i’m lucky to have a lot of people in my life who know me really, really well. they surprise me with thoughtful gifts – things that inspire me or kick me in the butt to do something creative. or they help me reach my goals, by doing what they do best (and i can’t for the life of me do myself).

the lovely marie lemaitre gave me the gestalten tome pictured above “introducing: visual identities for small businesses.” i have been paging through it ever since i got it, and it’s just this endless source of inspiration. not just by how these small companies present themselves visually, but the mere fact that they exist and the story of the creative things they do – it’s all very stimulating.

it also inspired me to finally take some pictures of the wonderful identity my friends pablo and manon of design studio hectica created for me. they designed the handwritten logo that i immediately turned into a stamp (it’s such a satisfying feeling to mark something with your own logo) and they commissioned brussels letterpress studio tipozero to make my cards on an old heidelberg letterpress. the front shows my logo, the back has my address and contact information – hand composed of course!

i love my business cards and i give them to anyone who crosses my path. i feel like they represent my style and values, and i’m very grateful to pablo and manon for their ability to understand what i’m about and translate that to something visually appealing. my limited designing chops just don’t cut it next to their talent.