Antiquaria was officially born in August of 2010, but the adventure began a year earlier, when Emma James and Bailey Amon met in the Austin, Texas stationery store where Emma was designing invitations. Bailey walked into the store one day with her calligraphy portfolio, and the two immediately hit it off... we’re talking instant mutual admiration society here. A couple of months later, Emma hired Bailey to do the calligraphy for her beautiful wedding invitations, and the rest was history.
With a mutual love of all things vintage and vintage-inspired, Emma and Bailey decided to start Antiquaria as a vintage housewares and design company. In the spring of 2011, they added 5 custom rubber stamp designs, not knowing what a huge success they would be. Since then, the collection has grown to over 250 stamp designs, including wedding invitations and save the dates. The result has transformed the wedding industry by giving brides the tools to express their own creativity and style through their hand-stamped stationery. As their stamp business flourished, they were also inundated with inquiries for custom wedding invitations, specifically Emma’s Southwestern cactus wedding invitation. After so many requests for their design services, Emma and Bailey slowly started spending more time on stationery and in the spring of 2013, they added a line of elegant yet whimsical letterpress wedding invitations to the store. In the fall of 2013, Antiquaria officially retired its vintage housewares branch to focus solely on expanding their stationery line.
The response to Antiquaria’s designs has been amazing. Antiquaria has been featured in Martha Stewart Wedding Magazine multiple times, as well as in Brides and Southern Weddings. Emma and Bailey are regular guest bloggers on the popular paper blog Oh So Beautiful Paper, where they show people how to be creative with rubber stamps. You can follow them on Instagram,Twitter and their seasonal magazine, The Antiquarian Post.
The Antiquaria Vintage-Modern Design Philosophy
With their masterful use of calligraphy, hand lettering, hand-drawn illustration, vintage etching, watercolor, and typography, the Antiquaria design philosophy embodies a vintage-modern design aesthetic. Antiquaria designs are meant to be approachable, not fussy or over-the-top. At Antiquaria, we believe design should feel natural, like it’s meant to be there, like it’s always been there. Above all, our designs should make you happy.
Antiquaria encourages clients to get involved with the design process and make the designs their own. Whether it’s making their invitations themselves or just adding a finishing touch—a special ribbon, a return address stamp on the envelope—Antiquaria’s philosophy is that clients who get involved, will feel a more personal connection to the product and the process.
Antiquaria uses the highest quality materials available for their products, including 100% cotton as well as recycled content papers for their printing and precision cut acetate for their stamp designs. Their letterpress and archival flat print processes yield museum quality products that will be cherished treasures for years to come.
Emma James…
Emma has a BFA in fashion from Parsons, The New School for Design, and she worked as a fashion designer for many years before co-founding Antiquaria. Emma is a workaholic who never stops thinking about design—she has been known to call Bailey on a Sunday morning with an idea that just can’t wait. Emma lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband, daughter, and two French bulldogs.
Bailey Amon…
Bailey has a BS in Retail Merchandising from the University of Texas at Austin and was a stylist in her former life. Bailey gets teased endlessly for being the old lady of the duo—she loves to knit, garden, and bake homemade bread (yum!). Bailey lives in southern California with her husband and two cats.
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