Australian-Made Greeting Cards, Chosen Like Gifts
The card is the only part of a flower gift that speaks in your voice. We've stopped treating it as the last box to tick at checkout, and filled the shelf with three Australian makers whose work we'd happily frame.
Think about the last card that arrived with flowers for you. You can probably still recall what it said. You almost certainly can't recall what it looked like.
That gap is the problem. A card is the one part of a gift that is entirely yours: your words, and, if it's chosen well, your eye. When the front looks like it came from a box of two hundred, it quietly suggests the rest of the gift might have too. When it looks chosen, the whole delivery reads as considered.
So we rebuilt our range of Australian-made greeting cards the way we'd build a gift shelf. We chose makers, not stock.
What's in the new greeting card range?
The range brings together three Australian makers: Studio Nikulinsky in Western Australia, Typoflora in Sydney, and AHD Paper Co. Every card is printed in Australia, blank inside for your message, and $9.95. Any of them can be added to a flower delivery at checkout.
They sit alongside our own gold foil line cards. The difference is register. Each maker speaks in a different voice, which means you can match the card to the person, not just the occasion.
Studio Nikulinsky: the botanist's eye
Philippa Nikulinsky AM paints Western Australian flora in watercolour, with the patience of someone who has spent long hours in the field looking at a single plant.
The cards are reproductions of those paintings: Banksia blechnifolia with its low, sprawling cones, Grass Trees, Mulla Mullas in soft lilac, Pink Gum, and a Honeyeater on Banksia that catches the bird mid-feed. There's also Nuytsia floribunda, the Western Australian Christmas tree, from her Cape Arid series. It flowers a blazing orange around December, which makes it a quietly clever card for the season.
Printed with vegetable-based inks on 100% recycled paper, designed and printed in Western Australia.
Choose it for: the person who knows plant names. The friend who walks. Anyone who moved east and still misses the colour of the west.
Typoflora: hand-drawn, finished in foil
Every Typoflora card starts as a drawing by Sydney designer Shannon Cheung, made by hand before it ever touches a screen. (We sat down with her for a closer look at Typoflora's process.)
There are two families in our edit. The native portraits, Flannels, Banksia, Pink Waratah and Brown Waratah, are drawn with the kind of attention natives demand: the structure of a banksia cone, the felt of a flannel flower. Then the occasion cards: Peony Happy Birthday, Floral Birthday Cake, Houseplants, Flower Field Thank You and Happy Anniversary, most finished in rose gold foil with calligraphy.
Printed in Australia on carbon neutral 300gsm stock, each with a foiled envelope flap.
Choose it for: when the occasion is the point and you want it said beautifully. A birthday that deserves more than a birthday card.
Choose for the person. The occasion only tells you what to write inside.
AHD Paper Co: when plain words do it better
Some people would squirm at a watercolour waratah. For them, there's AHD Paper Co.
The range mixes artist collaborations, like Liz Casella Studio's Orchid Posy and Aley Wild's Hip Hip Hooray, with type-led cards that say the thing directly: I'm Glad You Exist. You've Got This. Stay Weird. Let's Party.
That directness is useful. I'm Glad You Exist might be the hardest-working four words on the shelf: a birthday, a recovery, a hard month, or no reason at all.
Recycled paper, vegetable inks, a 100% recycled kraft envelope. Made in Australia, packed and finished by hand.
Choose it for: the friend you text more than you call. The one who'd rather be made to laugh than made to cry.
Our own line cards, still here
Our gold foil line illustrations stay in the range: the Tulip, the Single Stem, the Dove for sympathy and condolences, the Champagne for good news, New Beginnings for a new baby. They're the calm default when you'd rather the card step back and let the flowers lead.
How do you choose the right card?
Choose for the person, not the occasion. The occasion tells you what to write inside; the person tells you what should be on the front.
- Match their eye. A botanist's birthday calls for a Nikulinsky native, not a card that says Happy Birthday.
- Let the front set the tone. If the card carries the mood, the message can be short, and short is usually better.
- Pair it with the flowers, or contrast on purpose. A native card alongside a bouquet of Australian native flowers reads as one thought. A cheeky AHD card with a soft white arrangement reads as two people who know each other well.
- When in doubt, go botanical. A good floral card is never wrong.
Stuck on the inside? Our guide to what to write on a flower card has openings for most occasions, including the difficult ones.
Banksia blechnifolia, by Studio Nikulinsky.
A Western Australian watercolour, printed on recycled paper in WA. $9.95. Shop the card →
Frequently asked questions
Can I add a greeting card to a flower delivery?
Yes. Every card in the range can be added at checkout with any flower order, and it travels with your flowers.
Are the cards Australian made?
Yes. Studio Nikulinsky cards are designed and printed in Western Australia, Typoflora cards are printed in Australia on carbon neutral stock, and AHD Paper Co cards are made in Australia and finished by hand.
Are the cards blank inside?
Yes. Every card in the range is blank inside, so the message is entirely yours.
How much does a greeting card cost?
Each card in the range is $9.95, including its envelope.
A week after the flowers arrive, they're finished. The card is still out: propped against the books, stuck to the fridge, front facing the room. That was the test we chose every card against. Would they leave it face out?
Find the one that suits them in our greeting card collection.
