The first step inside On Paper is the welcoming ring of a bell and a groan from floorboards that seem as old as the art of writing. Display towers, categorized by occasion, hold handmade cards of all varieties. On the opposite brick wall of the narrow shop is a long row of shelves housing every shape and color of cardstock, from pastels to metallics. Antique white-painted display cases fill the shop and are themselves filled with everything from blue, glass inkwells and leather journals, to silver necklaces and reusable grocery bags.

“We have everything, from paper with seeds in it that you can plant to shimmery paper. … We have everything from earthy to trendy,” said Joan Schnee, the owner of On Paper since its opening in 1997.

As a manners stickler and scrapbooker, owning a paper shop is Schnee’s dream job.

“I always had this dream of having my own business,” Schnee said. “I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to do for a really long time.”

When the gallery on North High Street closed down in August of 1997, Schnee “bet the farm,” as she put it, and took out a small business loan with her house as collateral.

Two years ago, Schnee then chose to spread her love for paper beyond the Short North arts district and into Chicago.

With more than 2 million weddings happening per year in America, Schnee thought, “It’d be great if half of those used recycled paper.” So in 2008 she started Green Paper Co., a recycled paper wholesale store based in Chicago. The company has an all-around “green” ethic, from the biodegradable packing tape to the soy ink used for printing. Of course, she sells products from Green Paper Co. in On Paper.

Of those millions of weddings, Schnee’s paper ends up in nearly 100 weddings per year. Wedding-related work makes up 35 to 40 percent of her business. She even has an in-house line of wedding invitations called “On Paper Press,” digitally printed using the papers in the shop.

On Paper also prints business cards, letterheads and even designs logos.

After 13 years and roughly a thousand weddings, Schnee has noticed an interesting shift toward the traditional. “In the beginning [of On Paper] maybe half of the women changed their name. Now, more like 90 percent of women change their name.”

Not only does she love paper, but she’s a stickler for manners.
“If somebody takes the time to select a gift for you, you should thank them,” Schnee said. There is even a section on the store Web site, onpaper.com, dedicated to wedding invitation etiquette.

When asked how her paper company is adapting to an electronic world, Schnee placed a hand on her BlackBerry and smiled. “Our world has changed and that’s a critical piece of it,” Schnee said. “I just worry about people really being able to communicate with each other because everything is so abbreviated. … Writing to people is a dying art, and it means so much to people to get a hand-written note.”

Both the store and her paper company have Web sites and blogs. Green Paper Co. even has a Twitter account, twitter.com/greenpaperco, now boasting 996 followers. She hasn’t made a Facebook page, but it’s on her to-do list.

The On Paper shop is located at 737 N. High St. in the Short North.

To learn more, go to onpaperink.blogspot.com or greenpaperco.blogspot.com.