I'm sure you already know that we’ve our own range of Irish designed cards but what you might not know is that we have them printed right here in Dublin, and package them ourselves in the shop (you might even see them being assembled live in the shop if you pop in - do excuse the rustly noises).
Each card is packaged with a recycled map envelope and a biodegradable corn starch cellophane cover. That's our attempt to make them as sustainable as possible, and reduce the distance the cards travel as much as we can.
We started making our own cards shortly after we opened. To begin with, they were designed mostly by our mates, but we started to see a need for Irish cards, when customers pointed out there were no cards with “Mammy” on them for Mother's Day. When we began really looking into it there weren't that many designers who represented the peculiar Irish condition and our relationship with celebration, commiseration and all the sentiments in between that require a card with just the right message.
We're now really lucky to work with some amazing Irish designers - like Holly Pereira whose glorious murals can be seen on all the best looking walls of Dublin; Artist Roberta Murray whose take on pop culture makes her cards some of our most popular sellers; Twisted Doodles - a scientist and cartoonist with a regular feature in the New Scientist, whose work is always both kind and hilarious and kept us sane on twitter during all the lockdowns; Comedian Rob Stears whose absurdist take on life and parenthood, has been entertaining us for years. Aside from just being able to draw, what they all have in common is a keen eye, a sense of affectionate irreverence, and love of a good pun.
These are just a few of the designers & illustrators we've worked with developing our ever growing range of cards over the years. But we're also always on the lookout for new interesting people to work with. If you (or someone else) would be a good fit for us, please get in touch by email to designers@designist.ie