Card Designer Spotlight X Halfpenny Postage
The Card Designer Spotlight is a series featuring independent makers whose greeting cards you can find in Paper Source stores. Meet and be inspired by a new designer every month on our blog!
This month, we're excited to spotlight our featured mother-daughter duo, Tory & Poppy from Halfpenny Postage. Take a behind the scenes look at how three generations of card makers and designers has made Halfpenny Postage what it is today!
How did you begin your card-making career and company?
"Halfpenny Postage is a Toronto-based design studio and greeting card publisher run by mother-daughter duo, Tory, and Poppy. Their card-making journey is rooted in three generations of women with a shared love of paper. Tory began her career in 1985 as a wholesale greeting card distributor at just 25 years old. Poppy grew up immersed in the world of stationery, joining Tory at international trade shows as a teenager and spending summers working in the warehouse. After studying graphic design, she brought her creative vision to the table and helped launch Halfpenny Postage, shaping it into the brand it is today. You could argue, the story goes back even further: Tory's mother and Poppy's grandmother, moved from London in the 1960s and opened a paper store in Toronto. The name Halfpenny Postage is a nod to Tory's British heritage, inspired by the smallest stamp ever made in the UK, the halfpenny stamp. Since its launch in 2016, the studio has grown from a handful of curated collections to releasing over 200 new designs annually, now carried by thousands of retailers across North America."
Where do you draw inspiration from?
"We always start with our artists. At Halfpenny, we're lucky to collaborate with over forty artists from around the world, licensing and developing designs together. Personally, I draw inspiration from food packaging and mid-century modern typography. My mum often finds hers through travel and literature, and we both share a love for children's book illustrations and vintage postcards. Whenever something catches our eye, like the artwork on a box of chocolates or a particularly clever piece of mail from a brand, we save it and leave it on each other's desk to chat about late. Some of our favorite artist discoveries have come that way."
What does your day look like as a card maker and designer?
"No two days are the same, which is part of the fun. We spend a lot of time reviewing artists submissions, pulling together collections, and planning launches. There's also a lot of collaboration with our retailers and internal team on product development and storytelling. Our favorite part is that moment when a new collection finally comes together, and we receive the samples from our printer. The whole team gathers around the box (usually hastily sliced open), and we carefully inspect each design, checking to see if the print processes look right, or how the colour saturation turned out."
What does your creative process look like?
"We usually start by paying attention to what's happening in the design world, everything from home and fashion trends to illustration styles. We look through our favorite Substacks, scroll Instagram (which is still one of the best tools out there), and flip through our own collection of paper samples and finds for ideas. We also get a lot of direct artist submissions, which our operations manager Tasha carefully reviews. While we can't personally reply to everyone, we've discovered so many great artists that way and always keep an eye out for fresh voices."
What are your most proud of as a creator and card maker?
"It's still incredibly humbling to spot our cards out in the wild. There are the big milestone moments, of course but it's often the smaller, independent shops we've long admired for their creative vision that really stay with us. When retailers who have dedicated their lives to crafting beautiful, curated worlds through stationery, home goods, and more, choose to carry our cards, it feels deeply meaningful. Like we've been invited into a space built with care."
Any fun facts about yourself?
"I think I've kept almost every card I have ever received in my adult life. There are two large boxes in my closet that I am beginning to outgrow. If you have sent me any form of mail in the past five years, I likely have it saved or stowed away in there. My mum saves her favorite card designs she has collected over the years of many of them are frames and hanging in her living room. She has such an incredible eye, each one, carefully selected looks like a very exquisite yet understated piece of art."
Find cards from Halfpenny Postage such as name, name, name at your local store or online at papersource.com. For more inspiration and behind the scenes content follow @halfpennypostage and @papersource on Instagram!
