Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicole Ferguson.
Hi Nicole, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’ve always believed that tangible things matter, starting with my time at the Savannah College of Art and Design, designing for Fortune 500 clients and now as a small business owner.
My passion is tangibility. Paper you can hold. A handwritten note. An invitation that becomes part of a family’s history. A gift chosen with care and kept for years.
That belief became Every Little Something, my Virginia-based design and retail business built around paper, craftsmanship, and human connection. I started with bespoke wedding stationery, creating pieces meant to feel personal, permanent, and worth keeping.
Over time, that same philosophy grew beyond stationery. I opened our first brick-and-mortar shop in Middleburg, bringing together my own designs with the work of other makers and artisans. Now, we’re opening a new store in Leesburg and continuing to build the business here in Virginia.
I believe retail merchandising and shopping should be approached with the same care, discipline, and artistic intention as any serious work of design. What goes on a shelf matters. How it is presented matters. And the experience of discovering something in person should feel thoughtful, personal, and worth remembering.
For me, the stores are an extension of the same idea behind my stationery: beautiful things mean more when you know who made them, why they were made, and where they came from.
Virginia is home for our business. I’m proud to build here, support other artisans and independent makers, and create physical spaces where people can discover objects with a real story behind them.
At a time when so much is disposable and digital, I want my work to feel like the opposite: tactile, personal, local, and made to last.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Not at all. Small business is hard. Every day brings a new curveball, and you have to be willing to adjust quickly.
One of the things I like most about retail is that the stores are completely my vision. I love working with custom stationery clients and bringing their ideas to life, but after more than 12 years of designing for other people, there is something really satisfying about walking into a store where the merchandising, the products, the layout, and the overall feeling are mine to create.
The timing has also forced me to adapt. I opened our first store when the wedding business had slowed dramatically after COVID. Now I’m opening our second store at a time when more brides are experimenting with AI and other alternatives to traditional custom invitations. Both moments could have been reasons to pull back. Instead, they pushed me to think differently about what the business could become.
Small business owners need thick skin. You have to stay flexible, listen to what the market is telling you, and be willing to pivot without losing sight of what makes your business different.
I really believe that if you want to stay relevant, you have to keep innovating. Standing still is probably the riskiest thing you can do.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Every Little Something started with custom wedding stationery, and that is still at the heart of what I do. I specialize in highly personal, art-driven paper goods designed around the couple, the setting, and the overall feeling of the event.
Our work goes well beyond a standard invitation suite. I design custom die-cut shapes, hand-crafted signage, menus, place cards, and other paper details that help carry a visual story through an entire event. Invitations are produced in my own studio using techniques like hot foil stamping, laser engraving, and handmade papers that are not readily available elsewhere. I like being involved in the process from the first sketch through the final piece.
That same point of view carries into our stores in Middleburg and Leesburg. About 35% of what we sell cannot be found anywhere else in the world because I make it myself and sell it only through Every Little Something. Beyond that, I work hard to find vendors and makers whose products are not already everywhere.
I also have a very simple rule for buying: I do not sell things I would not have in my own home. That keeps the assortment personal and gives the stores a clear point of view.
What I am probably best known for is attention to detail. Whether I am designing a wedding invitation, creating signage, or merchandising a shelf, I care about the small decisions because they are usually what make something feel special.
I am most proud that the business has grown without becoming generic. We have moved from a custom stationery studio into brick-and-mortar retail, but the core idea has stayed the same: tangible things still matter, and people still want to feel a connection to what they buy.
What sets us apart is that I approach retail the same way I approach design. The products, the layout, the packaging, the presentation, and the overall experience are all part of the creative work.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
Authenticity.
There is so much sameness now. Products are copied, trends move quickly, and AI makes it easier than ever to create something that looks polished without necessarily having much behind it. I think people can feel the difference.
I want my work to have a point of view. Whether it is a wedding invitation, a handmade paper, a sign, or something sitting on a shelf in one of our stores, I want it to feel like it came from a real person with a real reason for making or choosing it.
That is also why I am so selective about what we sell. I do not want a store filled with things you can find everywhere else. I want people to walk in and discover something they have not seen before, something with a story, or something that simply feels special.
For me, authenticity means not chasing every trend or trying to be everything to everyone. It means trusting my taste, making things I genuinely believe in, and building a business that still feels like me.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.shop.everylittlesomething.com
- Instagram: @every.little.something
