SAVVY BUSINESS

By Carla Jean Whitley
Partners: Alan Henderson and Jennifer Tatham

What is it? Night Owl Paper Goods is a small stationery company based in Homewood, concentrating on letter press designs and wood cards with what they’ve labeled “modern yet folksy” designs. The product line includes flat and folded cards, journals, calendars and notepads and is eco-friendly. Wood is sustainably harvested, and journals and notepads use post-consumer recycled pages. New wood-look cards are also printed on FSC-certified paper.

History: Henderson and Tatham both moved to Birmingham, separately, 10 years ago and ended up working at the same design firm. As they collaborated on advertising projects, the duo discovered that they worked well together and began to daydream about launching their own stationery line. Night Owl was born in 2004 as they printed projects at night and on weekends. “We were so focused and driven,” Henderson says. “We knew what we wanted it to be.” One of those goals was for the business to sustain them—both Henderson and Tatham retained their other jobs until earlier this year. They celebrated by expanding their line with the creation of numerous new designs.

Learning from those they admire: Henderson and Tatham have exhibited at the National Stationery Show in New York for the past two years, and in the name of research visited for two years prior to that. Those events have helped place their products in more than 200 stores across the nation, but the connections formed with other stationery companies are just as valuable. They’ll commiserate with other small companies and find advice from those who have been there.

What makes it unique? You’ll never see clip art on a Night Owl product. Each design is hand-drawn and products are hand-crafted in the United States. Even products that are assembled outside the studio walls—such as the journals, which are spiral-bound elsewhere—return to Night Owl for quality assurance purposes. If paper is bent or smudged from fingerprints, the journal is removed and will be recycled into another product. Even while filling a recent order for Borders bookstores, each individual item was checked by an employee or other helper.

A day in the life: “It’s running a business now. Before we were just playing letter press,” Tatham says. Working hours are often filled with those business-oriented details: keeping up with various contacts, sales representatives, orders and so on. Henderson, who runs the printing press, typically checks inventory and sees what needs to be printed that day. The duo also spends time helping people help them— a revolving cast of friends and family assist in checking products for quality control. Henderson’s dad has even purchased his own press and prints envelopes after work.

Staff size: Four, plus friends, family and freelance artisans. What’s ahead: Night Owl will continue expanding its gift line, including the desk calendar they’ve debuted for 2009. They also hope to create a custom wood program that will allow customers to order customized products.

the details:
 Night Owl Paper Goods
nightowlpapergoods.com
Buy Night Owl Paper Goods products locally at The Ruby Begonia (Night Owl’s studio is located next door!), Table Matters, Jonathan Benton, Bookseller and A’mano. Customizable products designed by Night Owl Paper Goods are available at tinyprints.com (enter OWL at check out for a 5 percent discount) and weddingpaperdivas.com.

November Birmingham, Alabama

  

 
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