Laurel Link would like to interrupt your phone scrolling to bring you a dose of joy.
Her suggestion: Take your favorite photos off your camera roll and turn them into something tangible. A stack of sumptuous paper prints. A colorful photo book. A giant piece of wall art.
As the CEO of Parabo Press, a Madison-based, women-run company that specializes in small-batch photo printing, she knows firsthand the feeling of holding or seeing — in real life, not on a screen — a memory.
“Photos make people happy,” she says, whether it’s pics of loved ones or a memorable vacation or simply snippets of everyday life.
“I think it’s just the component of freezing these little moments of life and bringing them back,” she says. “It’s one-hundred percent personal, a little connection to your favorite memories.”
Print sets — in either square or “classic” shape, printed on thick matte paper — are a best-seller for the four-year-old company, but Laurel says wall art options are growing in popularity as people spend more time at home and want to change up their surroundings.
Laurel oversees Parabo’s popular Instagram account and never tires of seeing how customers use, show off and love their prints.
“Seeing our products out in the world is so cool,” she says. “I just feel so proud.”
Laurel and husband John, who works in IT in downtown Madison, are also Parabo customers. She loves the paper prints and he’s gotten into making photos books to send to relatives. And they have plenty of material to choose from — their eight-month-old daughter Luna and dog Ursula provide lots of inspiration to snap photos.
“I would have said before, I always take a lot of photos. But since having a kid, I’m taking a million photos a day.”
With family in southern California, where Laurel grew up, and Wausau, where John is from, the couple knows how sending off some photos to relatives can brighten their day. And it’s exactly that experience that drives Laurel’s work with Parabo.
“Our ultimate goal is more happiness,” she says. “We hope we’re putting more joy into the world.”
Laurel is offering Northerly readers a discount! Use the code NORTH for one free set of twenty four-inch square prints or $10 off the larger size. You just pay for shipping and the offer is good through August 31, 2020.
Photos courtesy of Parabo Press and Laurel Link.
Katie Vaughn is the editor and co-founder of Northerly. She is a University of Wisconsin-Madison and Stanford University-trained journalist with experience as a writer, reporter, editor, blogger and author. She lives in Madison with her husband, daughter and son, and is always up for an adventure.