Spotlight Stationery: Letterpress Box Review

I’m so happy to get my hands on my first Spotlight Stationery subscription box.

I’ve been stalking the business for some time on social media now because I just love the concept.

I’ve even struck up and online rapport with the owners, Mary and Rob Wright.

But it’s taken me a while to take the plunge and sign up.

A picture on Twitter of some hand-stitched notebooks due to go out in February’s box finally tipped me over the edge!

Call it fate, but I couldn’t have picked a better time to join.

February’s theme was letterpress, something I have been fascinated with since handling some letterpress wedding stationery for a bride a couple of years ago.

There’s an amazing art behind it and the results are just beautiful to look at and feel.

“This is a theme we’ve been planning for some time as part of our efforts to support artisan stationery producers,” the introduction reads.

“We’d been looking for the right supplier but when we met the owners of Ledbury Letterpress at a Christmas fair last year, we stopped looking.”

Ledbury Letterpress is the creation of two friends, Rebecca Jones and Charlotte Evans, with help and support from master printer Martin Clark, of Tilley’s Letterpress Printing.

All of their products are printed on a Heidelberg Platens press dating from the 1800s and Tilley’s has been in its current location in Ledbury, Herefordshire, since 1875.

The introduction continues: “Using a mixture of antique printing blocks and new engravings, the contents of this month’s box – hand-stitched notebook, notecards and envelopes, greetings cards and gift tags – show the versatility of this traditional printing method.”

The box also contains a set of postcards featuring the work of talented young illustrators.

My personal favourite is the badgers and strawberries by Katie Turner and I’ll be popping it on my inspiration wall.

The purchase price of each box also includes a donation to charity, with Cheltenham-based Spotlight Stationery currently supporting Gloucestershire Young Carers.

I love the wildlife illustrations that have been pressed into the greetings cards, notecards and gift tags and the contrast of the neon pink WOW card that is also included.

I thought at first that the notebooks I’d seen on Twitter hadn’t made it into the box, then I realised they had been given a printed jacket.

I thought they were pretty before with the hand-stitched spine, but the jacket’s addition kicked it up a notch.

It may take me some time to build up to start writing in the notebook, as I’d hate to spoil it!

I was pleasantly surprised by how much Mary and Rob had managed to squeeze into the box, which is A5 in size and only a couple of centimetres deep so it can fit through letterboxes.

You certainly get your subscription payment’s worth and it all supports artisan craftspeople and small businesses.

I’m already looking forward to seeing what comes through the door in March.

You can subscribe, or buy previous boxes as a one-off, via the Spotlight Stationery website here.