Cheree Berry

You built Cheree Berry Paper & Design into a 29-person studio — at what point did running a team start to feel like a creative act in itself, rather than a distraction from one?

Our success is a credit to the range of talent and skills across our team. I’ve been fortunate to have several designers on the team for more than a decade, so when we hire, we weigh departmental chemistry and overall compatibility with company culture just as heavily as credentials and portfolio. Finding the right person often feels like locating the missing puzzle piece that completes the picture. And while sorting through a flood of applications can be overwhelming from a management standpoint, it’s also gratifying to see how many people want to join us.

Paper and print feel almost countercultural right now. What does a client have to say to convince you they actually get why they want something physical, versus just thinking it sounds nice?

Many of our clients and prospects are kindred spirits who already understand the value of print design. For those who see it more as a formality, their response to the initial proof or final physical sample usually says it all. We like to educate clients about what we do and invite them to be active collaborators in the creative process. It’s rewarding to see eyes opening, engaging with design in new ways and recognizing the value behind it. More than any other vendor, we may be the one that most surprises clients with how emotionally meaningful the final result can be.

St. Louis has this weird chip on its shoulder about being overlooked creatively — do you feel that, and has it ever actually worked in your favor?

Personally, I don’t feel that as strongly anymore—maybe when I first started the business from my small St. Louis apartment 20 years ago. At the time, I was grateful to still have a 917-area code and made regular trips to New York (where many of my early wedding clients lived) to maintain the east coast pretense. But I ultimately had to trust that the quality of the work and the relationships I built would make my home base a non-factor.

Despite its drawbacks, social media has undeniably helped level the playing field for creatives across the country. That said, I’m always of the opinion that people don’t sing St. Louis’s praises loudly enough. Whether it be its world-class (and free-to-all!) arts institutions and the surreal City Museum wonderland, the resurgence of the garment and fashion industry or the up-and-coming talent at our universities, the rich creative well in St. Louis stacks up to the best of them! Personally speaking, I’ve never had to look outside St. Louis to find amazing people for my own team.

You’re operating a Shopify storefront alongside what I assume is a pretty high-touch custom design practice. How do you think about those two sides of the business — are they feeding each other, or are they kind of separate animals?

Completely separate beasts that we’re still trying to coax into playing nicely with each other. We want to grow our ecommerce to offer more everyday products, such as boxed stationery and back-to-school banners, and also give our custom clients an avenue to stay connected with the brand between larger milestone moments.

But intentionally developing retail lines takes time, resources and attention away from our most profitable segments. It’s a wobbly balancing act but a fun one. At the end of the day, we’re paper maniacs and want to expand on the medium.

If you had to hand off your role as Creative Director tomorrow and step back to purely run the business side, what part of the creative work would you miss first?

Knock on wood right now! I’d miss the conceptualizing. I love the challenge of taking an idea one or two layers deeper so that it has an interesting perspective as well as being aesthetically appealing. But thank goodness I have my business partner Kristen Armstrong overseeing the day-to-day operations so that no one has to rely on me to keep our bottom line healthy or compose an invoice.