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Take everything you think you know about the way most stationery companies function. Now disregard almost all of it — and you have a hint of how Cavallini & Co. operates. The south San Francisco company, turning a quarter of a century old this year, marks that milestone by continuing to create upscale papers for a discerning clientele in the way it always has — with the utmost integrity and high regard for its subject matter, clientele and employees.

Any discussion of how Cavallini conducts itself must be precluded with what the company doesn’t do. They have no sales reps — in fact, Founder Brad Parberry has memorized many of his clients’ addresses, some of whom have been ordering from Cavallini for 25 years. Nor do they sell direct to consumers online, although they will gladly help any consumer find a store. The digital world is something of a new terrain for Cavallini; the company only began putting its wholesale offerings online last year.

Though Parberry has an MBA in international business and a background in finance, he’s never generated a profit-and-loss statement or a business plan. “Nor will I ever,” he promised, “so I don’t know where we will be in six months. I worry about today because we have to deal with it tomorrow.”

Nor does Parberry consider details like customer demographics when creating products. What’s important is how the vintage iconography populating its products speaks to the present. “We approach things we love, and the audience follows,” he observed.

Orders are assembled by hand in Cavallini’s on-site warehouse, carefully wrapped in Kraft paper and packed in double wall boxes. Employees have no formal titles; the group resembles more of a family unit than a business team. There is an easy, cheerful camaraderie here, and in time crunches, everyone works in the warehouse to get orders out.

When asked what quality he looks for in an employee, Parberry responded, “Kindness,” adding, “We don’t hire bodies; it has to be someone who will contribute. We want people with opinions.”

Parberry has no assistant, rather “we all do what needs to be done,” he explained. “If we can’t do it with this group of people, I don’t want to do it. It’s not about growing, it’s about everyone here. If someone is sick, you take care of them.”

Indeed, Parberry’s philosophy is that a satisfied employee is a productive one. The office closes for two weeks for the winter holidays with pay. “Brad is very generous with health benefits and so on,” noted Chelsea O’Hara, whose expertise is in domestic sales and marketing and can be found at the Cavallini booth at trade shows. “He wants us to be happy while we’re here.”

The Cavallini Archives

Aside from its employees, at Cavallini’s heart is paper ephemera — lots and lots of it, carefully categorized by topic in a seemingly endless series of art drawers scattered throughout individual offices and several rooms primarily devoted to storing it. Often while creating a product, Parberry will recall a specific butterfly or cat that he knows he has — and rest assured, that paper scrap will be found and considered for the project.

While the archives form the basis of imagery used on Cavallini products, images are typically tweaked to stay true to the brand’s philosophy of less is more. Paper products are printed on the company’s signature Italian papers and presented in simple packaging to form the brand’s essence. “The product has to speak for itself,” emphasized Parberry. “People have a connection to what we do.”

Objects from the past are innately familiar to Parberry, whose family sold new and used house goods under the trade name L.H. Parberry in Bellingham, Wash.; Cavallini is his mother’s maiden name. While in college, Parberry took a year abroad in Italy and discovered an art calendar that he began importing in 1989. It took a “lot of convincing,” but he eventually convinced the printer to change the quality of the paper stock and integrate a white chipboard backing.

Today, calendars are a Cavallini signature product, and 2015 receives a fresh crop of desk and wall varieties as well as leather and weekly planners. The themes are modified from year to year to accommodate where we are as a culture— garden for example is now farmer’s market. And although conventional wisdom says that paper calendars are dead, the same devoted customers purchase them year after year.

Yet it is the giftwraps that are Parberry’s favorite Cavallini item. Meanwhile, new product categories, such as glittered greeting cards, are integrated after careful collaboration and debate. The idea for the recently introduced Wrap Packs — consisting of sheets, Baker’s twine, paper tape and gift tags — came to Sookie Koban, who focuses mostly on product development, while on a plane.

“Brad always says no (to a new idea) early on, so if you want something, sometimes you have to fight for it,” she commented, adding that she felt strongly that paper tape should be included and stood her ground. “When I’ve bent, the product is not always as successful.”

“We usually reach an understanding,” Parberry added. “We may have three opinions and end up agreeing on a fourth option.”

One direction you won’t see from Cavallini is their images “slapped on every product,” Kooban underlined, so don’t expect to see paper plates or canvas bags from the company. “We don’t want to be in every store.”

It’s fitting that the company’s silver anniversary will wind down with a lavish gift book from Gibbs, Smith. Called “Paper Ephemera,” prepare to be dazzled by it in August.

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