• Thornwillow at the St. Regis

  2 E. 55th St., nr. Fifth Ave. 212-980-0738; thornwillow.com

  The setting is your first clue to the fine, old-fashioned letterpress and engraved printing found at Thornwillow: It’s in the “cognac room” off the St. Regis hotel’s lobby. Once there, you make your selections of paper, ink, and gilt, plus one of hundreds of archival, hard-to-find type fonts (a specialty here). Everything’s finished by hand, and the printing is done upstate, in an old factory fitted out with presses that date as far back as 1890. (Turnaround time is comparatively quick: about three weeks.) Paper goods like this don’t come cheap—typically starting at around $640 for 100 basic notecards and envelopes, including the custom engraving plate—but ordering stationery here puts you in good company: Thornwillow’s clients have included presidents and celebrities. The products don’t stop at writing paper, either, so if you happen to be opening that winery you’ve always dreamed of, here’s where to order your labels.

From the 2013 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine