Westport, CT / February 3, 2019 – Concept Fourteen presents its first collection of non-traditional greeting cards, metal-enamel pins, and home textile products at the National Stationery Show in New York, NY (Booth 6116). The Collection answers the need for “straight from the heart” messages that are modern and intrepid, encouraging people to invest in shared moments and honest interpersonal relationships. As the creator calls them, accessories “for the guts of emotion.”
Concept Fourteen was born when the creator, Lillie
Fortino, a design educator, artist, and entrepreneur,
realized there weren’t any stationery products out
there that spoke to her as a contemporary woman and
offered the relatable messages she wanted to share.
Fortino quit her 9-5 job and began creating lifestyle and home accessory designs inspired by her original art and the powerful female creatives she admires.
Fortino’s products are made in the USA in small batches and feature original hand-drawn designs and slogans that promote a “you can do anything” attitude. They celebrate everyday life as reminders to enjoy the small, real moments and to fill shared experiences with color and joy. The company’s slogan – “let’s get hygge with it” – embodies the company’s design aesthetic: optimistic, diverse, well thought- out, and highly functional. The inaugural Collection includes 21 greeting card designs, 8 metal-enamel pins, 3 styles of linen dinner napkins, an oversized round terry towel, 10 original fine art giclée prints, and one dot-grid notebook.
Concept Fourteen’s non-traditional greeting cards are 4.25” x 5.5” and come with color-coordinated envelopes. They reinterpret classics, such as “Happy Mother’s Day,” in an authentically contemporary way. The well-known salutation becomes “I’m Sorry I Hated You in High School,” a tribute to the artist’s mother, who is currently her best friend.
“I credit my mom for the courage to take my art public with Concept Fourteen,” said Lillie Fortino, Owner and Creator. “This may sound cliché before you get to know my mom. She is a tremendously successful business woman, a fierce matriarch, and one of the best party planners and revelers you would ever meet... So why not have it all – a dedicated work life, a rich social life, and the recognition that comes from expressing myself through design. Concept Fourteen is allowing me to be unapologetically myself and to share the love I have with everyone willing to participate in this unique design experiment.”