The most stylish Christmas cards of all time...?

What the best-dressed mantelpieces should be wearing this Christmas…

I love the Paperchase mother-ship on Tottenham Court Road in London. It’s absolutely massive and full of inspiration. I always go there for my Christmas cards because they have more stylish cards than any of the smaller boutiques I’ve tried. I always want to do a Mary Portas and drag my local giftshop owner into Paperchase and show her exactly where she’s going wrong with her tame little offerings… but I digress from my point and, quite possibly, from the spirit of Christmas too.

This year I found some cards that are not new, or even newly re-issued, but I was so captivated by them that I had to show and tell – even at this late stage in the Christmas countdown. They’re by textile designer Walter Erhard, who created a huge range of cards under the name of 'IMP Press' from the late 1950s through to the end of the 1960s. In 2002 Vigo (tagline: ‘design led stationery from around the world’) bought his back catalogue and have been rolling it out to great success ever since. Although it is hard to unearth much information on him, according to Vigo, Erhard won many awards and was considered to be one of the most progressive designers of the day.


I’m more or less over the whole rinky-dink, Mad Men thing but in my opinion Christmas will always be a time for Dean Martin and the clink of drinks – and these cards fit perfectly with that mood. I think that they embody everything Christmas should be about: fun, beauty, goodness, simplicity and nostalgia. Best of all, they evoke that long lost sense of wonder and over-brimming excitement of one’s earliest Christmases and you can’t really beat that.

www.vigocards.com

www.paperchase.co.uk

All pictures courtesy of Vigo.