Designer Feature · Many Ways Of Paper · May 06, 2021

THE MANY WAYS OF PAPER - A DESIGNER SPOTLIGHT: with Bella Carta, Bucharest

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Hello, I’m Raluca and I live in Bucharest, a vibrant and beautiful city. Come and visit on a weekend break, you will not be disappointed!

My university degree is in Marketing & Foreign Trade and I worked for a major Oil& Gas company for quite some time, but I was always day dreaming about design, stationery and creating things with my hands.

One day I decided to follow my dream and see where it takes me, and this is how Bella Carta came to be. We are now doing stationery for eight years.

We are happy and lucky to work with amazing & diverse clients: private customers, event planning agencies and corporate brands.

Show us one of your favourite designs and tell us about how it came to be.

One of my favourite designs is from our semi-custom collection. I created it using only one font and minimal wording, but having in mind the type of paper that I was going to print on: handmade paper. I knew it will bring sophistication while keeping the simplicity of the design.

What are your favourite colours to work with right now? And why?

My favourite colours for paper will always be soft white & light grey. They are the most versatile: they can be romantic, neutral, elegant, classical, modern, minimalistic – just pair them with the right font and printing technique and they change their identity and become the right medium for your project.

Your all time favorite colour in Hex and how would you describe it?

It is # 477482, a French Blue as I call it - a dusty, muted, grey(ish)-blue that prints well on anything.

Which of all our colours of handmade paper do you like best if you had to chose one?

This is quite hard, as your colours are SO beautiful and balanced. But Light Grey has my heart.

Colour combination that will never go out of style? Colour combination that will make a comeback?

Crisp black or navy letterpress on soft white paper – so Elegant.

Gold foil on Slate Blue or Blush – so Romantic.

What are design elements that you use consistently in your work?

Negative space is very important for me – I truly believe less is more. I love when I have the opportunity to use it in my designs.

I also use floral & venue sketches.

How do you see handmade paper? Is it a more modern or a more retro design element?

Because it has such an organic look & feel, it is modern, retro and everything in between. Luxurious to touch, wonderful to look at.

What inspires you?

Nature is my greatest source of inspiration. The forest, the sea and a garden of flowers are always the best teachers regarding simplicity in design and colour theory.

Your dream design project?

I am lucky to be currently working on one of my Dream Design Projects: Bella Carta’s line of Greeting Cards. It was a dream of mine for quite some time and now it is starting to grow, and this makes me very happy. We already sell them through some carefully selected vendors and long-time business partners here in Bucharest, but we plan to expand to top 10 major cities in Romania and then go national.

If you had to use only one font on handmade paper for the rest of your designer's life, which would it be?

This is easy, as I surely do have a favourite and it is a staple in Bella Carta’s designs: Crimson, with a tracking of 150.

Are you secretly a serif or sans serif person?

Serif person, always.

Which three words best describe your style?

Clean, elegant, thoughtful.

Did you teach it yourself or did you go to school for design?

I am a self taught designer.

How did you learn calligraphy?

I have just enrolled in a Calligraphy Class to start learning this wonderful skill. Cannot wait for the journey.

Your guilty pleasure in design?

Fonts – I really have a passion for fonts. Serif, sans, script… I collect them all and I think choosing the “right” font in my designs takes a large portion of my design time.