Quill Correspondence is a line of luxury stationary and paper products designed, created, and developed right here in Charleston, SC. Two earth loving sisters whose belief that not everything in life should be instant run their business knowing the beauty of the written word.
They believe things you can hold in your hands are the most extraordinary mementos.
The ladies of Quill Correspondence took time to sit down and tell us how their partnership began and about all the fun they have together, as a family!
When did you first feel like being a creator of anything, not just printed materials?
If we had to guess we’d say when we were born, ha! We grew up in a very creative family. Any idea any of us had we’d always think of how we could make it happen – we definitely get that from our mom. Quill is the one that stuck – we just kept coming back to it.
What was the medium?
Cathleen: I got my first watercolor set in 4th grade and pretty much that was it for me.
Christina: I remember as a little kid I would mold and shape any & everything with playdoh.
What was your favorite childhood toy?
Christina: I was all about my Lite Brite. I loved that thing. And blocks.
Cathleen: Babydolls.
If you could have any job in the world, what would you do?
Well, we’re working together, creating together…this job is pretty much perfect. We’ve just always wanted to work together.
What was your career before designing printed materials?
Cathleen: Student! We actually started brainstorming Quill before I graduated college.
Christina: Director of Special Events for Cinebarre. It was a great job – I got to travel & open the new locations & learned a lot about business along the way.
What made you stray from that and go to printed materials?
Quill began with a wedding. Many hours were spent perfecting the most beautiful handcrafted invitations you’ve ever seen. (No we’re not biased. Okay maybe a little.). The evolution into all things stationery and correspondence was a natural one. And actually our Quill note cards are not printed – they are each crafted & embossed by hand.
*Note: Christina would like to give a special shout-out to her sister Cathleen for dominating her Maid of Honor roll (those invitations led to Quill!), along with her sister Caroline (Maid of Honor) & Mom (Mom of Honor, of course!) – it was definitely a family effort!
How do you get in the creative zone?
Christina: Great music, coffee.
Cathleen: Music, coffee, knowing when to take a break.
What inspires you to get creative?
Christina: Anything and Everything. Look at our designs. Most of them are things we have simply seen & fallen in love with.
Cathleen: Yeah, everything. An old family typewriter. Our Grandmother’s chandelier. Things laying around the house.
And then other times we just have an idea for something, like with Jar of Hearts. We absolutely love designing our own line of note cards – it is total creative freedom. And we also really enjoy doing custom work because it is a completely different design process.
Are you a bankers hours kind of artist, whenever the mood strikes or up all night?
D) All of the above. We learned early on that you have to set aside designated time to get the work done when you are building a business. And then when you’re swimming in orders, oh yeah, there are some all-nighters. One time we watched “Wedding Crashers” 4 times in a row.
What do you love about your medium?
We love to write. We love paper. We love ink. We believe that not everything is made to be instant.
Our world is so plugged in. Texts, social networking, email – we love these things & use them daily. And there is a lot of beauty to what this technology has given us: people can connect all around the world in an instant. It really is amazing. But sometimes the most beautiful sentiments are lost in translation.
Think about how you feel when you open the mailbox and there is a letter in there. Not a bill. Not a credit card “pre”-approval. A letter. A note.
Enter Quill. We love being part of a movement to bring something back to life. We believe in sending notes. Cards. Writing a letter. In a world where everything is at your fingertips, we put something extraordinary in them.
What’s the one tool you couldn’t live without?
Cathleen: Christina!
Christina: Awwwww. And mine is Cathleen. We are 1+1=∞ in what we can do together.
What is the first thing you reach for in the morning?
Cathleen: The covers.
Christina: My husband.
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you run off to?
We’d kidnap our whole family & all run off together. We couldn’t choose just one place – we’d probably be a bit more nomadic than that!
What’s the inspiration behind your cards?