Ink on Paper Source X Vichcraft

“It means so much to see my designs carried at Paper Source! When I was younger, I loved wandering around the Oak Park shop looking for inspiration for my paper collage projects, and it felt so wildly different than any crafting shop I’d ever been to. While finishing college, I worked at a Paper Source location as a retail associate, and I also had the absolute pleasure of working as a junior designer at Paper Source headquarters for a short stint of time before graduating. Working for and partnering with Paper Source feels like a special and full-circle experience.” Jenna said.  

“I launched Vichcraft at the start of 2015 after several years of freelance design and calligraphy work that I did while studying graphic design. Prior to that, I had my sights set on working at a packaging design agency that I considered my dream job and ended up working as a junior designer there immediately after graduating. Having that experience so early on in my career allowed me to really think critically about whether that job was a dream after all and ultimately decided that starting my own business might be the only real way to create a job for myself that checked all of the boxes that I wanted it to. I’m very grateful to my younger self for taking the leap!” 

Since her company launched, Vichcraft has steadily been building a collection of social-issue driven projects made with various tactile handcraft mediums. Currently there is a focus on creating embroidery work using a hand-cranked machine, lettering design collaborations with socially conscious companies, and conceptual stained glass. Vichcraftstrives to work right around the line between art, craft, and design to create historically informed work that provokes new ways of thinking. When asked where her inspiration comes from, she said “Lots of aesthetic inspiration comes from the Victorian era, antique lace and embroidery, vintage neon signs, and stained glass or art glass in any form. I’m also hugely inspired by punk and independent music, posters, and flyers, and DIY ethos in general.” 

“There’s an ongoing list in my Moleskine of projects I need and want to do, and they’re separated into a short-term section and a long-term section. This allows me to stay organized with regards to what needs to get prioritized on any given day, while also keeping in mind the types of just-for-fun things I’d love to work on or learn when time allows. My style is obsessive, time-consuming, informed, detailed, and sometimes funny I hope!”  

At home she lives with her husband and two parrots, a conure and a Hahn’s mini macaw. “Something fun and Paper Source related is that I was in a long-distance relationship for about three years, and my time working retail at a Paper Source shop happened during that period. My now husband and I exchanged mail nearly every day, and I made most of my envelopes myself using found paper and little scraps. Many of the envelopes that I sent him during that time were made with leftover paper scraps, stamps, stickers, and pens from workshops and demos in the store I worked at. Instead of flowers, we "decorated" our wedding venue with hundreds of our pieces of mail art.”