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We've really enjoyed bringing Euro greeting card love to Cool Cards of late what with our German Inkognito cards and French Nouvelle Images cards but we've been looking for some home grown love at the Home and Gift show in Harrogate and we struck gold...
In at number 1.
The Feel Better / Get Well Humanist Greeting Card Award goes to: Amy Thorpe of Ryland Design Studios for the most appropriate and sensitive sample card. Why appropriate? Because of my arm being in a sling as a result of a broken collarbone.
Amy's beautiful cards are made in the UK from recycled board and use recycled envelopes.
Thank you Amy :) x
In at number 2.
We hoped to find something new and fresh and standout cool and we did just that when we spotted My World who won our Geek Chic Award with their For Science! range.
The above card is called "Oxytocin".
My World also stood out from the crowd for their Good Sport range which ticked a lot of boxes for that most difficult creature to buy cards for... Man.
In at number 3.
Next, we went looking to beef up Cool Cards and remind ourselves why our strapline is: "The Art of Greeting Cards". The clear winner of the Art Card Award went to Col Cards. We can honestly say that Col Cards produce the most beautifully finished fine art cards we have ever seen. Bar none.
There's no way the images can ever do justice to the detail, embossing and foil finish of these cards which are printed and finished in their premises in Malvern.
In at number 4.
The hands down winner of Cool and Quirky Award went to the ever wonderful Simon Drew. We've had cards from Simon before but we were delighted to see so many brilliantly punny new designs. We did want to meet and say hello to Simon at the show, but he was busy... listening to the cricket on the radio. Bless.
In at number 5.
The Funny Card Award went to Redback cards for both their Cyanide & Happiness range and their Wulffmorgenthaler range. Again, we've stocked these laugh-out-loud cards in the past and look forward to adding some of their great new designs to Cool Cards.
So. Thank you Harrogate. A successful haul of fantastic new cards which will soon be available from Cool Cards..! Check us out on Facebook to be sure of being the first to know when we have them online..!
We're very happy with our latest additions from Germany. Inkognito cards, which feature a beautiful, deep glossy finish and so true to our strapline: The Art of Greeting Cards. Amelie fans will most likely recognise some of the work by Michael Sowa...
Inkognito Cards - Cool Cards
"Today sees Royal Mail celebrate the 50th anniversary of the world’s
longest running science fiction series in TV history – Doctor Who – with
the launch of a special set of 11 stamps.
The stamps feature each of the actors who have played the role of the
Time Lord over the last 50 years. The stamp design sees the faces of
each Doctor appearing out of the iconic swirling screen idents, made
famous by the opening credits of the TV show.
The first two stamps are
in black and white, as the first two incarnations of the Doctor were
broadcast in monochrome.
In addition to the 11 stamps featuring the Doctors, a five stamp
miniature sheet will also be available. In the centre of the sheet is a
stamp featuring the Doctor’s space and time travelling machine, the
world famous Time and Relative Dimension in Space or the TARDIS as it is
more commonly known.
The remaining four stamps feature some of the
Doctor’s most famous foes; a Dalek, a Cyberman, an Ood and a Weeping
Angel.
"On 11 December 1959, the United Kingdom’s first drive-in post office
opened. It was situated at the new Wharf Street Branch Post Office under
the centre archway of the Wharf Street Telephone Exchange building in
Leicester, which had a private road running through it.
"The drive-in post office was to handle straightforward transactions,
such as the sale of stamps and postal orders. Drivers would be served
from the comfort of their cars via a drive-in counter adjacent to the
covered roadway. The intention was that as a car drew up to the drive-in
counter, the counter clerk would hear a bell ring. The counter clerk
and driver would communicate via microphones and loudspeakers. When the
driver had told the counter clerk what was required, a tray was to be
extended to the driver upon which money would be placed. The counter
clerk would withdraw the tray and exchange the money for whatever had
been requested. Letters etc. could be returned by tray but packets and
parcels were to be passed to the counter clerk through a hatch.
Despite being announced in a burst of fanfare, the drive-in post
office was ultimately considered to be a failure. From the initial 60 to
70 customers a day, this fell to 20 to 25 a day and, by 1963, the
number of customers had tailed off to three per day and even this was
not always maintained.
"Its location was not ideal. Although adjacent to a public car park,
it was situated at a branch and not a head post office, was not on a
main road and was away from the main businesses and shopping area of the
city.
The drive-in post office suffered from design flaws. The signs
directing customers, for example, were too small. Most drivers stopped
too far away from the drive-in counter so it was rarely possible to use
the tray as had been originally intended. In fact, the tray was rarely
used because the unsatisfactory nature of the microphones and
loudspeaker equipment. Clerks found that it was easier to raise the
glass screen and lean out of the window in order to conduct
transactions. The archway also formed a wind tunnel. The wind had
sometimes torn paper money, stamps or postal orders from customers so
that some had had to leave their cars in order to chase after them.
In fact, there had been scepticism about the viability of such a
venture right from the start. A number of the Regional Directors felt
that post office counter business did not readily lend itself to this
form of service, whilst the United States postal administration reported
that such facilities were expensive to provide.
"Although the drive-in post office was considered to be a failure, it
did not stop the Post Office from trying out other innovative ideas at
this time, including the opening of a self service post office suite in
Luton on 4 July 1960 where motorists could buy stamps and post their
mail.
- Louise Todd, Archivist
Source: The British Postal Museum & Archive
