The Cotton Blossom Press Team
Macon York Costlow
Founder & Creative Director
Hello! I grew up in the Georgia low country and then attended college in the mountains of Tennessee. I studied Art at Sewanee, the University of the South, and graduated in 2007. After college, I moved to New York City to pursue a career in editorial layout design. During my five years there, I designed for Domino Magazine, New York Magazine, Martha Stewart Living, and InStyle.
While I loved my career, I missed making art with my hands and I craved a solo project. In the spring of 2010, I took a letterpress workshop at The Arm in Brooklyn and immediately fell in love with the art and process of letterpress printing.
In March of 2012, I left New York City for good in pursuit of a childhood dream - to hike the entire Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. The Appalachian Trail was the most beautiful and challenging experience of my life. I loved living so intimately in nature and watching the seasons change. Best of all, I met my now-husband, Luke Costlow.
We moved to Asheville in spring of 2013 and I started a freelance business offering graphic design and letterpress printing. The business grew slowly but surely. In 2016, Luke and I married, and he joined my business as co-owner. In early 2017, we relaunched as Cotton Blossom Press.
Luke’s childhood was set in Parkersburg, West Virginia until 2015 when his family moved 500 miles down the Ohio River to Evansville, Indiana. Luke spent some time discerning a vocation to the Catholic priesthood at Bishop Simon Brute College Seminary in Indianapolis, Indiana before transferring out of the seminary to study secular philosophy at the University of Southern Indiana.
In 2012, Luke embarked on his thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail, which he completed that same September alongside Macon. After the hike, Luke moved to Hendersonville, North Carolina and worked as an instructor for Mountain Trail Outdoor School at Kanuga in Hendersonville. After this, he spent time traveling and studying on a few Appalachian organic farms. In 2014, he moved to Asheville and began his career in the field of Inn Keeping as as Assistant Inn Keeper at the Hill House Bed & Breakfast. He is now the General Manager of Appalachian Coffee Company in Hendersonville. Luke frequently provides much needed support to Cotton Blossom Press, including business consultation, production and printing, social media, and general studio maintenance.
Luke Costlow
Support Staff
About the Costlows
We recently bought a house in Laurel Park, just outside of Hendersonville, North Carolina, where we are enthusiastic beginner homesteaders. We enjoy gardening, fermentation, hiking, herbalism, traveling, hosting parties large and small, cooking delicious food, baking bread, and watching the seasons change in our beloved Appalachia.
Our Wonderful Intern(s)/Staff!
For now, our team is just the two of us, but we are poised to grow. Though we are not currently seeking help, we look forward to the time when we are able to create jobs for artists in our community and to pass on the craft of printmaking. If you are interested in joining our team in the future, please reach out so we can get in touch with you when the time comes. We will hold on to all resumes that are sent.
