I have a confession to make..I love stationery. There’s something to be said about receiving a card from a friend you haven’t heard from in a while or a hand-written note, and although it’s getting more difficult to find handcrafted paper products there are still a handful of producers dedicated to the fine art of printing. My friend Emily is one of those producers and I recently caught up with her to find out more about her company The Victory Special Press, home-roasted coffee and life in Alaska.

1)When and how did you start The Victory Special Press? I woke up one morning in the summer of 2010 with a strong desire to learn to make paper by hand. I took a week-intensive course that I really enjoyed, but then I had a bunch of paper that I didn’t know what to do with. So, I found a letterpress class about an hour away and signed up for that. Ends up that I fell more in love with letterpress printing and started the business within a year, but I do still enjoy making paper for my own personal purposes.

2)Life before The Victory Special Press? I’ve been all over the place, job-wise and location-wise. My degree is in photojournalism and I did a brief stint at a paper in New England, but then I taught both Art History and English as a foreign language. I’ve lived in Boston, New Zealand and Paris. Whew! The Victory Special Press has definitely helped me to settle down and focus.

3)What’s the best part of your job? Probably the yin and yang of the process versus the printing. When designing I get to be free-spirited and creative, but while printing I have to be very precise and a bit of a handyman. It’s exciting to use many different ways to problem solve on any given day.

4)What’s the worst part of your job? I don’t like cleaning the press all that much.

5)How would you describe the style of your designs? I like clean, simple, gender-neutral designs and colors. It’s too easy to put a bunch of stuff on a design – I think that less is more, especially in today’s world where we’re constantly inundated with images. I often incorporate lots of “old-timey” and vintage Western/Gold Rush imagery. I’m assuming that comes from my Nebraska roots and current home in Alaska! Those tried and true typefaces from the 19th and early 20th century are great – there’s a reason they’ve been around so long. And if I can find a way to get my vintage wood type in a design, all the better.

6)Who is your greatest inspiration? It’s cliche I guess, but my grandfather. He started a company during the Great Depression with the money he and my grandmother saved for their honeymoon. With that small start-up cash he ended up doing amazing things with the company and for the community I grew up in. He never took his success for granted and had such great humility throughout his life. I hope I have incorporated many of those values into my business.

7)Beyond TVS Press what fuels your soul? Being as self-sustaining as possible. Obviously we still need lots of things provided to us (electricity, gas, and so on), but I like to make and create as much as possible. In our house we roast our own coffee, make our own veggie stocks and pasta, pick berries in the summer, grow herbs, and knit our winter apparel. It’s really fulfilling to provide for yourself rather than relying on others.

8)Favorite travel destination? I love to travel and have been fortunate to have visited many places over the years, so any place new is always exciting to check out. I like places where I can explore and do some sightseeing, but can also relax over a coffee and chat with locals. Since moving to Alaska I’ve been really keen to check out all sorts of places throughout the state. But internationally? That list is long. If it works out, I hope the next big trip is to go to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia!

9)Describe your perfect day. Waking up to a cup of our home-roasted coffee; sketching and designing and some printing (of course!); an afternoon outside either hiking, skiing or mountain biking; then and a nice dinner of homemade pasta paired with classic cocktails.

Look out for Emily’s creations at www.tvspress.com and Anthropologie stores nationwide.