A little tribute to...Ol' Louie

If you are in the greeting card biz you certainly know who Louis Prang is. He is esteemed as the father of the American holiday greeting card. Immigrating from Breslau in a time of political strife, he came to the US in 1856 and lived in Roxbury, Massachusetts. Within ten years, he had mastered lithography and was printing entire lines of elaborate holiday cards. His work promoted the printing industry to what it is today and the "Prang" name can be recognized with art materials still found in stores. We can also thank him for being instrumental in developing art education and printing the first instructional textbooks.

Now for those of you outside the stationery industry, you may have never heard of ol' Louie. He is quite well know to us paper people. In fact, every year in May at the National Stationery Show in New York City, stationery companies get all decked out for the "Academy Awards" of the paper industry, "The Louie Awards". The award bearing his name is given for creative excellence in the industry. Behind every card, invitation, thank you note or announcement is a idea, designers, production teams and photographers. Creating paper greetings is an art, as fashion for your self expressions.

Fresh ideas, amazing design and new techniques of the highest standards manufactured today would make Louis Prang one proud printer. He may have started this American tradition, but today it is preserved, every single time you put a card in the mail.

{Images: Photo of Louis Prang from The National Museum of American History, The Smithsonian Graphic Arts Collection; Prang Christmas Card via Greeting Card Association; Flocked Party Reindeer by Meri Meri for eInvite.}