January 4, 2006

Small Wonder

Etui Cards

Always heed the lessons of your favorite English teacher: Don’t use cliches. And be concise when you communicate.

Seriously. Why use monstrous multisyllable words when a few carefully selected ones will be just as effective (and probably more understandable)?

Stationery designer Julie Meredith must have been an A+ student. The environmentally conscious creator chose her company name, Etui, because it was petite and charming but not obnoxiously cutesy. Like the word (which means “a small ornamental case”), her silk-screened cards focus on life’s little luxuries.

Colorful silhouetted figures jump rope, throw snowballs, float in inner tubes, and play croquet. And they encourage the pursuit of another back-in-the-day pleasure: good old-fashioned letter writing.

See? It’s easy to express yourself, even without the unpronounceable terms.

Because, cliche as it may be, a picture’s worth a thousand words.

Available online at etui-etui.com.