Bringing the old world together with the new
Letterpress is a traditional, old-world printing method that uses raised type and relief plates to create an ink impression on paper. Originally fashioned from wood and metal, letterpress plates are now made by etching designs with UV light into high-quality polymer, creating a pixel-perfect photo negative plate. We then mount the plate to our vintage, 1957 Vandercook press base and adjust the registration by hand to within a thousandth of an inch, ensuring each invitation is perfectly symmetrical and gallery-straight.
Once mounted, the press is manually inked using vivid Van Son Dutch inks, mixed to perfection using modern Pantone formulas and applied by hand to the press. Each invitation is then meticulously rolled through the press and cut to size on a 1890’s era Challenge guillotine paper cutter.
Invitations are assembled with care and unsparing detail and styled with optional copperplate calligraphy, vintage stamps and wax seals to send your guests all the right messages.
Bespoke design…
meet color
From hand-made paper and custom calligraphy to fine art prints and wedding invitations, Collective Script has evolved to dispel the myth that traditional stationery must either be sophisticated and elegant or else colorful and daring, but not both.
Established in 2018 by Lacy Porath, Collective Script is a small, West Michigan design studio and print shop that seeks to marry the very best in modern design with all the decoration and refinement of traditional gilded age invitational etiquette. From creative nods to mid-century retro florals and bursts of color to the unapologetically posh ornamentation of nineteenth century French high society, our aesthetic continues to be both luxurious and playful, inspiring couples who desire something truly original.
“Don’t just make beautiful things. Make life more beautiful.”
Lacy Porath
Designer, printer and artist, Lacy’s hard-won reputation in the letterpress community originates with her humility and willingness to put people above anything else, always. Brides and grooms looking for something fresh and off the beaten path continue to seek her out for her vivid and eclectic design aesthetic, client-side warmth and humor and the quality-obsession that has come to mark her work.
