The Aussie brand behind a beautifully unique range of stationery is a finalist in one of the country’s top awards for best small independent retailers.
Bespoke Letterpress has been named among the top six small independent retailers across Australia by the Australia ORIA (Online Retail Industry Awards) in the “Best Small Independent Retailer” category.
This marks a huge milestone for the female-founded New South Wales brand, which has charted a path from a humble beginning in wedding invitations to becoming a globally recognised name in the luxury stationery and design industry.
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The “Best Small Independent Retailer” category within the ORIA awards acknowledges the achievements of small e-commerce leaders who demonstrate outstanding business practices, strategic innovation, and substantial growth.
Eligible businesses are independent entities with two to 20 employees and annual revenues up to $10 million.
The inclusion marks a huge milestone for Bespoke Letterpress.
The store has charted a path from a humble beginning in wedding invitations to becoming a globally recognised name in the luxury stationery and design industry.
Bespoke Letterpress was famously founded by mum-of-four Alischa Herrmann in 2007, when her pilot husband, Hayden, needed to move to Brisbane and Alischa had to find a new job.
“I’d been working somewhere very big and commercial but I wanted something where I could be involved in the whole process of designing, creating and printing,” Alischa previously told Best Picks.
Her research threw up letterpress printing, which was almost a lost art.
The process uses raised, inked surfaces to press on to paper leaving an imprinted texture.
It involves a huge level of skill but yields beautiful results.
“I ended up buying a letter press printer from a retiring book binder,” Alischa said.
“It was 800 kilos and we had to hire a ute and a fork lift to move it and then it sat in my parents shed for months because I was petrified about learning to operate something that could chop your fingers off. It can be very dangerous.”
That’s where Bob, an old letter press printer came in. The seventy-something year old, who has now passed away, heard about Alischa’s mission to learn his trade.
“He had an inkling that when he was gone so would his craft and so he took me on as an informal apprentice,” Alischa says.
“It took years and I still had no idea what I wanted to make but I started with beautiful wedding invitations that I sold at markets and the feedback was really good.”
This was the humble beginnings of Alischa’s now global business, Bespoke Letterpress.
As her ideas flowed and customer base grew, Bespoke Letterpress opened its first store in Sydney’s Strand Arcade in 2015.
It now has multiple retail locations across Australia (including Bowral and Canberra Centre — with more stores opening later this year) and maintains a thriving online presence.
Selling globally, Bespoke Letterpress has showcased its Australian-designed stationery at prestigious trade shows in New York and London, cementing its position on the international stage.
Over the past five years, Bespoke Letterpress has gone from strength to strength.
The brand has achieved a remarkable 1100 per cent growth, with a 1700 per cent increase in point-of-sale sales.
Their robust online platform and vibrant social media presence, boasting over 100,000 followers, has been pivotal in driving this success.
With 249,000 orders fulfilled in the last five years, Bespoke Letterpress shows robust demand and operational capability from their regional NSW headquarters.
The nomination is also a testament to the brand’s innovative approach and dedication to crafting beautiful, high-quality products that resonate with their audience.
As they continue to expand their product lines and enter new markets, Bespoke Letterpress remains a leader in setting standards for sustainability and luxury in the stationery sector.
For more information and to browse the Bespoke Letterpress site, head here now.
