The First Print Run

Both Maree and I have been so frantic, neither of us have stopped to think how the cards will look in a store, coming out of a post box or attached to a lovely gift. I know for sure I will be having marathon writing sessions to all my friends to spread the word via classic hand written letters. But until that moment there is the first print run, and the scoring of hundreds of cards, the stuffing of cellophane sleeves and boxes and the brewing, doubtless, of many, many more pots of pear and jasmine tea. Next blog, will include many thank you's, because no-one starts alone and we certainly are enjoying excellent help from some brilliant people in the field and from the invisible gods of all things paper. why we teamed up. She's the baroque frame around my rough edges.


So, OK, It is Tuesday July the 27th and we are sweating bullets. The very first cards go to print at Spitting Image Digital printing on Thursday the 29th. Starting a card company involves loads of nuts and bolts. Maree has been incredible sourcing sustainable cellophane for the card sleeves, recycled cardboard for the boxes, a pretty candy striped vintage looking string for our up-cycled gift tags (We are using overs and trim papers from the card to produce gift cards to reduce paper wastage), boxes in craft paper for the box sets and frames for our prints. It's an exciting moment and a nerve wracking one as all of the designs we have gathered into collections will be tested with retailers, family and friends for the first time.


The start up of a design collection reminds me a bit of pregnancy. The incubation period is intensely private, comfortable, secretive and possibly a bit self indulgent. But then it's time to let go of the secure little mound and let go of the baby. The collections we have conceived for the first season are a little bit diverse. Origami Blues is a bit romantic and sophisticated. The modern florals are minimal and painterly like 60s abstract art or really spartan vintage floral prints. Lolita is a collection that sprang from a night I spent painting and thinking about old movies and summer dresses. We both love the delicate roses Caroline Quartermaine uses in her silk screened silks and I remember a dress I wore when I was thirteen that was decorated with similarly striking looking large lemon yellow and forest green roses. That dress belonged to my best friend's mother. It was in the dress up box at her house, an object of ridicule. And now, thirty years later, it lives on, inspiring my paint brush late into the night. Our tagline is RECYCLED EMOTION but the second un-official motto we seem to be evolving is NOTHING WASTED, and it's just like that when we design. A drawing that looks a bit daggy on it's own comes to life as the backdrop for something else. Old clothes I owned and loved get recycled in our collection of dresses hanging on wire coat hangers. Many of the dreams I had about international travel and chairs never purchased at flea markets dwell in the images of the Savvy Chic collection, a series based on the illustrations for my book: Savvy Chic:The Art of More for Less, publishing in November in Australia with Harper Collins.


By next blog we will start the process of actually bringing the cards to market. So far I have done a bit of soft shoe research around the card shops of Sydney. One paper shop owner next to a major department store was blandly nonplussed. Another small card shop owner (and designer) was negative. Very negative. So much so he almost made me laugh. He thought I was a painter who wanted to share my art with the world. maybe he thought I was home painting puppies and sunsets dreaming of the big time. And yes there are so many beautiul cards out there already but we think there is room for a little more. And we also figure there’s always too much of everything in the world. Too many cupcakes. Too many shoes. Too many balloon sculptures. Until something new comes along. Something new full of love and…recycled emotion.