Member Spotlight - paper&stuff

Tell us about your company and/or your products.

paper&stuff is a bold, colorful, and exciting brand that creates paper products (& other stuff!) that spark joy and playfulness. The products are designed with quality over quantity in mind and aim to promotes authenticity and sustainability. p&s primarily focuses on greeting cards but also publishes stickers, magnets, hats, and keychains.

What’s your role at your company?

Owner, designer, social media manager, lawyer, public relations, and everything in between.

Why did you become a GCA member?

I’ve joined other organizations in the design industry, and the GCA is by far the most welcoming group of people I’ve come across. It’s amazing how they care about one another, despite everyone being competition, and the amount of knowledge and support they’re willing to share. I’m very thankful to have found the GCA and met all these incredible people.

 

What inspired you to get involved in the greeting card industry?

Making greeting cards came as a natural extension of my graphic design skills because I’ve always loved and collected them. From a young age (and still) my mom encourages us to make our cards by hand, so finding fun ways to personalize cards has been something I’ve always enjoyed.

Officially stepping into the greeting card industry was kind of a happy accident. In Jan 2020, I was casually designing cards, had a couple on Etsy, and wanted to try doing a local market. That’s when I came across NY Now. Having no idea it was a huge trade show, I applied thinking it was a small craft fair. Once I got the confirmation about being accepted into the show the requests for legitimate business requirements started coming in. That’s when I realized this was way bigger and that I needed to figure things out quickly.

Instead of backing out, with less than a month to prepare, I decided to just go for it. I didn’t even know what the word “wholesale” meant at the time. I threw myself into the deep end and figured it out little by little. I’m really glad I went for it because I learned so much in those 4 days that really set me up for success in the last 2.5 years. It’s also a good reminder for me to take risks sometimes.

Michele Byrne
paper&stuff