In a time when wedding invitations arrive via email and thank you’s are sent through social media, Chelsea Hoffman Shukov ’99 and Jamie Oberg Grobecker ’01 are going against the grain and bringing back the art of pen and paper. The duo are co-founders of Sugar Paper, a stationery company based in Los Angeles. The uniting force behind the partnership? UCLA, of course.
The two women forged their friendship at the Delta Gamma sorority in Westwood, a kinship that continued after Shukov graduated. Shukov worked for Brillstein-Grey Entertainment, a management and production company helmed by Brad Grey, who would later become CEO of Paramount. She was transferred to a new company that was to bring television to the Internet. Alas, the startup was ahead of its time, and so Shukov and art director Ophelia Chong left to search for new careers.
With Chong as her mentor, Shukov began considering her options. “I remember someone saying, ‘If you look up and don’t want anyone else’s job, you’re in the wrong place,’” she says. She began working in art direction, including corporate logo design, tapping her sorority sister network to find private clients who needed everything from personal stationery to bridal shower invitations.
As Shukov got busier, she turned to Grobecker, who was about to graduate — the two became business partners. After a while, meeting with clients at coffee shops became awkward. When a retail space next to one of their favorite spots — Clementine bakery-cafe in Century City — became available, Shukov and Grobecker snapped it up. And Sugar Paper was born.
Another huge leap was soon to follow, when a special customer walked through their door: Reese Witherspoon. Impressed with Sugar Paper’s work, Witherspoon ordered three stationery designs for an article in InStyle magazine about revamping the actress’s office.
Hollywood took notice. Sugar Paper’s roster now reads like a who’s who. Regulars include Jennifer Garner, Ben Affleck, Gwyneth Paltrow and Justin Timberlake. “Stationery is viral,” Shukov explains.
Sugar Paper’s word-of-mouth also caught the attention of the Martha Stewart Weddings magazine, which regularly turns to Sugar Paper with projects. The duo’s hands-on, letterpress approach to printing, which uses antique machinery, is right up Martha Stewart’s DIY alley. Also answering that old-school style’s call were publications like Vogue, Vanity Fair, Lucky and Domino.
Now, 10 years after Sugar Paper’s launch, the original store has closed, but another in the Brentwood Country Mart remains open. “We’re now sold in hundreds of stores nationwide, as well as in London, Japan and Australia,” Grobecker says.
Where is Sugar Paper turning for help with its growth? The place that brought its founders together: UCLA’s Sorority Row. “No one comes in to Sugar Paper as an expert,” Shukov explains. “When staffing is required, we’ll go to UCLA’s Monday night Row Walks and let the houses know we’re looking for holiday help or retail staff.”
“We’re pretty geeky about being Bruins — we’re so proud of our Bruin status,” Grobecker says. “Our education provided us with tools to open a business without having a business degree, as well as a lot of big-city savvy.”
Echoes Shukov, “There’s something we got at UCLA that’s hard to quantify — leading and guiding a team.”
