Entrepreneur puts ‘All the Pieces’ into place
By Christopher Rocchio/ Staff Writer - Thursday, May 19, 2005

When Winchester resident Lauren Franklin was engaged to be married a little more than two years ago, she was working in the corporate design world. But she harbored the idea of breaking off and doing her own thing. While struggling to select the perfect invitation for her wedding, she realized the ideal medium for starting her own business was staring her in the face.

Not only did Franklin end up designing her own invitations as mini hardback books, she became the co-founder and creative director for “All the Pieces,” a custom invitation-design business that provides a variety of decorative papers and unique style elements.

Franklin’s business extends beyond invitations, however, into the realm of designing direction or accommodation inserts, ceremony programs, place cards, menu cards, gift tags and other items. Basically, she said her business services begin with a save-the-date-reminder and end with a thank you note.

“It’s a fun job because every client brings something different to the table,” said Franklin. “It’s also exciting as a designer because it brings diversity into my work.”

Along with weddings, “All the Pieces” will design for events from bar mitzvahs to graduation parties. Even small dinner parties, she said, would benefit from “All the Pieces,” which could turn an average evening into an exciting event just by providing customized place cards.

“Really, we’ll cater to any event designed to bring people together,” she said.

Franklin said the process for ordering “unique expressions for event details” begins with an interview, where she’ll talk at length with the client to find what they have in mind in terms of style. This helps her to visualize, and after the interview she’ll put together an “online view,” - an illustration in the client’s color pallet incorporating the graphic elements discussed. Specifics, such as fonts, are then tweaked, and when she finally has assembled what she feels the client is looking for, she mails a paper copy.

“It gives the client an opportunity to feel the invitation and sense the quality of it,” said Franklin. “Having gone through the experience myself, I know the paper quality is paramount.”

She is proud of all the custom designs she creates and the quality of goods used for printing. She is also discovering there is large demand for her services. Because of this she’s had to turn some people down. Franklin described the experience as overwhelming.

“It’s taken off like a rocket,” she said.

“We’re trying to take event design to the next level and separate ourselves from just being a design firm,” she said. “We want to be a resource for people.”

Franklin, who grew up in Winchester, earned a degree in fine arts and art history from Colgate University, and also studied graphic design at the Massachusetts College of Art, which she said really helped her step into the field and get away from classical art. She worked in corporate design until she decided to “take the jump” into running her own business.

"It was a defining time in my life that was both exciting and terrifying,” she said.

Now as “All the Pieces” prepares to expand to a nationwide market, Franklin is having a terrific time and is glad she was able to leave corporate world.

“It’s fun because I get to sit down with people and learn all about their event,” she said.

Visit Franklin’s business on the Web at www.allthepieces.com.