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Indie Designer Interviews: Feterie

Filed under: Holiday Style, Haute Home, Interviews

Feterie gift wrapWe love all of the amazing independent designers out there. In order to find out more about just what makes all of these creative types tick, we present to you an ongoing segment called Indie Designer Interviews.

Love beautifully wrapped gifts and gorgeous invites? Then you're going to love today's featured designer, Cathe Huynh-Sison of Feterie - Modern Stationery and Bespoken Lovelies. These papers, greeting cards and invites are lovely alright, and they're sure to put the perfect finishing touch on your celebration.

Tell us a little about yourself and your company. Feterie is a stationery design boutique. We design and manufacture custom event stationery for life events such as wedding, gift wrap, greeting cards, social stationery, imprintables, enclosure & gift tags, birth announcements, shower invitations and other bespoken lovelies. It was born out of my life-long passionate love affair for paper, patterns, design, color and typography.

How did you get started as a stationery designer? I started my business in 2003 (then it was operated under the name of Fete) after an opportunity that I couldn't pass up dropped into my lap. The event planners at the San Jose Museum of Art (the venue for my wedding reception) were hosting a Spring Wedding event at the museum and remembered that I was working on a collection of wedding invitations that came out of my frustration of not finding anything that I liked for my own wedding. So, they invited me the show my wedding stationery and that event served as our debut!

Any advice you would give to aspiring entrepreneurs? Find others (individual or group of like-minded individuals) in the same business that you are considering starting a business and if they are willing to share insight or be a mentor, connect with them!

Feterie greeting cardsWhat inspires your work? It's going to sound cliché, but it's very true that I find inspiration from everywhere and everything. It's the main reason why I always have the habit of carrying a sketchbook with me because the inspiration moment can be found anywhere and anytime - from the a casual catch-up conversation with a friend where every other word was, "OMG!" to patterns of a cobblestone street.

Who are your favorite designers?
Indie: I'm a Trunkt and Etsy addict! But if I had to choose one, I would have to say my current love for Kara Janx's dresses. Ever since her kimono dress from her Project Runway appearance, I have been loving everything that she designs.
Mainstream: Anything from Anthropologie (show me anything from there and chances are I'll love it!)

What are your top fashion & beauty must-haves?
Beauty: Bare Essentials Mineral Powders (natural, effortless make-up) and mi-SPA soap (I'm addicted to their Green Tea & Honey soap!), and a tube of lip gloss.
Fashion: Dark indigo wide leg jeans, black tops, and my engagement/wedding ring set (I love the Steven Kretchmer tension setting!)

Where can people find your work? Our cards and gift wraps can be found on our shiny new online shop at shop.feterie.com (we JUST launched it!) and at Broadway Paper plus a couple of new stores soon! We also have a feature showcase on trunkt.org/feterie

Anything else? Yes, there are three notables about Feterie:
1) We also provide couture stationery design services - where the design remains an original (it's our "Break-the-Mold" policy) much like haute couture. It's like having your own personal stationer for all your events and stationery needs.
2) We're a California-based company, thought we're self-confessed Francophiles - can't you tell?
3) Our goal is to be more ecologically aware and to lessen our carbon footprint. In this passionate effort, we try to maintain a level of "greenness" with running our business - from shredding recycling unwanted junkmail/used office paper to become shipping materials for orders to receiving our faxes electronically (we only print them when needed) to using materials in our designs that has some part of eco-friendliness to it. For us, it's not a requirement, it's a way of life and doing business that we are proud of.

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