Olive-Route

As a wedding consultant and coordinator, I have had the pleasure of working with Olivia. She is not only an accomplished artist with impeccable standards, she is also completely professional. My clients chose her for all of the print materials for their July wedding at the Calistoga Ranch. It was all beautifully designed and more importantly was completed in a timely fashion with great attention to detail. Nothing was overlooked. She is the best and I am looking forward of having the honor and pleasure of working with her in the future. She is a team player and gives 120% of her energy to your project.

1 word: RUDE. Why is a 0 star rating not an option?!
Olivia was snippy, unfriendly, and terse with me and my fiancé, even though we never once reciprocated her attitude (we wanted her to do a good job, after all). Here’s what happened:
1. We wanted a pull-​out tab on our invitation (you have a pocket on the card, stick a picture inside, the guest pulls it out — as a child, everybody had a book with this feature, right?). For some reason, this was impossible for Olivia to understand, even though we drew her step-​by-​step instructions of how a pull-​out works.
2. We were on a super short timeline, so we finally decided to nix the pull-​out idea and do it ourselves (that’s how simple it was) — so all Olivia had to do was design & print our invitations.
3. She knew we were on a short timeline, and agreed to designing & printing our invitations. AFTER agreeing to this (meaning we stopped searching for invitation vendors, which we had started to do after being concerned about Olivia’s rudeness/​lack of understanding), she sends us an email simply saying it was all too complicated and she wouldn’t do it. No apology or empathy whatsoever. We have all the email proof that this happened, from agreeing to do it to suddenly taking it back, and all in a rude manner.
Any bride-​to-​be will understand how worrisome, frustrating, stressful, etc. it is when a vendor suddenly goes back on their word or plans change — it is the LAST thing you need when trying to plan a perfect wedding. NO bride needs that kind of stress.
Long story short, we went with Good on Paper (Lisa Wong Jackson), who was kind, courteous, understood immediately what we wanted, and gave us amazing results — pull-​out included — with no sweat. Couldn’t recommend her more.
Brides, want a valuable tip? Save yourself the stress and frustration of working with a rude and unreliable vendor, and GO SOMEWHERE ELSE.
P. S. All of the positive reviews appear to be posted either on the same day or within a week of one another. Recruiting people to write reviews???

Olivia’s letterpress work (and design) was absolutely hands-​down the most incredible thing about planning our wedding. Her creative sensibility was so informative to our wedding aesthetic that she ultimately played a hand in table number design and guest book construction– she was regularly consulted by our wedding coordinator on broader elements for the day-​of design. The early conversations with Olivia were integral in defining our wedding concept– these chats also resulted in the most uniquely beautiful and personal invitation suite I might’ve imagined. Olivia was timely, professional, quality oriented and extremely adaptable to our small shifts and editing. She was able to translate the ideas we had in our heads into paper and ink with a remarkable clarity. Plus she’s hip and her own and artistic, so she doesn’t want your paper work to look like everyone else’s. which is great, because you don’t want it to either :).
5 plus stars. and a huge thank you. We are so fortunate to have been able to work with Olivia’s talent these last set of months.

Olivia is the most amazing designer! We were married in July in Calistoga Ranch and she made the process fun and easy. My husband is from England and has a family crest that Olivia incorporated beautifully into all of our pieces. We are still getting compliments on all of our printed pieces from our invitations to our menus. She was so fun and easy to work with. I highly recommend Olivia! She is a true professional.

I’ve got to give a shout out to Olive-​Route. I met Olivia 3 years ago when one of my clients hired her to design her save the dates for her wedding (thanks Leigh). That was the beginning of a really great working relationship and friendship. Since then we have worked on over 6 weddings together. Everything Olivia does is unique and she’s always thinking outside the box. I really appreciate the fact that she always strives to do something unique and different yet adheres to sensitive time constraints and budgets every time. She makes the design process fun for my clients and lets them feel like a true part of the process. She’s also great about trying to understand the larger picture in terms of the overall design and feel of an actual wedding so that her paper materials are cohesive and complimentary to everything else we have going on for our large projects. I would definitely recommend Olivia for anyone looking for something unique and thoughtful both in the wedding relm and beyond. Olivia also designed my husbands business cards which turned out really fantastic. Hire her now! But don’t make her too busy because I need her!

I’ve been a repeat customer of Olive-​Route for some years now. Via’s easy to work with and her designs are truly unique. I’ve ordered stationary for myself, as well as other close family and friends as wedding gifts. With each project, she takes the time to learn about the recipient of my gifts and design something beautiful that suits their style and taste. For one gift, she went above and beyond to source a beautiful wooden case to store the stationary set. It was branded with the couple’s custom logo and was one of the best wedding gifts I’ve ever given. I have and will continue to recommend Olive-​Route to my good friends and acquaintances who are looking for the highest quality in their wedding invitations/​stationary.

Via is great! I was looking for letterpress invitations for my Chinese Wedding, but all the letterpress companies that I interviewed were expensive and could not make the custom double happiness symbol and Chinese characters that I sent (my friend with a Chinese Keyboard helped to type it up). I was ecstatic to find out from a friend that Via had transferred her artistic talent from architecture to letterpress printing.
Although I was far away in L.A., Via was able to work patiently with me via email to get the design just right. I knew that I wanted the invitations to be silver ink on black cardstock, but did not know how to get the double happiness character that I wanted into the invitation. Via ingeniously suggested that we use invisible ink for the giant double happiness character that I wanted. This gave the invitations a beautiful multidimensional feel that I loved. The invitations turned out beautiful and was one of the most memorable pieces of my wedding. Each and every invitation was pressed hard like I asked. Via even gave me the letterpress mold of the double happiness character. Via even made us matching personalized stationery (as a gift from my maid of honor to us). I truly appreciate Via’s talent and thoughtfulness in helping to make my wedding day so memorable.

Working with Olivia on a number of projects, I’ve been able to see her process and dedication to her art. Her work is always new, exciting and fresh, perfectly tailored to each client she comes across. She is patient and persistent, as I experienced when she printed my wedding collateral. A bride has so many things to think about and most things tend to be left for the last minute, but Olivia was there to gently remind me when we had to review the invitations and when they should be sent out. Her confident yet calm temperament is exactly what a stressed and (most likely) irrational bride needs at that time! Her perfectionist printing guaranteed beautiful paper goods beyond what I ever imagined. Her mastery and understanding of the craft is unparallelled. She even had suggestions for elements outside of her scope of work that were completely on point. I feel so lucky to have worked with Olivia and am looking for an excuse to work with her again. Thanks, Olive-​Route Press!

When I first set out to begin the process of save the dates and invitations for my wedding, I was thrilled to meet Olivia. I was immediately blown away by her samples, and also her sweet, creative, and professional attitude. We really wanted something out of the box, and oh boy did she deliver. She completely blew our minds and created the most incredible save the dates (wine bottle labels in custom wine holders, gorgeous fabric holding the bottle, and customized shipping boxes), and invitations (books with hand-​made twig binding, pages of gorgeously designed information, and a library card type response card). She took our notes and ideas and ran with them and completely exceeded all of our expectations. She, and her talent for what she does, are beyond special. Not sure what our next paper needs will be, but no matter what, Olivia and Olive-​Route will be the only place we go!

I have worked with Via of Olive-​Route on numerous projects and I continue to be highly impressed with her professionalism and commitment to her craft. She is that rare bird who will give every single job 110% of her creative energy and the quality of her final product is just impeccable! But beyond the product, Via is so easy and fun to work with. She’s smart, knowledgeable and always willing to share her expertise. If I could, I’d give her 6 stars!

When I began my wedding planning process, my wedding planning team (the fabulous AE Planning + Design), showed me a box of wedding print materials and all the ones that I loved and pulled out were created by Olivia of Olive-​Route. When I first met Olivia, I knew we wanted to work with her for our wedding. I was extremely impressed with her enthusiasm, her reassuring manner, her clear love and understanding of printing, and her excitement at brainstorming new ideas. Throughout the design process, Olivia was a joy to work with. She always knew exactly what I was talking about, could decipher all my little sketches, and perfectly transformed everything into the most beautiful wedding print materials ever — from old map Save-​the-​Dates, to elegant gate folded invitations with foil, carved wood tokens, and the most gorgeous table name cards that I have kept and will frame to hang in our home. She was extraordinarily patient, diligent, and if anything, a perfectionist to a fault, but that’s why she creates such amazing craft in her lovely little print studio.
When we were in the final planning stages of our wedding with less than 3 weeks out, Olivia had an accident that left her temporarily without the use of one of her hands. Despite this, Olivia had NO problem in printing our Welcome Booklets, Table Name Cards, Ceremony Programs, Escort Cards, VIP Name Cards, Wooden Tokens, and Reception Menu Cards… she even finished everything a day earlier than promised! If that is not total dedication to a client, then I don’t know what is…
Olivia is a true pleasure to work with. She is always kind, generous (offering me homemade donuts and jam when I visited her studio), and a joy to be around. No matter how busy she is, she always takes time to make sure everything is the way you want it. I had so much fun brainstorming with Olivia — and she loves thinking outside of the box and creating something she’s never done — she thrives on it! What particularly drew me to working with Olivia is the true passion she has for printing and the respect she has for the old world letterpress craft.
I can’t wait to work with Olivia again and am just trying to come up with a new project! She surpassed all our expectations — she is genius!

Olivia at Olive-​Route is awesome! I was originally introduced to Olivia through my job, where she has created unbelievably beautiful and unique letterpressed Christmas and Thanksgiving cards for our clients. More recently, we ordered custom-​made business cards and stationary and we receive compliments all the time on how wonderful they look! Prior to ordering, she mailed us a whole packet of sample cards and stationary so we could get an idea of the different layouts and card thicknesses. Each job has been done with careful precision and an artistic eye and we could not be happier with her work.
My most recent experience was just last month when Olivia helped me make custom wedding invitations for my upcoming wedding. She was extremely flexible with my time-​line and was always very aware of my budget! She sent me multiple drafts and I ended up adding a brunch invitation at the last minute — which she squeezed in with no problem! It was fun going to her adorable shop to meet her and finalize colors. I love how my invitations turned out — they are so unique and like nothing else I’ve seen! Before I consulted with Olivia, I was so overwhelmed with wedding invitation options that I didn’t know what to do with myself. All I have to say is thanks Olive-​Route for making my wedding invitation experience a walk-​in-​the-​park!

Well, I cannot speak for the experience of the reviewer prior to me, but I have to say I had a completely contrary experience with Olivia and her shop.
Upon the very first conversation with her, I knew that I had found the right vendor. She quickly picked up on me, my style of working, and my vision for the wedding and invites and turned around (quickly I might add) a design that was not only right on target, but she was completely flexible in making it just right as we had tweaks along the way. I think this was aided by her use of an inspiration board that I was able to access easily online and provide thoughts, reactions, and feedback to the things she had selected to guide the design of our wedding invitations. Moreover, she was completely accommodating to our quick timeframes (no fault of hers) — mailing pieces to me in batches so that we could expedite addressing envelopes while she finished printing the rest of the suite.
My fiancé and I are pretty particular people in general and the invites for the wedding were no exception — Olivia did nothing but take our opinions and thoughts and turn them into something that was far better than we could have conjured up on our own.
I am right in the thick of the process with the wedding and receiving RSVPs as we speak so you may be able to guess that stress levels are high. Our continued work with this shop has aided in that process and left us with materials on which we are proud to have collaborated. Not to mention the variety of «props» we’ve have received from people including the following note I got from a friend… «By the way, LOVED your invitation. My favorite so far and I think we’re on wedding 40 or so…» — and if you were wondering that was a 32 year old guy — not the typical praise that I was expecting… just my thoughts though.

Working with Olivia as one of her interns has been an incredible process for me as an aspiring printer. The atmosphere in her shop is one of inspiration and thoughtfulness. Olivia has an incredible gift for brainstorming and finding new, fresh ideas to please a vast range of design requests.
Even when Olivia is under a stressful deadline, she treats everyone with respect and kindness. Her ability to take time out of her schedule to offer design advice to me and other interns is just one of the many ways she shows her devotion to the art and tradition of letterpress printing.

I have had the pleasure of working with Olivia on a number of occasions. She is my go-​to letterpress printer. She is knowledgeable, always puts quality first and has a wonderful design eye.
From the very start, she has always been so helpful and fun to work with. I am a designer as well and she has printed a couple of projects for clients of mine. If you are not familiar with the ins and outs of letterpress, she is a great source of information. The quality of her printing is outstanding and I look forward to working with her again soon.

I’ve known Via since she was in architecture school, and I was thrilled when she became an intern of David Goines. He has designed so many icons, including the Ravenswood wine labels and the Chez Panisse commemorative posters. Via opened her shop next door to his, and we’ve had the pleasure of touring her and David’s spaces on a number of occasions. Letterpress is a painstaking and fascinating art form, and you feel like you are in a museum when you see the awesome machinery in action.
When the restaurant Ragazza was opening in San Francisco in September, 2010, I hired Via to do an Opening Party poster. Via did not disappoint in her execution, design and production. She was communicative, creative, responsive and very easy to work with. She took our feedback, listened to our every whim and designed the perfect poster. Everyone loved these keepsakes, and friends and customers are still talking about them. We had one framed, and it’s in the doorway of the restaurant.
When Ragazza held a fundraiser for an injured employee 6 months later, Via generously donated her time and energy to not only make flyers, but she also donated her design time as an auction item. The flyers were amazing, and the auction item was very popular.
I can not emphasize enough how much I enjoy working with Via, and I look forward to more commerorative posters in the future.