our story

Acorn Designs Humpback Whale 1981

Acorn Designs In A Nutshell

Acorn Designs, founded in 1981, is an environmentally focused stationery company with our studio nestled amongst the apple trees at Redbyrd Orchard in upstate New York. We specialize in beautiful nature inspired journals, notecards and gifts, working with over 40 different artists worldwide.

Our hope is to make your world bigger, wider, richer for you right there in your day-to-day. Our mission is to do that while keeping mother nature in mind for each and every choice we make in sourcing materials, pricing, and energy use. Our intention with every product is to encourage connection: to ourselves, to each other and to nature. The more connected we are to the natural world, the more we will all work to preserve and protect it. Thank you for letting us be a part of your experience.

"To honor nature in all of its aspects is to honor all aspects of ourselves...let the plants and animals be our teachers."

We are an eco-friendly studio, all of our products are made with 100% recycled paper (with the majority being post-consumer waste recycled), packaged in 100% recycled paper bags, 100% plant-based biodegradable cellophane sleeves, or re-purposed cardboard and always prepared to ship with recycled packing materials.

We've worked with the same local printer since 1985.

All journals are made by hand with a vintage rhin-o-tuff foot operated open ended punch & manual flat bar binder. Birch, Oatmeal, and Black paper is hand glued onto binders board to make the covers before being imprinted for artwork on an antique foot operated embosser. Artwork is then hand affixed to the front of journal and educational or inspirational story is glued onto inside of front cover.

Please feel free to contact us at info@acorndesigns.org if you have any questions. Follow us for the occasional update or sale:

facebook: facebook.com/ArtoftheAcorn
Instagram: @AcornDesigns

Are you a vendor? Set up a wholesale account.

Monarch Milkweed Notecard Acorn Designs NC27

For The Love of Nature

With every image printed on Acorn Designs products, a story accompanies it... be it scientific details or natural history or even poetry evoked by the artists’ rendition of the natural world.

The products are as much educational as they are beautiful and inspiring.

Our hope is to make your world bigger, wider, richer for you right there in your day-to-day. The more connected we are to the natural world, the more we will all work to preserve and protect it.

Thank you for letting us be a part of your experience.

Acorn products feature over 500 original designs from over 60 artists around the world.
Acorn products feature over 500 original designs from over 60 artists around the world.

"I just want to tell you how happy I am with my cards! They are gorgeous! Also, I like the information slip on the back a lot – really neat. Also, It's wonderful what you all are doing for the environment... crucial. I just love the designs." - Gwen, Stratford, CT

Contributing Artists

Products made with 100% Recycled Papers

There is an ecological story behind every product we consume. Paper casts a large ecological shadow, from the gathering of the source material through its pulping, bleaching and processing. With that in mind, as a paper goods business, we want to make the best choices possible for how our business impacts this world we hold so dear.

We are committed to using 100% post-consumer recycled papers when available for all of our products. Although this increases our costs (sometimes more than four-fold), we can’t imagine making any other choice and we hope you feel the same.

All of our printing and binding of our journals happens right down the road from our studio in the lovely hamlet of Lodi, NY with a small printer who has been serving the Finger Lakes for over 30 years.

You can rest assured that you are making a spending choice that does the least harm when you buy any product from Acorn Designs.