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Calling cards are the new business cards, which is funny considering calling cards have actually been around a lot longer. As more and more entrepreneurs and self-employed individuals take their careers and self-publicity into their own hands, it seems that the globalized, Internet-based world seems more friendly towards the calling card than the business card. As a fresh college graduate riding endless waves of short-term internships and part-time jobs, it's not exactly time for me to be investing in business cards. Business cards imply stability, an individual within a fixed career path - certainly not a bad thing, but for many of us young wanderlusting 20-somethings, it's just not the time. Which is why I set my sights on getting myself some stylish, unique calling cards. They're way more versatile, because they can be offered in situations ranging from a formal business introduction to meeting someone at a bar. Plus, there's something timeless about having a hard copy of your contact info, should you ever have the opportunity to leave it behind on a silver platter...
I wanted something simple but classy, so I started searching around for affordable, smaller-quantity sets of calling cards. I stumbled upon Washington-based Hoban Press, which does old-school letterpressing by hand with early 1900s printing presses! They're classy as hell and their Etsy shop offered the option of pre-designed templates in sets of 100. At less than $1 a card for such a labor-intensive type of printing, these were quite the deal! They arrived today and I could not be happier with how they turned out. The best part? Hoban saves your plates and gives you a 20% discount on future reprints! Business cards come and go, but calling cards can last you for life!
One last thing - check out this video of Hoban Press's machines! I think this is so cool, but it might just be because I'm a publishing nerd. I'm currently interning at Yale University Press, and as I'm working in their Production department I literally spend my days dealing with printers, inks, dies, paper, foil stamping, &c., so seeing how these processes used to be done on machines in the early 1900s - and finding a company that maintains and puts to good use those same machines - well, that's pretty spiffy. :)
