by Bailey White
Staff Writer
Tracie Hutchins has just opened new a headquarters for Madame T Productions, her custom stationary company, in the Elks Building on Laura Street.
Hutchins, who previously worked from home, informally started her business when she was eight months pregnant with her daughter, Livia, and living in Baltimore.
“I created Christmas cards and made my family buy them,” she said. “That was the beginning.”
A few years later, Hutchins, her husband and daughter moved to Jacksonville, and she landed a job at a stationary store at the beach.
“I went with my boss to the national stationary show in New York City as a buyer and it was there that I discovered that no one was doing what I was doing,” she said.
Hutchins offers paper products — invitations, announcements, cards — which can be customized to suit a client’s needs.
“Our slogan is, ‘What you want on paper,’ ” she said. “A customer can choose the type of font, the color of the ribbon or anything else to make it unique. And we try to make it as easy as possible and also affordable. Customers have the option of ordering as many or as few as they need, which is a new concept in the industry. They have the luxury of ordering 12 or 112.”
Madame T products are carried in stores across the country, and in Jacksonville at the Write Touch, Impressions and Pineapple Post. She was met with success from the start, at her first national stationary show in New York City.
“Our goal was to get 30 people,” she said, “and we had 35 by the afternoon of the first day.”
Since then, Madame T Productions has constantly added new clients, something Hutchins would like to continue.
“I would like to see Madame T Productions in more stores,” she said, adding her family has been a huge influence on her business.
One sister, Kellie, a photographer, is the one who christened Tracie ‘Madame T’ and another sister, Jeannie, offers business support.
“I definitely couldn’t have done all this without them,” she said.
Hutchins will continue her design work at her new office and studio, where she employs Jennie Libby to assist with the company’s production. It’s a place with pink walls and neat stacks of brightly colored paper, reels of ribbons and jars full of objects — seashells, tiny paper umbrellas, silk flowers — she might incorporate into her designs.
“It’s exciting being downtown,” she said. “This building has been beautifully restored and I want to be a part of giving this city new life.”
The University of Florida graduate, who holds a bachelor’s degree in English, said her ability to stay creative comes naturally.
“I think I’m just a paper artist,” she said. “I’ve always been a writer and a poet. And my creativity comes through my clients. Working with what they want keeps things from getting stale.”