Every original watercolor image on Lobird stationery comes from the hand and heart of Laurie Rohrbach. From a dainty Asian birdcage to her own Dutch city bike, Laurie’s inspirations come from her global adventures in the Peace Corps in Thailand to her own backyard in Palo Alto, California.

Nicknamed “Lobird” by her father who was an international businessman, Laurie was born in Australia and grew up in Pasadena, California. The discovery of a basket full of letters penned by her late mother, who died when Laurie was just three, instilled an appreciation of the power and value of handwritten correspondence. An artist herself, Laurie’s mother decorated the margins of her letters with artsy doodles, sketching a stylish dress or Mayan jacket she admired in local marketplaces.

Laurie inherited her mother’s love of art and travel, spending time not only in Thailand after college, but a year with her husband and son in Spain, where she learned from local artists.

Starting Lobird stationery not only gives Laurie a way to share her own artwork, but also to pay homage to her mother and extend the tradition and grace of the written word.

She was recently featured in Scene, a Northern California fashion magazine, that described her sense of style as she rides her bike through downtown Palo Alto hand-delivering stationery to her local clients: “Her hair in a ponytail, her Indian- style tunic neatly pressed, Laurie has a fresh, carefree style. ” It’s a style as crisp, sophisticated and whimsical as the artwork she creates.