Has it really been ten years since thortful first unleashed a stampede of quirky, unique greeting cards onto the unsuspecting British public? Time flies when you’re busy turning brilliant ideas into cards. We thought we’d stop the clock for a proper natter with three of our brilliant long-haul creators: Jon Higham, Kay Wolfersperger, and Sai Pathmanathan. Get the lowdown on everything from the seismic shift to AI to the magic moment their inspiration hits. Keep on reading and dive into a decade of design wisdom.
Jon Higham
What made you originally join thortful?
I had been illustrating greetings cards since the 80s, mainly for Gordon Fraser, then in the 2000s, Paperchase Christmas. So when thortful started, they must have seen my work and contacted me, saying they were looking for artists in November 2015. I know that in January 2016 I came up to the thortful offices in Soho and met up with Andrew Pearce and Sandra Lindholm, and by early February I’d received my first thortful payment—£5! As a lecturer in illustration in Hastings and Brighton, I also approached thortful to do a project with the students designing cards, and that happened by October 2016. It was a great project, and the students came up to the offices to meet the team—I was very grateful to thortful for that opportunity. By then, thortful was located on the Strand.
How has your business evolved since being with thortful?
I still design the odd card, but with a move up country to Norfolk with the family and a new direction as a landscape painter, I haven’t designed that many cards of late. But I never say never—especially as I enjoy doing them!
How has the industry changed in the past 10 years?
I’m still amazed by the range of cards available on the high street, which seems to indicate a relatively healthy business. It keeps reinventing itself (such as the face swap idea) and, furthermore, it’s very reactive. So a major celebrity can do or say something and it could be a greetings card within 48 hours—that’s obviously radically different to when I started in the 1980s.
What’s the biggest change you’ve had in the past 10 years?
AI. I enjoyed the recent AI face swap project with thortful where I used AI (Leonardo) to create face swap cards. As an artist, you have to know what you are up against, so I was keen to see if it was a tool that could be of help to illustrators or one that could lose us a lot of business. I think it’s a bit of both…!
What’s been your favourite card you’ve created in the past 10 years?
I’ve had many favourites and they don’t always chime with the sales. I am still really pleased with my tube map moving home card, which is still selling, but that’s more me with my designer hat on. So I’ll have to pick an illustrated one, which would be my Stranger Things Birthday card featuring Vecna in front of the creepy house! I spent ages on that because I enjoyed doing it!
What’s been your best memory over the past 10 years?
During the pandemic, I did an Easter card. I’ll admit I thought—who on earth buys Easter cards these days? I drew some cute chicks holding the letters ‘Happy Easter’. I had a massive spike in sales (well… for me, that is) that Easter—over 1,000—and I was so surprised!
What are you looking forward to in the next 10 years?
I tend to work impulsively and will suddenly, out of the blue, have an idea for a card, so I look forward to that moment of inspiration. But meanwhile, I’m enjoying my new chapter establishing myself as a fine artist. I have sold a few paintings and have an upcoming exhibition in Norwich with nine other contemporary artists in November, which is very exciting.
Kay Wolfersperger
What made you originally join thortful?
The thortful team reached out about this cool new greeting card website they were launching and invited me to submit designs. I was flattered and excited and of course jumped at the chance. And here we are ten years later!
How has your business evolved since being with thortful?
When I first joined thortful, I had just left my full-time job as an art director to pursue freelance design and illustration. Selling my designs on thortful gave me great feedback for which designs were successful so I could shape my portfolio in an informed way. I’m happy to report ten years later I am still a freelance designer and illustrator with many licences under my belt and greeting card sales!
How has the industry changed in the past 10 years?
The industry has made a big shift from print to digital, and for me has presented more opportunities because of that expansion. thortful is especially cool because I can make a card and upload it quick as a wink, whereas years ago I would have needed to go down to the print shop, print out a bunch of cards not knowing if they would sell or not and then try to sell them to retailers or on Etsy, all while holding that inventory. Personal websites have also become more accessible and affordable so I’m able to publish work quickly and send it out to art directors and clients.
What’s the biggest change you’ve had in the past 10 years?
The biggest change I’ve had in the past ten years was buying my house in Savannah, GA USA! It was a big commitment but my husband, Ben, and I have made it our cosy little home with a bunch of cats and now I have my own home studio.
What’s been your favourite card you’ve created in the past 10 years?
My favourite card I have created in the past ten years was one of the first cards I uploaded to thortful. It features two little bears wearing bow ties holding paws and says “Happy Anniversary!” Simple, sweet, successful.
What’s been your best memory over the past 10 years?
My best memory over the past ten years happened recently! My husband, Ben, and I went to London and Ireland to celebrate our ten-year wedding anniversary! Cruising the hills of Slea Head Dr in our rental car on a beautiful day and seeing the dolphins over the cliffs and jaggy rocks was incredible and my best memory to date.
What are you looking forward to in the next 10 years?
Professionally, I’m looking forward to making loads and loads more illustrations and greeting cards and working with clients on their fun projects! Personally, I look forward to seeing more of the world and travelling as well as staying fit and maybe running a marathon!
Sai Pathmanathan
What made you originally join thortful?
I’m not actually sure how it all happened, but I’m so glad it did! thortful was a bright, shiny new business arriving on the scene a little after I started ‘The Taste Buds’ ten years ago and looked like a great fit for me. I was also creating some science-y cards (under the banner of ‘Punderstanding Life’) and the team asked me if I’d like to try out some of those designs on thortful too. The staff were super supportive (and still are!) and helped me and all us creators show off cards that weren’t mainstream, and a little experimental too.
How has your business evolved since being with thortful?
I’ve tended to stay quite small, as ‘The Taste Buds’ originally popped out of my school workshops I was running at the time on food science, puns (and jokes!) and how our sense of taste works. I was then simply enjoying sharing the food puns on social media (including having the ‘Food Network’ share my puns) and people kept telling me to turn them into cards. I created cards for small gift shops, and still create cards for thortful, and design gifts and homeware for print-on-demand sites such as Redbubble and Contrado, as my main work is still in education. I don’t like waste, so print-on-demand works well for me. Having pitched to huge department stores in the past, I was a little shocked at how much wastage was involved and that didn’t sit well with me. thortful is so wonderful in that it’s so eco-friendly and by handling all the production side they allow us creators to concentrate on the best part: creating!
How has the industry changed in the past 10 years?
As mentioned earlier, the cards and gifts industry seem much more open to products that really reflect us as a society. And thortful has always been ahead of the game with this. The inclusiveness of ethnicity, race, gender, disability, neurodiversity and much more is so heartwarming and awesome to see. In a world where there’s a lot of divisiveness, I hope that the cards industry stays strong by always including everyone. Seeing the move from single-use plastic sleeves covering cards to ‘naked’ cards has been great too. Many of us complained to the industry back in the day but were never listened to, and then, thanks to Blue Planet II being on prime-time telly, no one could ignore the plastics problem anymore, including the greetings card industry. Having said that, thortful has been plastic-free with their cards from the start, which is why I’ve always been proud to be a thortful creator! Yay!
What’s the biggest change you’ve had in the past 10 years?
From an art perspective, it was realising that nothing is permanent. The art app I was using suddenly disappeared along with all the brushes, colour palettes and everything I had set up and loved and had used to create my quirky style. Digital was heaps easier (and less messy!) than using actual paints, markers and trying to remember all my lettering training (and over the years my handwriting has become awful!). But that just meant re-inventing a bit, using different tools and changing to a newer, brighter style while experimenting with creative ideas to find out what customers liked. From a selling perspective, I think I’ve realised I don’t have to do what everyone else expects of a card designer. It’s quite scary and overwhelming when the industry expects so much of you, especially when it’s not your actual job. I love that it is possible to run things in your own, ethical way, have fun, create in your own time, meet great people and make money too!
What’s been your favourite card you’ve created in the past 10 years?
Oh, I have a few favourites! It would have to be ‘Love You Lots Like Jelly Tots’ because it’s one of my best sellers and ‘I Carrot Cake My Eyes Off You’ because it’s just so silly and it’s carrot cake! Music-and-food puns make me smile as you can’t help but hum the song every time you see it (that might just be me though!).
What’s been your best memory over the past 10 years?
One lovely memory was the collaboration with Karmuka/Ekarta where several of us creators worked with primary school children to bring their Christmas card designs to life and sell them on thortful for charity. And of course, there was the thortful Instagram Takeover, which was a very eventful weekend! At one point I was wandering through my local Sainsbury’s doodling foods that could be punned!
I’ve loved creating food characters and puns over the years with ‘The Taste Buds’ for thortful, which helped me see that there was a huge audience for my humorous ideas. I’ve made gifts such as mugs, pins, notebooks and earrings (and even underwear, or punderwear!). I also love baking and drawing funny faces on photographs of my bakes. My love of teaching young people about different cultural foods and ingredients led me to write The Poetic Wisdom Of The Taste Buds. I entered this into the FAB Prize competition where it was specially commended… and to cut a long story short, I ended up writing a children’s cookbook thanks to that. Who knew that The Taste Buds cards could take me on such an amazing adventure?
What are you looking forward to in the next 10 years?
My main hope for the next ten years is that I’ll still be creating food puns and comical illustrations to make everyone giggle, as I don’t think there’s anything more wonderful than bringing joy to so many in such a simple way.
