Just a quick thanks to Dane at Steeltown Anthem for featuring our Pittsburgh cards on her fabulous blog. Steeltown Anthem is The Place to find out what’s going on in the art and design world in Pittsburgh – you should definitely go check it out!

And, of course, you can read all the sweet things she said about us here. Thanks, Dane!

It’s not easy naming a business. There’s a lot of pressure – you want to find the perfect name, something that fits what you’re doing and your personality, and is also fun and interesting and not already taken by someone else. And you want to get it right the first time – it’s not so easy to up and change your business name once you’ve got it registered, built a website, made business cards, and built yourself a place in the world. So, yeah – a little bit of pressure there.

When I was ready to choose a name for my business, I had no idea where to start. I knew I wanted it to be (Something) Press – I’m planning to eventually diverge into some bookbinding too, so I wanted a name that would encompass all sorts of printing and books, not just letterpress.

My first instinct was to name it after something I love. I’ve always adored pufferfish, but a puffer-centric name was already taken by these lovely folks. I’m glad it was, because it suits them perfectly – much better than it would have worked for me. So I started thinking about other animals that I liked, but interestingly, there are a lot of printing businesses named after animals. Everything I even remotely liked already existed, and I was drawing a complete blank on where to go next. So I went for a walk.

Walking around my favorite place in the world, I started thinking about what sort of personality I wanted my business and my products to have. Elegant, professional, stunning, but warm and friendly at the same time. It was spring, and I was surrounded by blooming flowers, so naturally my mind went there. Dahlia Press? Day Lily Press? Cherry Blossom Press? But I’m really not much of a flower person – they make me sneeze, which doesn’t really say “warm and friendly” to me – so I threw out that idea.

So what kind of a person am I? Not someone who goes around smelling flowers – but I do go around smelling spices. All the time. I love the fragrance of them, the way they remind me of things like hot apple cider and spice cake and baking with my mom. So, spices. Something warm, elegant, a little spicy, but also sweet, and not too common. Something like cardamom.

Cardamom is known in the spice world as the Queen of Spices, second only to saffron (the King). It’s actually the third-most expensive spice (vanilla is second), so I’m not sure why it’s the queen, but I’ll take it. It goes well in both sweet and savory dishes, and it’s even been used for medicinal purposes, as far back as the 4th century BC. So it has a history – I like that. Because of its rarity and expense, it was often reserved for celebrations and fancy events – not your everyday spice. I’ve always loved cardamom because it’s understated – you don’t immediately think, “oh, there’s cardamom in that” the way you do with cinnamon or cloves, but it adds a little touch of sophisticated flavor that you would miss if it wasn’t there. Plus, it smells amazing.

Sweet, spicy, elegant. Perfect.

Welcome to the shiny new Cardamom Press blog! There’s not much here at the moment, but there will be soon – I have Big Plans for the next few weeks!

In between taking photos of our debut line of Pittsburgh notecards and getting our shop stocked with letterpress goodies, I’ll be updating here every few days (I hope – I’m new to this whole blogging thing!)

Learning the ins and outs of letterpress and starting Cardamom Press has been a whirlwind adventure, and I’m pretty sure this blog will be too. I’ve got a few things in mind that I plan to write about: the fabulous artists whose work I’m printing, the books I’m reading, the things I’m learning, and the discoveries of just how much more there is to learn. There might even be some cardamom-inspired recipes in our future here, if I have my way.

In the meantime, you can read a little more about me and Cardamom Press here, and if you’d like to drop me a line and say hello, I’d love to hear from you! You can also leave a comment below, and if you’re up for a little adventure, you can subscribe to the blog – I’d love to have you along for the ride!