Card Shop: Posters
To celebrate our new Card Shop Project Space, we invited some of our very favourite British stationers and designers to make us a one off poster to mark the occasion.
The Brief
Much of the fun of retail (as well as the obvious and unsurpassed fun of all of you lovely customers) is choosing great stuff and working with really nice suppliers. We asked Petra Boase, Immie Owen, Crispin Finn (not actually his real name as he’s actually two people and one them’s a woman), Wanderlust and Scribble and Daub to make a poster (roughly A3 size) about their work and a little bit about their relationship with The Hambledon.
Petra Boase
Petra Boase is the doyenne of crazy colour and kitsch inspiration and she is probably our very longest serving card supplier (we discovered her at a trade show in London at least 15 years ago). Established in 1999 by Petra, the company is now a collaboration between her and her husband Russell.The pair draw on their skills in textile design and children's book illustration to produce a fun filled range of greeting cards, stationery and prints. A lover of all things vintage, Petra's inspiration comes from her vast collection of 1950's fabrics, knick knacks and ephemera while Russell loves a good vintage comic! As Petra’s poster says:
‘Our colour and style aesthetic feels very at home in The Hambledon and it’s a joy to be part of their beautifully curated brand family’
Thank you very much missus!
Crispin Finn
Crispin Finn is a pseudonym. I was sure it was Cockney rhyming slang (it sounds as if it must mean chin or din or pin) but it turns out Crispin is Roger’s middle name; Finn is an old nickname of Anna’s. The business has evolved from their perennially popular yearly planners and now includes an extensive range of cards, characterised by their love of visual simplicity and economy of colour (if you don’t like red, white and blue, these are not for you). Cards are screen printed in house or made locally with ethically responsible manufacturing processes. And true to form, the poster is in absolutely classic, signature style.
Imogen Owen
Immie is something of a Hambledon institution. Never has so much swearing been so beautifully executed as her calligraphic swearathon in the shop that marked the publication of her book. There may be someone who hasn’t been gifted one of her gold leafed sweary mugs, but that person is vanishingly rare. Who doesn’t want to receive a ‘Fuck Me, You’re Old’ card at a significant birthday. This is a woman entirely on our wavelength. Slightly counter to expectations Immie’s poster is encouraging us to ‘Send Love’. In the style of a trippy 70s gig poster with added rainbows and stars.
Scribble & Daub
The Yin to Immie’s Yang (they are firm friends in the real), Caroline Kent’s Scribble & Daub is a testament to all that is kind and thoughtful. Believing that even the smallest token, carefully chosen, can have great power when given, Scribble & Daub's letterpress printed and individually hand-painted cards are designed to enhance any present, or to be tiny gifts in themselves. These are meticulously hand-crafted objects of enduring pleasure to both giver and receiver. Caroline says:
‘We are thrilled to be part of The Hambledon’s inimitable edit’
and who are we to argue.
Wanderlust
Designed with joy and a pallet of colourful gouache paints by artist and designer Lucy Brackin, Wanderlust is one of the new kids on the card block. Featuring loose and simple illustrations (part cartoon, part Greek statuary, part Roman busts) and cute, silly messages, these are just charming. Printed in house in Hove , East Sussex. Lucy seems pleased to be here:
‘It is a joy to be part of such an iconic independent store and to have our products alongside so many beautifully considered objects’.
Nice!
