhaps one day they will even hire more designers, but it’s difficult to imagine finding someone who seamlessly fits their design aesthetic. Still, she can’t imagine completely giving up on the wedding side of design just yet. “Weddings will always be a part of what we do because we love it,” she says.
And yet, the appeal of growing the wedding side of her business, expanding with more prints and products, is absolutely enticing to another area designer. For this young entrepreneur, it all started with a chalkboard.
Valerie McKeehan founded her company, Lily and Val, nearly two years ago. Like Nicole Michels, McKeehan, too, planned her wedding and felt inspired to make more creations post-nuptials. One day in March 2012, McKeehan came across a chalkboard and spare frame. She carefully penned the phrase “McKeehan’s Cafe” with fanciful lettering and hung it in her kitchen. Her husband was impressed by his wife’s work, took a photo and posted it online. McKeehan was shocked when her creation quickly garnered a sea of positive comments. She began to wonder if she could somehow turn her fun, new hobby of making chalkboard designs into a business.
Over the next several months, McKeehan practiced. “It was a lot experimentation. I tried to draw with chalk, spray sealant over the top,” she explains. She began carefully painting over the chalk with acrylic paint and chalkboard paint. That summer, McKeehan opened an Etsy store and began selling her hand-painted signs, with themes varying from bakery to wedding to customizable creations. “It literally exploded,” she says.
Clearasil contacted the chalkboard artist and typographer to create art for a social media campaign in August of that year. Shortly after, American Greetings called. One by one, more corporate deals came rolling in. Companies loved the warm, rustic feel of her designs and wanted to license her chalkboard art for varied products, everything from candles to notecards.
Soon McKeehan’s work was being featured on a national scale, picked up by HGTV design blogs, Martha Stewart Weddings and Huffington Post, among others. She now gets hundreds of orders each week.
“It’s crazy to think that it’s something so simple, but because it’s so specific, it’s really unique. That’s why it’s been well-received,” she explains.
Although she’s originally from western Pennsylvania, McKeehan now lives in East Berlin with her husband. In her home studio she surrounds herself with things that inspire her, from artwork and photography, to songs. “I can envision the letters,” she says. Drawing is a part of her everyday routine, as is looking at old-fashioned and vintage typography.
She hopes to develop her brand, while growing her online store and licensing more designs. And as far as inspiration is concerned, the young designer says she isn’t worried about running out of ideas.
“I have hundreds of ideas,” she says. “I know it’s in my blood to be creative. I’m confident I could find that spark.”
