A couple of years ago, Bekah Bohlen had an idea: “What if we built a paper food truck?” In other words, a stationery-focused boutique — on wheels. Her husband, Martin, was on board. Bohlen applied for a grant from the Girlboss Foundation, which helps creative women kick-start their careers.
She had just started a letterpress stationery line, Cat Call Collective, and as the foundation later wrote on its website, “Could she be any more of a #Girlboss?” Bohlen scored the grant, and Cat Call became the little shop that could: At just over 100 square feet, it’s stuffed with Bohlen’s stationery, as well as handmade wares like soy candles, knit blankets, and mango wood spoons.
When the mobile shop isn’t traveling around North Carolina, the Bohlens are at home in Hillsborough with their four cats and a dog. As Bohlen adjusts the stationery press in her studio, Freud the cat wanders in, meowing until Bohlen scoops him up. Cat call indeed.
Find out where the shop will be next at catcallcollective.com.