Merrygoround
Merry-go-round was formed out of a desire to make things which make it easy for people to be green.
Our values include: – Be made from recycled materials // Be reusable // Be recyclable when finished // Celebrate the beauty of the earth and remind us of our connection // Be positive and practical // Be durable and long lasting
It’s not unusual to come up with an idea that ‘might work’ or ‘should be done’ but this was one that wouldn’t go away.
A few years ago, the act of sending out Birthday and Christmas cards came together with a story about the San Francisco frugalism movement, (people committing to living a year without buying anything non-essential).
Surely there was an easy way to re-use a greeting card? – (something not too tricky or weird please).
– and eventually… the answer was “Yes” – it’s one of those “pretty-simple-when-you-see-it-done” things:
(have a look at the 40sec movie here)
The final thing we added was a little row of heart-trees on the back so users can record how many times the card has travelled.
About the cards
The Art
Merry-go-round cards all currently feature the work of Australian artists, including Nadia Turner and GhostPatrol as well as childrens book illustrators such as Shirley Barber, Ann James and Shaun Tan.
The ongoing theme for Merry-go-round images is “earth- love”. Ideally the art holds some kind of ‘joy’, or celebrates nature in some way. Sometimes it’s hard to then match that with an image that would work for someone buying or receiving a greeting card that could be sent for all different sorts of occasions… and is just generally beautiful… but that’s the aim.
The hope is that by celebrating the beauty of the earth, it helps us remember our own connection to it.
Production
Merry-go-round reusable greeting cards are designed and printed in Australia using environmentally responsible practices, on 100% post consumer recycled paper.
Specification
Size: 105mm x 205mm
to fit inside a standard size envelope (for easy re-use)
Stock: 300gsm Cyclus 100% post consumer recycled
Envelope and message insert stock: Ecocern 100% post consumer recycled
Design: Merrygoround Designs
Printing: FishPrint – Carbon Neutral – Waterless offset
The Creators
David and Rebecca
…are a husband and wife team based in Melbourne Australia. Rebecca constantly says it was a team effort coming up with a simple and practical way to make greeting cards reusable, sustainable and beautiful. David knows that it was really her idea.
Contact
Telephone +61 412 102 602
mail@merrygoround.com.au
Drop us a line and say hello… let us know if you have any great card-giving stories… or maybe you have an awesome shop in your neighbourhood that could be marginally more awesome if it stocked Merry-go-round reusable greeting cards?… we would love to hear from you.