Saturday was “Small Business Saturday,” but small businesses should always be front-of-mind these days. Now more than ever, local shops and entrepreneurs deserve our support. But that’s pretty easy when what they’re making is this cool.
Compiled by Adele Chapin, Anying Guo, Fritz Hahn, Angela Haupt, Michael O’Sullivan and Stephanie Williams.
Appointed
Packages of stationery from Appointed arrive fastened with tape inscribed with the words “Beautiful Tools to Inspire Beautiful Work.” That’s graphic designer Suann Song’s mantra. After having a hard time finding “minimalist, super-functional, well-designed American-made paper products,” she decided to make them herself, launching Appointed in 2015. All the materials are purposefully selected (such as the U.S.-manufactured, water-resistant book cloth covers), and then almost everything is assembled in Appointed’s Ivy City warehouse. The signature product is Appointed’s monogrammable spiral-bound notebook ($24). But lately, Song’s having trouble keeping up with demand for planners, which went up more than fivefold