The British have been sending cards since Victorian times – and still send more per head than any other nation. How have they survived in an age of texts, Facebook and e-cards?
For Rachel Hare, it all started with dental surgery and Bugsy Malone. When she was four years old, the greetings card designer had to go into hospital for an operation, and – because in those days parents weren’t allowed to stay overnight – sobbed as she watched her family walk away. “But they left this massive Bugsy Malone card on my bed – I’ve still got it in a box,” Hare says. “It gives me goosebumps remembering that.”
In 1994, Hare founded her luxury card company Belly Button and today her designs are sold in John Lewis and Selfridges, among other independent shops. In 25 years of card-designing, she has seen a lot of change. That “pink/blue boy/girl thing” for newborns? On its way out. Valentines are less popular than ever, although the rude variety are reportedly on the rise, while thanks to modern masculinity, Father’s Day has boomed. A couple of years ago prosecco was a common motif; now, it is all about gin.
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