| THE EPISTOLARIAN |

I first became acquainted with Demeter (or Ceres, as the Romans called her) when I was 19. My sister and I had rented a little yellow four-wheeler on the island of Naxos and set out to visit the Temple of Demeter near the village of Sangri. It was a warm summer day and our bumblebee-colored four-wheeler, which seemed to be operating on roughly 1,000 actual bumblebees rather than any measurable horsepower, carried us slowly up a gentle country road toward the temple.

I didn't know very much about Demeter then, other than that she was the goddess of the harvest. Her temple, built from pale Naxian marble and surrounded by fertile fields, belong seemlessly in the landscape. At nineteen, that was more or less where my understanding of her ended.

It was only years later that I came to understand the other half of her story.

Demeter's daughter Persephone is taken into the underworld, and in her grief Demeter withdraws from the world. The earth becomes barren. Nothing grows. Eventually Persephone is permitted to return to her mother, but because she has eaten the seeds of a pomegranate in the underworld, she cannot remain with her forever. She must return below for part of each year.

And so Demeter is not only a goddess of the harvest. She is also the goddess who allows the fields to lie fallow when she misses her daughter.

When I began modeling my own Demeter, nearly twenty years after first visiting her temple, I wanted her to hold both sides of the story. I gave her wheat, of course, for everything she nourishes and brings forth. But I also gave her a torch, recalling the torches she carried through the darkness in search of Persephone, and at her throat, a tiny pomegranate, an acknowledgment of the fruit that would forever bind her daughter's life to the underworld.

And I turned her toward the right (the future). She is not looking back toward what she has lost. She is looking toward what comes next.

That distinction matters to me. Demeter's story is not really about returning to the world as it was. Persephone returns, but not entirely. Winter remains. The underworld remains. What has happened cannot be undone. And still, the wheat grows again.

As I worked on her, I began to notice how many of the symbols surrounding Demeter had already been finding their way into my work. The cornucopia, overflowing with the abundance of the harvest, is one of her ancient attributes. (My first cornucopia debuts TOMORROW, Monday, September 21st at Dempsey & Carroll in NYC). Bulls and cows were offered to her in sacrifice, which made me think differently about the bucranium I had recently launched as well. And although the memento mori is not specifically hers, it belongs to a question that sits very near the heart of her story: what do we make of the knowledge that everything living must pass through seasons of abundance, loss, darkness?

The Seasons of Ceres seal is now available. The first 11 will be in the collector's register, and this seal will beautifully match a Persephone seal coming later this week.

Funeral Blues by WH Auden

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message 'He is Dead'.
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

The Fruits of Fortune • Debuting In Person in New York

This Monday, September 21, I am introducing a brand-new seal at Dempsey & Carroll in New York City.

I created The Fruits of Fortune especially for its debut there, inspired by the abundance and ornament of the Gilded Age and by Dempsey & Carroll's own long history in New York. Founded in 1878, they have been making beautiful correspondence for nearly 150 years, so it feels particularly special to introduce one of my seals into their world.

The design is a cornucopia overflowing with fruits, flowers, and nuts, but nothing in it is there simply for decoration.

There are grapes for abundance and celebration, a pear for affection and enduring love, a rose for love and beauty, a pomegranate for prosperity and the abundance of the underworld, an apple for knowledge and desire, an artichoke for the tender heart protected beneath its thorns, a walnut for wisdom, and an almond for hope and awakening.

Together they become a little collection of wishes: love, abundance, knowledge, beauty, prosperity, wisdom, hope, and a well-protected heart.

The first 11 Fruits of Fortune seals will debut exclusively in person at Dempsey & Carroll beginning Monday, September 21.

I love that this particular seal will begin its life in New York, in a house devoted to the same thing I care so deeply about: keeping the art of correspondence alive.

The Handwritten Life

PRE-ORDER • SHIPPING END OF OCTOBER 2026

I am releasing just 150 special-edition pre-orders of The Handwritten Life through my website.

Each book will be hand-signed and accompanied by an exclusive Crescent Moon seal created especially for this first edition. Only 150 seals will ever be made, each entered into the Collector’s Register, and the design will then be retired.

The crescent moon first appeared in my Everlasting Penny and returns in the final chapter of the book. It felt right that it should also mark the very first copies of what I hope will become a lifelong work, a book I return to, revise, and add to as I grow.

The sketch gives you a glimpse, but I’m keeping the finished engraving secret until closer to the book’s release.

150 signed books.
150 registered seals.
And then the seal is retired.

Étui Borders You Might Like

The special rings for the étui are also now available to everyone. These are compatible with all étuis: the first edition, second edition and Kitty Book Pawn.

With love,
Kathryn

PS: Last week for this rounds of pre-orders

The first Collector’s Edition Winged Victories went two weeks ago. The sculptural, luminous resin elevates the Winged Victory from an object for the desk into a work of art in its own right, something meant to live beautifully on display even when it is not in use.

This next edition is expected to ship in early November, making now the perfect time to order if you would like yours to arrive in time for the holidays.

With love,

Kathryn