Jenni Undis of Lunalux

Who: Jenni Undis, owner and chief designer of Lunalux stationery, purchased Lunalux in 2003 after working there for seven years. Today Undis designs everything from wedding invitations and personal stationery to business cards and creative one-offs.

The Beginnings: “My parents owned a printing company [Custom Craftsman Printing] in Golden Valley, so I’ve always been surrounded by and interested in paper,” Undis says. “Growing up, I collected stickers and stationery. I always had pen pals. I liked to play office.”

The Uniqueness of Letterpress: “When I came to Lunalux as an intern in 1996, letterpress printing wasn’t really anything that special. It hadn’t yet gone through the revival it has gone through in the past few years. Because of my parents, I was more familiar with printing as commercial and glossy—nice, but not as magical. But I knew right away that the things produced by Lunalux were beyond beautiful, old fashioned, and artful.”

Finding Inspiration: “I love going to the Walker. I am interested in modern art and I am interested in artists who push the boundaries of what art is and the process that informs them. But I also love to look at old books. It is always interesting to see innovation and bells and whistles, but ultimately the most compelling and beautiful things are simple and pretty.”

Infinite Options: When talking custom letterpress designs, Undis says that modern technology makes the possibilities endless. “For many years, letterpress was done only with moveable type—you had to set physical type pieces to create a text. It took up a lot of space and you were limited to typefaces and select decorative cuts. Now, we use modern software to create a plate with almost any typeface or image.”

Truly Custom: Lunalux is one of the few local stores to offer products that are truly custom designed. “A lot of places will have books with options and you can change the typeface or the ink color. We work with clients on wedding invitations or calling cards and we create exactly what they want. That is uncommon—to do both graphic design and printing,” she says. But you don’t need a big project to enjoy the art; Lunalux stocks a handful of letterpress cards for every occasion. “You can go into the grocery store to buy a greeting card for five dollars, or you could have [one of our] lovely, tactile, handmade cards for five dollars."

Custom designs start at $300. Or get 10 pieces for $29 during Stationery Saturdays and create a custom print on the antique press. 1618 Harmon Pl., Mpls., 612-373-0526, lunalux.com