Gold foil card and envelope from Pretty Girl Paper (Photo by Adrian Walker)
Beth Harris remembers her first time entering a stationery shop. She was 7 years old, and the shop was Duck Soup in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. “I just fell in love with paper, all the colors, all the feels, the options,” Harris says. “I just loved it, and so I’ve always hoarded stationery.”
That obsession has led to an online business, Pretty Girl Paper, which she launched in June. The name harbors a couple of meanings: one being that Pretty Girl is what her mother called her as a baby; the other, that her stationery is designed to reflect fashion and beauty.
Betty Harris of Pretty Girl Paper (Photo by Adrian Walker)
Harris, a native of Spring Hope, North Carolina, attended the University of Richmond for two years, then earned a degree in fashion merchandising from the University of Georgia.
She landed a job in New York City, ready to take the fashion world by storm. But the dream job was an experience more in line with the film “The Devil Wears Prada.” Harris says her boss was displeased with her inability to read her mind.
After a stint in pharmaceutical and medical device sales, Harris developed the idea for the stationery business, turning her hobby into a career.
Her fashion background is evident in the stationery designs. Her cards are sleek and incorporate elements such as gold foil studs and fun sayings. They come in pastel pink and white, and the envelopes have gold foil and glittery paper inlays. Cards cost $6 each, or $26 to $28 for a pack.
Harris hopes her cards will encourage people to send handwritten notes to friends and family even when there’s no special occasion. “I get so excited to see that somebody has written my name or my address and I know that it’s from a friend,” she says. “I think that that’s something we just need as people, to continue to feel that human connection versus just a text or an email.”
The cards are sold in Quirk Gallery on West Broad Street, Mongrel in Carytown, Strawberry Fields Flowers & Finds in the Fan, and the Dear Neighbor store opening in Church Hill.
Items also can be purchased directly at prettygirlpaper.com.
