Celebrating 21 years of contemporary card design

2015 sees Belly Button Designs kick-start the anniversary year with a 2015 collection like no other!

Through the years our designs have always been one step ahead and our creative ethos has stayed the same, that is to design fresh and contemporary greeting cards that reflect current trends. 

“Belly Button is an organic business – no fixed plan, targets or strategies just good ideas, hard work, being nice to people and at the centre of it all a creative pool.”

It all started 21 years ago when our Creative Director and big boss lady Rachel was back in her home city of Manchester from an MA course in Belfast. Working in the contemporary art gallery café along-side like-minded people, she heard about a scheme the city council were running to encourage new business start ups, even the fine arts. Rachel was fortunate enough to be accepted and also got a grant from the brilliant Princes Trust.

A friend who owned a card shop asked Rachel to make some greeting cards – carefully hand painted, and varnished they were handed over. They had sold really well. “I sold my own cards at an art cafe counter, they flew out. I was able to experiment with new designs and get direct feedback, people loved them.”

At a time when there were not many hand made cards being sold by retailers Rachel had something new and exciting to bring to the market. She later exhibited at the Spring Fair and was amazed by the reaction and to this day Belly Button still show new collections every year. 

Over the subsequent years Rachel has built up a team of very special people, “some of whom have been with me for 15 years and more”. The Studio is based in Manchester and is a place that is made up of  talented people who all share a love in design and seek out on trend inspiration in the everyday. It is creative hub that continually works on delivering high standards of excellence. We strongly believe in working with people to seek out new papers and print processes so we can expand our knowledge and deliver new and exciting collections.

So lots of people ask where the name comes from! When Rachel was on her degree at Edinburgh she won a scholarship to Delphi in Greece which the ancient Greeks referred to as the navel or centre of the earth. “It was and still is a very inspirational place. So I decided on Belly Button, its fun and catchy, and it caught on”.