Behind the scenes of the Nottingham greetings card company that started in a back bedroom in Colwick

A Nottingham greetings card company which started in a back bedroom in Colwick is celebrating 25 years of business – and is still going strong despite a 20 per cent increase in the price of paper.

James Mace is the Sales and Marketing Director of Nottingham-based card company, The Art File which specialises in designing, producing and distributing greeting cards, gift packaging, Christmas products and stationery. He explained the emotional response people have to cards is one of the best parts of what they do.

“I love the emotional side to cards. You go to a shop or online to search for a card for your best mate and you pick that card up and know that the design will make them smile. There is also taking the time to write the message like ‘missing you’ or ‘thinking of you’ before you send it,” he said.

“The emotive response that people get from them when they open it is quite special to me. I estimated that we sold 4.5 million birthday cards this year so far. So theoretically speaking, we should have made 4.5 million people smile when they receive the cards.”

The family-run company is recognised as one of the leaders in the industry and the team is celebrating their 25th year in business. Although it began in a back bedroom in Colwick, the company moved into its current location on Weekday Cross in Nottingham. The business now employs 32 people including a team of 7 designers who develop the award-winning cards.

“We started 25 years ago in the back bedroom of our family home so we are celebrating our anniversary. We’ve grown substantially over the years before buying this office nine years ago. We have 32 people in the business so we are bursting at the seams,” he explained.

“We also started another business, Tall Boy Designs last October which is a direct-to-consumer online-only print and wall art company. It’s been growing really nicely.”

This year, the company was awarded three awards at ‘the Henries’, an industry award ceremony that recognises the best in the greeting card industry. It is often playfully referred to as “the Oscars of the greeting cards business.”

The company won three awards including Best Art Range with Natural Phenomenon, and Best Christmas Box for their Luxury Christmas Box range for the fourth consecutive year. The team also took the bronze medal in the Best Service to Independent Retailers category.

James said: “We have been fortunate to win so many awards which recognise our products, creativity and diversity. This year, we also got in the bronze award for customer service to all of our retailers which is really good. Over 1800 retailers vote and there are about 2000 publishers so to finish in the top three is pretty amazing.”

When it comes to awards, James shared that one of the proudest moments for him with the business was when they won the Queen’s Award in 2018.

“My personal moment was winning the Queen’s Award in 2018 as I put a lot of work into that. You have to have three or five strong positive growth years and be exporting British products overseas to qualify. There is also a big application process, lots of hurdles that you have to jump over.”

“I would also say building the brand and business over the last five years into a market-leading company. A lot of blood, sweat and tears has gone into that,” he admitted.

The greeting card art world often works ahead of itself much like the fashion industry so this means designers could be drawing Santa in May. It means a lot of crafty planning and forward-thinking for the team.

“A lot of our stuff starts with a hand-drawn or hand-painted original piece that is then scanned in and we work from that. There is a lot of talent that goes into it. We also work quite far in advance so we are on par with the fashion industry. They work a good year ahead of themselves so it’s impressive from a design and future planning perspective as you have to predict what is going to be hot this time next year,” he said.

It hasn’t been an easy time for any business in recent months with the energy crisis and cost of living. James explained that raw material costs have increased.

“We have had to put our prices up for the first time in five years which is a barometer as to how things are going at the moment. We are blessed with a good margin on cards so we can take the hit to a certain extent and pass on a good return to our customers. But we have had to try and cover that raw material cost.”

He added: “The cost of paper has gone up by 20 per cent and the cost of warehousing has gone up by 5 per cent because their utilities have gone up as well as transport. It’s everything really so there is only so much we can take on our margin. It’s been a challenge but it’s a challenge for everyone.”

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