Greeting cards deserve more love. Sure, they might be tacky, simplified versions of our genuine sentiments, but who says that’s necessarily a bad thing? Take, for instance, Olga Griesinger’s greeting cards. Printed and distributed by the letterpress greeting card company Elum Designs, her creations have an undeniable wholesomeness to them, and God knows we could use some wholesomeness in our life.
“I get to have fun coming up with concepts (illustrations as well as words) for greeting cards of all sorts of occasions, which are printed in a beautiful old (and complicated to learn) technique of letterpress,” explained Griesinger in an interview with The Design Kids. “I also get to design stationery collections and products, gift-wrap and gift bags, which are later sold in stores like Papyrus, Homegoods, Marshalls, TJ-Max, and Clintons. So when you are out there buying a paper bag for your gift, you may be grabbing one of my creations.”
A graphic designer and illustrator by trade, Griesinger was born in the USSR to a family of artists and designers. Having later moved to Minsk, Belarus, she went to art school by the tender age of seven. But though Griesinger had a strong grounding in classical academic drawing and painting, she didn’t want to become a fine artist. Rather, she dreamed of joining the world of graphic design.
“Through my childhood, I distinctly remember drawing two kinds of things – funny animals and characters (before I started to read) and words and letters (after learning how to read),” she recalled. “I think it is only natural that after years of practicing both I became a greeting card graphic designer and illustrator.”
