Growing up, I often joined my mom on her errands. Usually, this included grocery shopping or spending hours at our local mall, but when special occasions arose, it called for my favorite task: finding the perfect greeting card.
I watched my mom browse five, ten rows of cards, searching for ones that reflected the person she was shopping for. Coming from a large Jamaican family with first, second and third, cousins, great-aunts, uncles and more, spread across three continents, and many family-friends from even more places and cultures, finding the perfect card was no easy task. Fast forward to today, the world's most accessible stationary producers have done little to represent cultures of people I love, know, and frankly, am.
This led me to creating The Unwritten, an inclusive paper goods brand designed by creators of color in celebration of people of color. Our debut, 'Heritage' Collection and sophomore, 'Gratitude' Collection was designed by Christi Erning, an Indonesian illustrator based in Paris, France. We are determined to produce all of our collections in collaboration with designers of color to support communities of color historically facing under-employment.
In doing so, our production process reflects pouring back into people of the identities our pieces seek to celebrate. We especially welcome people of cultures that are not of color to shop for journals, greeting cards, wrapping paper and more, for their loved ones who are of color, queer, fat, disabled, and/or lie within the intersection of those identities.
Our brand promises to help people of all backgrounds to give more thoughtfully, strengthening connections between one another and ourselves, and healing us all.