This Bride: Bright Lights in Brooklyn
bride | bright lights letterpress wedding invitation | couple
Courtney Jentzen
A stroll through Carroll Gardens with Courtney Jentzen of Swiss Cottage Designs
Today we’re back with another post from Courtney Jentzen, our September Designer of the Month. Courtney’s taking us on a tour of her neighborhood in Brooklyn — take a look!
We’re love calling Brooklyn our home. It’s tough to imagine Swiss Cottage Designs being anywhere else. Our studio is located in Carroll Gardens, a little neighborhood that’s nestled between Cobble Hill, Gowanus, and Red Hook. It’s not tough to find a beautiful block to walk down – the neighborhood is known for its tree lined streets and historic brownstones – or a great new restaurant or shop to check out. While we do love to explore the neighborhood, we also have our tried and true spots that it’s tough to beat.
Smith Canteen is a great little coffee shop with awesome baked goods, sandwiches, and the best lemonade around in my humble lemonade loving opinion.
I highly recommend popping into Black Gold…just know that you’ll be in there awhile. Despite the window reading “records”, Black Gold is more of an infinitely intriguing curiosity cabinet, full of vintage taxidermy, jewelry, art, and yes, records. Plus, they serve coffee! Definitely one of my favorite neighborhood spots.
Ted & Honey is a cute little cafe that serves both breakfast and lunch. It’s right on the corner of a tiny but beautiful park, so grabbing something to go is never a bad option.
The Farmacy is an old school soda fountain, complete with egg creams and employees in those little paper hats. Their ice cream floats are not for the feint of heart. If I don’t think I can conquer one mid-day, I usually go for a blueberry soda.
Mazzola might be our favorite of all (but don’t tell the others) The ladies behind the counter are always so sweet. You really can’t go wrong with iced tea and a few mini muffins…and maybe some crumb cake, a croissant, bear claw, and a cinnamon bun, just in case. We’ve tried them all.
We don’t trust our Swiss Cottage shipments to just anyone. When it comes to shipping, Omar, at Cobble Hill Variety, is our guy. We pay him a visit just about every day – sometimes twice a day during our big production pushes. Even though he’s a few blocks down the street, he’s a very important part of the Swiss Cottage team. I don’t know what we’d do without him.
And lastly, let’s not forget about one of New York’s weird treasures, bodega cats. Mars is one of my favorite bodega cats, not just in the neighborhood but in all of Brooklyn- that is kind of a big deal. You can usually spot him sleeping behind the plants at Martinez Grocery on Court Street. If you don’t see him at first, look closer! He’ll usually come out from hiding to say hello and ask for a few ear scratches.
Thanks for taking a journey around around our little hood! If you’re ever in the area, be sure to drop us a line to say hello!
Meet the Designer: Courtney Jentzen of Swiss Cottage Designs
We love any chance we can get to take a peek at the lives of our designers and calligraphers, so today we’re thrilled to have Courtney Jentzen (our September Designer of the Month) give us a tour of her studio! We’ll let Courtney take it from here!
Hello from Brooklyn! I’m Courtney from Swiss Cottage Designs and I’m so excited to be a part of the Bella Figura family. I love the unique styles and print methods Bella Figura offers to their brides. I am certainly looking forward to the 2015 release, it’s going to be a good one full of new treats (especially from us!) Thanks for having us on the blog!
This blog post is a peek into our life here in Brooklyn. I founded Swiss Cottage Designs in 2009 after working in the design industry for 4 years. While those years were filled with amazing professional experiences, I always knew I wanted to work for myself. Thus, SCD was born! We specialize in illustration, invitations and custom branding. In the last 5 years we’ve had the pleasure of working with brands such as Warby Parker, Crown Publishing, and of course, Bella Figura! As well as many, many wonderful couples and planners. I feel so lucky to be in such an amazing and inspiring industry.
We’re located in Carroll Gardens, a Brooklyn neighborhood of tree lined streets, historic brownstones and about a million places to grab tasty treats (it’s kind of a problem, really.) We have a home studio which means the neighborhood becomes sort of like a co-worker. We have two huge windows in our office that look out onto the street. I love glancing over to watch the neighborhood pass by our windows. I see the seasons change all from the comfort of my little desk. While the space is small, we’ve made it work for us with clever organization and about $800.00 worth of IKEA storage boxes. I love the freedom that working out of my home provides, and while it’s not for everyone, it certainly works for me.
I have tried to make the space a place where I feel calm and really want to spend time in. Because, if I’m being honest, I’m in here a lot! I have a large inspiration board above my desk that I’m constantly tinkering with; adding and subtracting new bits and pieces. I’ve reached capacity on wall space as each open spot is filled with pieces of art to inspire me throughout the day.
A day typical day (if there is such a thing) around the studio consists of lots and lots of emails, drawing, scanning, painting, designing, packaging, eagerly awaiting shipments from the printer, opening said shipments with bated breath, more emails, drawing, packaging and of course illicit amounts of coffee and tea. Running a business is the most incredible experience yet can be just as equally frustrating! There are days when the printer jams all your envelopes, a FedEx package goes missing and a press run comes back wrong and you just want to phone it in. Then you have days that are better than anything you could have imagined. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Designs by Courtney Jentzen on sale through September 30!
Courtney Jentzen is the September Designer of the Month! Save 10% on Courtney’s designs through the month of September, then save an additional 10% if you order six printed pieces or more! Courtney’s designs range from rustic to woodsy to beachy, with lovely hand drawn elements featured throughout. Every piece in Courtney’s collection of Bella Figura designs is on sale through the month of September: invitations, save the dates, rehearsal dinner invitations, and anything else you can dream up. As always, all of our designs are completely customizable: change the inks, the fonts, the layout and more to make a design your own! We’ve customized a few of Courtney’s designs just to show you how flexible the collection truly is – take a look!
Courtney’s Woodland design is ideal for a woodsy celebration with natural touches. The original version (above) features letterpress printing, calligraphy accents and a unique die-cut shape, while the customization (below) ties in foil stamped accents for a rustic look with a touch of glamour.
Ellipse (above) is an ultra-modern invitation design with quirky blind debossed patterns on the front of the invitations, bold fonts and vibrant ink colors. We customized Ellipse (below) with copper foil and an elegant ombre envelope liner to give the design a more sophisticated feel while still maintaining its quirky, modern charm.
A hand-drawn skyline, subdued color palette and urban fonts give Bright Lights a true NYC vibe, while breezy fonts and beachy motifs make Waterfront perfect for a seaside wedding.
Have questions about any of these designs? Please, be in touch, or take advantage of our personal shopper service!
The fine print: this offer is exclusive to designs by Courtney Jentzen and does not apply towards the purchase of other designs. Orders must be placed by 11:59pm Eastern on September 30, 2014 in order to receive this offer.
letterpress invitations for NYC graduation celebration
We welcomed illustrator Courtney Jentzen to the Bella Figura family last year and boy are we glad we did – her fun, whimsical style has been a welcome addition to our lineup of designs. Courtney’s Bright Lights invitation design is an ode to all things New York, featuring hand-illustrated landmarks like the Brooklyn Bridge, the Staten Island Ferry and a Brooklyn brownstone – seen here on the letterpress invitations for Jocelyn’s big city graduation celebration.
letterpress ink: black | fonts: declan + streamline | paper: bella cotton 1-ply white | customization #22346 | Sweet Paper
This Bride: Woodland Whimsy
Safari themed wedding invitation with blind deboss
Blind deboss back patterning on this customization of the Ellipse design adds subtle texture, perfect for an elegant African safari themed wedding. The hand drawn design elements bring in a soft bohemian look that are kept from feeling too wild when paired with Maybelle Imasa-Stukuls‘ unique hand calligraphy.
ellipse customization = letterpress ink: espresso + blind deboss | font: sans capitals | paper: white | invite size: f-8 | liner: diego pattern in desert + olive | hand calligraphy accents: belle style | original design by Courtney Jentzen| customized by in-house designer Jessica Tierney
Photo credits: Sunset + Bridesmaid, Cake
Elegant and formal nautical wedding invitation inspiration
This customization of the Waterfront design would be perfect for a sophisticated wedding by the sea. Custom hand calligraphy by Elizabeth Hardin in stunning Gold Shine foil sets the tone for this elegant wedding, while traditional blues and soft neutrals bring in a refined nautical look.
waterfront customization = letterpress inks: blind deboss + prussian blue | foil stamping: gold shine | font: holden | paper: white | invite size: f-8 | liner: martha’s vineyard vintage map pattern in color + prussian blue | hand calligraphy accents: parks style | original design by Courtney Jentzen | customized by in-house designer Jessica Tierney
Photo credits: flowers and bar cart | bride & groom