Gifts made to order, proofed by people
Inkwell & Oak engraves, stamps and prints personalised gifts to order in a workshop in the Junction, Toronto - and sends a proof of every one before it is made.
We started in 2016 making wedding gifts for friends: a walnut board here, a portrait of someone’s dog there. Word travelled, the waiting list grew, and the second-hand laser was joined by a leather press, an archival printer and a drawing desk by the window. The brief has not changed: make the kind of gift that gets kept in a drawer for forty years.
Our timber is walnut, oak and maple from mills in southwestern Ontario, oiled by hand with food-safe oil. Leather is full-grain from a family tannery in Québec. Prints are made on 310 gsm cotton rag with archival pigment inks, and photo books are bound in linen by a bindery a few streets away.
Every order is set in your chosen font at actual size and emailed back to you as a proof - usually within one business day. You can change the wording, the spacing or the date format as often as you need to. We only cut when you approve it, and if what arrives doesn’t match the proof, we remake it free.
- Proofs sent and approved
- 61,000+Proofs sent and approved
- Typical time to your proof
- 1 dayTypical time to your proof
- Engraving line, on walnut
- 0.1 mmEngraving line, on walnut
A short history
2016
A borrowed bench
A sign-maker and an illustrator share a studio off Dundas West and a very old laser.
2018
The proof promise
After one misplaced ampersand, every order starts getting a proof. It still does.
2021
Leather & print
A leather press and an archival printer join the workshop; pet portraits get a waiting list.
2026
The gift ledger
Date reminders, so the anniversary gift is never ordered the night before.
What we hold to
Proof before production
A digital proof of every engraving within one business day. Nothing is cut until you approve it.
Remade free if we slip
If an engraving doesn’t match your approved proof, we remake it at no cost - no return needed.
Wrapped and tagged
Kraft paper, cotton ribbon and a handwritten gift tag on every order, at no extra charge.
What customers say
“I typed our initials the wrong way round at 1 a.m. The proof caught it before anything was cut - and the board that arrived is now the best thing in our kitchen.”
“They drew Biscuit from six blurry phone photos and somehow got the ear that never stands up properly. My mum cried, which was the plan.”
“We ordered forty keyrings as wedding favours with every guest’s initial. Every single one was right, and each came in its own little tagged envelope.”
Never miss a date worth engraving
One letter a month: new pieces, holiday order deadlines and a gentle nudge before the anniversaries and birthdays you tell us about. No countdown timers, and you can leave from any letter.