Meet the Press

BESPOKE TREASURES FROM BOOKS TO STATIONERY

Forty-year-old Luke Ives Pontifell is in his Thornwillow Press studio (a former coat factory), in Newburgh, New York, standing by a turn-of-the-century Carver printing press while inspecting a leather-bound edition of Obama’s inaugural speech. A different press cranks out note cards with an exquisite tiny pug motif. Bookplates with incredibly detailed heraldic crests are scattered about, and hundreds of pieces of type are stored in font cabinets. Two of Pontifell’s favorite typefaces—Garamond, which came into prominence in the 16th century, and Bulmer, an 18th-century face—are among the 20 he uses in regular rotation.

Thornwillow Press, a limited-edition publishing company and boutique-stationery outfit (thornwillow .com), is the source of the Nile for beautiful paper objects. Most people discover it by way of its cheeky cards, which feature such images as grasshoppers toasting, pigs flying, and ducks with paddles all in a row.

But Pontifell, who started binding books at his kitchen table at 16, also has a legion of fans—mostly private clients—who order products ranging from monogrammed paper to custom books, which can be found in such impressive places as the White House, the Vatican, and private libraries around the world. But in this age of tweets and Kindles, do notes on sumptuous stock and made-to-measure novels make sense? “In a funny way,” explains Pontifell, “beautiful cards are the most pragmatic thing you could own right now.

CYNTHIA KLING