12 women-owned card companies for your holiday needs
From ‘Santa Claws’ to ‘Mistletoad’
Every year, we go through the same process of trying to find the perfect holiday card. Save time this year: We’ve got you covered. Below are our favorite women-owned card companies.
1. People I’ve Loved
Cost: $5 per card
Artist Carissa Potter founded People I’ve Loved, a small printmaking workshop that specializes in hand-printed and assembled objects. It’s headquartered in a farmhouse with a lemon tree in Oakland, Calif.
2. Able and Game
Cost: $4.81 per card
Note: Able and Game is located in Australia, so order early to make time for shipping.
The creative team behind Able and Game are Anna Blandford, the illustrator, and Gareth Meney, who works on the technical side. This husband-wife duo uses humor and real sentiment to convey messages that are quirky, poignant and personal.
3. Moglea
Cost: $7.50 per card or $22.50 for a box of six
Moglea was launched in May 2012 by Chad and Meg Gleason. After moving to Chad’s family farm in Audubon, Iowa, they bought a century-old letterpress and started creating the Moglea line. Meg sought to bring unexpected processes — like dip dye and hand painting — to the fine stationery market.
4. Egg Press
Cost: $5 per card or $16.50 for a box of six
In 1999, Tess Darrow started Egg Press in Portland, Ore. Egg Press is considered one of the pioneers in the resurgence of letterpress printing. They have a sophisticated color palette, hand-drawn illustrations, textile-inspired patterns and a sense of humor.
5. Ghost Academy
Cost: $5 per card
Ghost Academy likes things that are funny or quirky, so they try to create stuff that makes them smile. Their cards are hand-printed using a few simple tools and a lot of elbow grease.
6. Fancy Seeing You Here
Cost: $5 per card or $18–$20 for a box of six
Sarah Hanks started Fancy Seeing You Here in Washington, D.C. Hanks loves experimenting with different mediums, from sewing to letterpress to glassblowing.
7. Ladyfingers Letterpress
Cost: $5 per card or $18 for a box of six
Ladyfingers Letterpress was founded in 2011 by Arley-Rose Torsone and Morgan Calderini, a married couple. In 2016, Ladyfingers Letterpress opened their Flagship Store in Colorado Springs, Colo., a post from which they also design and produce their line of letterpress gifts and stationery.
8. The Witty Gritty Paper Co.
Cost: $4.50 per card
(You can choose an envelope color to personalize this, or include a single stamp for 50 cents.)
The Witty Gritty Paper Company is made up of Melinda and Meredith, a mother-daughter duo. Melinda is the illustrator, accountant, customer service liaison and the mother of the equation. Meredith is the watercolorist, photographer, designer and daughter. Their cozy studio is located in Buffalo, N.Y.
9. Hello!Lucky
Cost: $5 per card or $16 for a box of six
Notes: There are also city-specific holiday cards for Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. — plus one for Texas.
Hello!Lucky is a letterpress greeting card brand created by sisters Eunice and Sabrina Moyle. The siblings have spent the last 11 years mastering their craft.
10. Sophie
Cost: $3.44 per card, $13.77 for pack of five or $25.47 for pack of 10
Sophie Corrigan lives in a sweet little shop in the United Kingdom. She’s a freelance illustrator, and she’s studying children’s book illustration.
11. Paula and Waffle
Cost: $4.50 per card or $13.50 for a box of six
Paula and Waffle is a stationery design studio based in New York and New Jersey. Waffle is a 5-year-old Havanese pup who inspires illustrator Paula Cheng-Mehta and keeps her company while she designs. All of Cheng-Mehta’s cards and paper goods are printed in the United States and assembled in her Queens studio.
12. Elūm
Cost: $5.50 per card
Elūm is small but mighty crew of award-winning designers and printmakers who still believe in the power of paper correspondence. They are designers, painters, illustrators, hand-letterers, typesetters, printers and inventors.
Typography by Simi Mahtani for The Lily.
Photos by Linda Wang for The Lily.
Hand-drawn elements by Rachel Orr.
