About Us
Award-winning Ladyfingers Letterpress is a Queer and Trans-owned-and-operated stationery and gift brand based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, founded by designer+printmaker couple, Arley Torsone and Morgan Calderini.
We launched our business in 2010 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island when our own vibrant, hand-lettered and poster-sized letterpress wedding invitation went viral in the stationery world. As a young couple who was planning a big ol' queer wedding before it was legal in all 50 states, we found ourselves cautiously (and sometimes unsuccessfully) navigating a cis- and hetero-centered wedding industry. Simultaneously, we were juggling a flood of new inqueries for our unexpected new business venture and we quickly realized that the world was badly craving affirming stationers with a new perspective. We didn't realize it at the time, but we were laying the foundation for a radically inclusive business that would continue to use design and craft as a means towards a more equitable future.
Our studio flourished as we became known for our acclaimed bespoke and hand-crafted invitation projects, and when the weddings were over our clients kept coming back for more. Despite wondering how the hell you make any money selling greeting cards for $3.00 a piece, we launched a humble line of greeting cards at the 2013 National Stationery Show. To our surprise, the line took off and we now manufacture and wholesale hundreds of products to over 1,000 stores around the world.
After a wildfire claimed Morgan's family home in Colorado, we decided to relocate our studio out west and in 2016 we opened our flagship store in Colorado Springs. From this post we operate our letterpress and design headquarters while customers can see the presses running and witness our products being made. We also host workshops and classes and offer a wide variety of boutique stationery and radical gifts. With a location in the heart of downtown Colorado Springs, we find ourselves immersed in the arts and community: our two most favorite things!
Through the years, Ladyfingers Letterpress has gained notoriety for our bold approach towards operating an independent and artist-run creative business in an era dominated by late-stage capitalism. You may know us for our unique lettering style, our hand-made products, or the way we're able to translate complex human emotions onto a small, folded sheet of paper. Or maybe you know us for our unwaivering commitment to standing up for truth, equity, love, and the belief that a better world is possible (and also hopefully a little better designed!). However you found yourself to this page, we're glad you're here and we hope you find something that makes you feel safe, seen and celebrated.
Ladyfingers Letterpress has been featured by The New York Times, Forbes, Grow With Google, Martha Stewart Weddings, Vogue and more, and is also the proud recipient of the 2015 Card of the Year as awarded by the Greeting Card Association.
MORGAN CALDERINI
Letterpress Operator, Studio Manager, Magic Maker
Morgan Calderini surrounds herself with rather odd yet satisfying specialties: hot air balloon building, printmaking, and pie baking are all things she takes very seriously. After having received her BFA in Printmaking from RISD in 2007, Calderini chose to redefine the hierarchical printshop archetype by establishing and managing Rhode Islands only community printshop at AS220 with a grant from AmeriCorps VISTA. She has taught letterpress at the AS220 Printshop and Penland School of Crafts. When she's not baking blueberry pies or hunting for long lost litho stones that people have been using as door stops, she's flying Atlas, her 70 foot, 54,000 cu. ft. hot air balloon that she built in 2007.
ARLEY TORSONE
Designer, Letterer, Illustratorer
Is this the place where I'm supposed to list like, accomplishments and shit? Does it even matter anymore? Just the other day, the bio of an old "acquaintance" popped up on my screen and I was like, "Is this seriously the same guy who crashed our house party years ago and graffiti'd our bathroom, stole our booze and puked in the sink?" Because the way he wrote about himself made him seem like a very accomplished professional at a highly regarded agency, and definitely not the kind of person who was bad at graffiti and even worse at being a house guest. All I'm trying to say is, don't trust what people say about themselves. Let the work speak (or yell, or laugh, or cry!) for itself. (And for pete's sake, don't invite Jesse whats-his-face to any of your house parties.)
I'm also kind of of obsessed with hand-lettering and illustration. I graduated with a BFA from Parsons School of Design with a stint abroad at Central St. Martins in London. One time I performed without any pants on at MoMA PS1 with the Dirt Palace, a feminist art collective that I was (am still? will forever be?) a part of. Oh, and one time I saw Cat Power at a party and I was like OMG HAS ANYONE EVER TOLD YOU THAT YOU LOOK LIKE CAT POWER? to which she replied, "I hear she's a lesbian." The end.
(Photo credits: Lauren Memarian)