T H E H I STO RY O F R I F L E PA P E R C O. WITH FOUNDER & CCO ANNA BOND
‘Synchronized Swimmers’ illustration by Anna Bond
TABLE OF CONTENTS
5
Introduction to Rifle Paper Co.
7
Anna Bond Early Life & Inspiration
9
Wedding Invitations
13
Starting the Company
15
Rifle Paper Co. Brand
17
The Design Process
19
The First Collaboration
21
Flagship Studio Design
25
Flagship Location Winter Park, FL
27
Sources
INTRODUCTION TO R I F L E PA P E R C O.
‘Paris Sketch’ by Anna Bond
In November of 2009 husband and wife, Anna and Nathan Bond, launch Rifle Paper Co. From their one-bedroom apartment to an operation that now employees more than two-hundred people, their impressive growth is noted by collaborations with top brands in the home and fashion industry. Every one of Rifle Paper Co.’s 900 whimsical illustrations is brought to life by Anna Bond, the CCO of Rifle Paper Co. Her husband, Nathan Bond, is the impressive CFO. Based in Winter Park, Florida, the company’s flagship studio and storefront is found in the trendy Hannibal Square District. True to their brand, Rifle Paper Co. produces their products in the USA and prepares them for distribution from their Winter Park manufacturing site. In 2016, Rifle Paper Co. announced plans to expand their operation to New York. City. Today, Rifle Paper Co. products are sold in five-thousand stores world-wide. At the heart of their company, Rifle Paper Co. believes that the gift of a handwritten note is the best way to share special moments. The products reflect Anna and Nathans vision of creating a unique life-style brand that is somehow modern and timeless, but overall whimsical.
Anna Bond reviewing illustrations in her studio, located in Winter Park, FL
ANNA BOND Anna Bond is the co-founder and CCO of Rifle Paper Co. Originally from Summit, New Jersey, Anna trained as a graphic designer and made her way to Florida to work as a senior art director at a media company. After working in print design she left to pursue her passion in illustration. A number of posters and freelance work later, she re-discovered her lifelong love of stationery through wedding invitation design and the idea for a stationery collection was born. As Creative Director, Anna designs Rifle Paper Co.’s collection and oversees the creative direction of the brand including product development and marketing. Every one of Rifle’s over 900 products are designed by Anna and feature her signature hand-painted illustrations, vibrant color palette, and whimsical tone which has propelled the brand’s success. N AT H A N B O N D Nathan Bond is co-founder and CEO at Rifle Paper Co. Originally from Orlando, Nathan left college early to become a full-time musician and toured in a band for five years before leaving to partner with Anna to develop her growing stationery business. Nathan’s role is key to cultivating business relationships, managing quality manufacturing, finances, and overseeing the operations of the company.
Young Anna Bond presenting her art work
ANNA BOND EARLY LIFE AND INSPIRATION
I grew up loving painting and art. Stationery and paper goods were also something I loved when I was little, I always used to make my own cards and collected stamps. My parents were always incredibly supportive and mindful of fostering the artistic spirit they saw in me. We lived about 30 minutes outside of New York City and, although my parents never ventured into the city much, they allowed to start taking the train in on my own to explore. I usually found myself wandering the streets observing all the different characters or getting lost in the halls of The Met soaking in all the inspiration I could find. Those trips were so influential in exposing me to a creative world and igniting the spark in me to create something much bigger than myself. I went school for design but most of my knowledge came from experience and fellow designers. I was hired as an art director at a magazine right out of school and I had no idea what I was doing. I hadn’t even had a class on the program I was expected to use the most. But there I was in an incredibly demanding environment, and I was determined to learn and succeed. As a result, I probably learned more during my first 2 months on the job than in all of my schooling. That, to me, was the best learning experience and prepared me for eventually going out on my own and starting a company.
Anna and Nathan Bond taking pictures with their one-year old son, Ford
WEDDING INVITATIONS B E G I N N I N G O F R I F L E PA P E R C O .
I was working as a freelance illustrator for a couple of years before realizing that I wanted to focus on stationery design. A close friend asked me to design her wedding invitations. I’d loved graphic design and illustration on their own, but I saw that stationery was the best combination of the two.
Anna and Nathan’s wedding invitation,by Anna Bond
Nathan and I got married in July 2008. Our wedding invitation was the first that was fully illustrated with us as a couple and a scene, the style that people started to know us for. It was just something I pictured as being totally unique to us and really fun. I wasn’t into the standard, traditional invitation, and felt like the wedding invites should really showcase our personalities and give a hint to the whimsical style of the wedding. It was then that Nathan and I realized we had something different. At the time, the stationery industry seemed to lack a brand with my aesthetic: lush, feminine, hand-painted designs with vibrant colors and a vintage nod, on quality paper. We started by producing custom wedding invitations, a year after designing my first set we launched Rifle Paper Co. with the money made from the wedding invitations.
Anna and Nathan Bond’s wedding on July 12, 2008
‘Lindsey and Jeremy’ wedding invitation by Anna Bond
‘Audra and Chad’ wedding invitation by Anna Bond
‘Whitney and Christopher’ wedding invitation by Anna Bond
‘Rebecca and David’ wedding invitation by Anna Bond
STA R T I N G T H E C O M PA N Y
The most difficult part of starting out was not really knowing what we were doing. We didn’t know much of anything about the stationery industry when we started. We had an idea of what we wanted, we had our goals, we had the products, but there was so much we didn’t know, and there was no one to turn to in most situations. Although it was incredibly difficult, it also made us much better business owners. We learned how to figure things out on our own and solve nearly every problem that we faced. Nathan and I have always been determined to figure things out. Neither of us have backgrounds in business, but we’re hard workers, extremely resourceful, and stubborn about giving up. Most of what we learned about running a business has been through trial and error. For every problem that arose, we worked until we found an answer. We also balance each other out very well, and I think that’s the key. Nathan took to handling manufacturing and pricing, while I started focusing on marketing and planning big picture steps. We divided up business tasks and figured things out as we went along. Communication is vital to making our working relationship work. I couldn’t ask for a better business partner because we trust each other and have the same vision for Rifle Paper Co.
The day we launched our website was actually a big failure in almost every way possible! Our website crashed, our products got delivered ruined and unsellable, we couldn’t figure out how to ship intentionally, we didn’t anticipate the holiday rush, and the list goes on. I remember Nathan and I clicking publish with huge smiles on our faces and in a matter of hours we were both panicking and, as we like to joke about it now, having alternating meltdowns.
Illustrations from Anna Bond’s studio
We spent the next two to three weeks solving every problem, reprinting cards, emailing every new customer, enlisting friends to help, and eventually getting on the other side of it. Looking back, it’s very funny to think about all of those things going wrong at once, but at the time it was a nightmare. In the end, it was a huge learning experience for us, and we became much better business owners for going through a challenging start.
T H E R I F L E PA P E R C O. B R A N D
When Nathan and I launched, we would have long talks about what we valued in a good business: great customer service, speedy shipments, well-made products. I knew I wanted quality products, so I carefully picked out paper stocks and made sure that we printed locally so I could sign off on all colors, which are so important to the aesthetic of Rifle Paper Co.
‘Travel Paris’ illustration by Anna Bond
Rifle Paper Co. Logo Designs 2009, 2011, 2013, Current
As for the products themselves, the art and inspiration was based on my own personal style. At the time, most of the boutique stationery companies were focusing on letterpress design, and I wanted to offer something different with full-color illustrated cards. I knew that beyond quality, great paper, vibrant printing, and so on that I had to create products that were different and unique from what was already out there. All of those decisions were incredibly important in defining who we are as a company. Our style is whimsical and timeless, and a bit modern at the same time. And it’s very feminine and colorful. Beautiful design, functionality and quality are the core of our brand. I love purposeful imperfections.
T H E D E S I G N P R O C E S S
I’m always thinking about new products. I keep journals where I write down ideas and thoughts. It’s funny because most of my sketchbooks are just filled with words. It helps me to write out my thoughts and process my ideas before I start to plan or paint anything. I then draw up a few pencil sketches for the layout, style of the lettering, and illustrated elements. This part is really important as I usually hand draw or paint everything in the final version so it saves a lot of time to get things set before. Once the sketch is finished I use that to create the final illustration. Gouache is my primary medium, I absolutely love it and it really changed my style when I began painting with it.
City sketch studies, by Anna Bond
‘Paris’ city illustration by Anna Bond
Traveling is one of the core themes of our brand. The city map illustrations were one of the first things I really did and stems from my own love of travel. I just loved making those and people responded so well to them. They’ve become a signature part of the brand. The maps take a lot of research, which ends up taking more time than the actual painting, just trying to figure out where everything is, making sure I’m getting all the right landmarks and not missing something important.
THE FIRST COLLABORATION
GARANCE DORÉ Our first ever collaboration was with French fashion blogger, author and illustrator Garance Doré. She always had the dream of creating her own line of stationary, and after seeing Rifle Paper Co. products in Anthropology, she reached out, asking to collaborate with us. Five minutes after reviewing an email from her, we accepted her request! The collection we put out includes greeting cards, notebooks and art prints.
‘C’est La Vie!’ collaboration Anna Bond & Garance Doré
‘Cape’ of Les Femmes, 2015 collaboration Anna Bond & Garance Doré
PA P E R S O U R C E So much about picking the right paper stock depends on the use and the artwork. We have a few go-to paper stocks but also use a number of different ones depending on the project. I can be incredibly picky about getting a shade of cream just right or finding the perfect felt with the right amount of tooth. We spend a lot of time narrowing down options with new formats we develop. Lately, I’ve been loving thicker, smooth and velvety papers. We use Mohawk for a number of our greeting cards and calendars. What I like most about Mohawk is primarily the quality. I love how pens write on our greeting card stock, I love the color, and textures. The Via Felt we use for the calendars is just one of my favorite papers in general. I love how it feels.
FLAGSHIP STUDIO DESIGN
We moved into our current space in February 2010 and it took until November 2010 to fully complete the project. The time lapse was mainly due to our schedule, but we also paced ourselves to budget the cost. We’ve run our business completely debt free. The studio is located in the Hannibal Square district of Winter Park, a quaint shopping district with brick streets and cute shops and restaurants. We kept the concrete floors throughout the studio and laid wood floors only in the storefront area. We also built walls with an opening in the center to separate the studio area from the shop. The studio area is set up as an open room with a large work table in the center for production and desks on either side of the room.
Rifle Paper Co. storefront in Winter Park, FL
The main projects we did for the space were: painting, simple wood molding, the separation wall, wood floors in the front, our custom shelving for the shop, and the sign-age.
Original floor plan of Rifle Paper Co. studio. The store has expanded it’s studio and meeting space since the first design of 2010
We primarily carry our own line in our storefront but we also carry unique books, ribbon, handmade scissors and so on. My criteria for products is simply that I love it, it’s unique and somehow fits in with the Rifle Paper Co. aesthetic. It’s a bit of a hodgepodge assortment, but I love it that way. The shop has given me a better understanding of how our cards work in the store environment, such as how they look sitting on a shelf and what designs jump out at you from across the room. It’s hard to get that perspective from a computer screen or an inventory shelf. Rifle Paper Co. display Storefront mock-up for Rifle Paper Co. Detailed sketches of studio design for Rifle Paper Co.
I also have a better understanding of how orders are placed and what questions that I have from the vendors I buy from. I think that’s allowed us to be even better at our jobs as we work with our own vendors. We try to be as accessible, friendly and put emphasis on customer service.
FLAGSHIP LOCATION W I N T E R PA R K, F LO R I D A
Winter Park has been an amazing place to own a business. Growing up in New York City I remember feeling like I was always at the center of the world. It was hard for me to imagine living anywhere else. But I actually love that I’m in my own little world here. I definitely get creative energy from my trips to New York, which happen at least every other month, but here I can cut out all the noise and work hard.
‘Peacock’ illustration by Anna Bond. Peacocks are the city bird of Winter Park ‘Winter Park’ city scene illustration by Anna Bond
In many ways I feel like we are still starting out and we are tucked away in our little Winter Park bubble. I pinch myself that our products are carried around the world and that people have responded so well to what we’re doing here. My goal is to design products that people love, will cherish and want to give or mail to their loved ones. If I’m succeeding at that, I feel successful in what we’re doing at Rifle Paper Co.
SOURCES
“The Rise of Rifle Paper Co.” Alex Beggs, Vanity Fair Magazine “Talking Travel With Anna Bond” Danielle Berman, Travel Leisure “Studio Tour Part 1: the buildout.” Anna Bond, Rifle Paper Co. Blog “The Epistolary Entrepreneur” Anna Bond, Communication Arts “Rifle Paper Co. blooms in Winter Park.” Paul Brinkmann, Orlando Sentinel “How Rifle Paper Co. Became an International Lifestyle Brand” Arianne Foulks, Aeolidia “Meet Anna Bond of Rifle Paper Co.” Elanor Gaskin, Paper Source “Following the Paper Trail: Rifle Paper Co.” Freedom Martinze, Cake & Whiskey Magazine
“Anna Bond of Rifle Paper Co.” Mary Mullen, The Everygirl “Anna Bond” Sarah Schwartz, Stationery Trends Magazine “Anna Bond’s Journey into the Marvelous Unknown.” Sarah Schwartz, Felt & Wire, Mohawk “Sous Style Meets the Maker: Rifle Paper Co.” Sous Style, The Nest “Starting a Company? Here’s How to Think Big From the Very Beginning” Liz Welch, Inc. “Editor’s Pick: Rifle Paper Co.” Achica Magazine “About” Anna Bond Portfolio “History” Rifle Paper Co.