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The Crow’s Press joins custom calligraphy with community collaboration

In this week’s Midweek Mugging, meet the self-taught artistic owner of a calligraphy gifts and decor business in Bradford West Gwillimbury

Rebecca Bruzzese is a 26 year old Bradford West Gwillimbury resident with her own calligraphy and lettering business, The Crow’s Press.

She has been in business for seven years and has been nominated a few times for the Youth Entrepreneur Award by the Bradford Board of Trade.

The Crow’s Press is run out of Bruzzese’s Bradford home but she also rents spaces in Newmarket and Aurora to host classes and workshops. The business consists of herself, as well as a virtual assistant and a little help from her mother.

“I’m actually self-taught,” she explained. “I’ve always been an artistic kid — lots of reading library books about it, and trial and error.”

In addition to her calligraphy printing and classes, Bruzzese also makes custom vinyl gifts, including mugs, T-shirts and other apparel. In the new year, she is hoping to phase out of the vinyl part of her business and keep calligraphy her main focus.

Her most popular requests are for custom wedding calligraphy. She makes various décor pieces for brides and grooms, including invitations, seating charts, escort cards, and signage. Everything she makes is done by hand.

“I even do my invoices by hand,” she said.

Bruzzese thinks people value calligraphy gifts and décor because writing has become sort of a lost art. Some of her younger clients were not even taught how to do cursive writing in school.

She said she thinks people really enjoy the handmade aspect of her business.

“We are living in a world where everything is on computers and printed with a machine,” she said. “There’s something special about knowing something is hand done… and I think people really appreciate that.”

Bruzzese runs various workshops throughout town and at her workspace in Newmarket.

Sometimes she even collaborates with other local businesses in Bradford, such as Sweet B's Catering and Confectionery to put on events like Cupcakes and Calligraphy, where guests can learn the basics of calligraphy while enjoying some refreshments and baked goods.

Bruzzese said she is grateful for businesses like Sweet B’s who have been nothing but supportive of her business. She said it is important for local businesses to work together in order to help one another be successful.

“It’s more about community over competition. Everybody is very helpful,” she said. “It’s not a small town anymore, but it still has that small town feel.”

Most of her customers come from Bradford, but she also has a lot of clients from Barrie.

“I get to meet a lot of really cool people,” she said, adding she enjoys the variety of people she gets to meet in her business, as well as getting to create and share her knowledge and talents with others.

If you want to get in touch with The Crow’s Press, check out the Facebook page or Instagram account @thecrowspress. 

Midweek Mugging is a regular series profiling local businesses or interesting people in Bradford West Gwillimbury. Want to be featured? Email [email protected].


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Natasha Philpott

About the Author: Natasha Philpott

Natasha is the Editor for BradfordToday and InnisfilToday. She graduated from the Media Studies program at The University of Guelph-Humber. She lives in Bradford with her husband, two boys and two cats.
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