In this age of instant messaging and e-mailing, the notion of greeting cards can sometimes seem ancient. Times of now where everything is fast-paced and digital, where much of the communication is paper-free, receiving a handcrafted card is quite rare. Though rare, there remains a special joy in receiving a handmade card. Spreading joy and making loved ones feel special, Paper Towns strikes as a business that intends to revive and strengthen the handmade card giving culture again.
Paper Towns is a handmade card business founded in 2016 by Aditee Bhattarai and Shrinkhala Shrestha. The two best friends are artists at heart and have always loved making cards. They specialize in customized handmade cards to make our loved ones know how much we care about them. Each card is made with a lot of dedication and effort to let our loved ones know how much appreciate them. Since each card is customized, it is unique, one of a kind, not mass produced, cold and impersonal.
Figure 1: Aditee Bhattarai and Shrinkhala Shrestha, co-founders of Paper Towns
The inception of Paper Towns took place when they decided to take in orders for cards on the occasion of Mother’s Day 2016. “It was kind of an experiment at first as we didn’t have any expectations regarding orders. It was our friends that pushed us to make an Instagram account and post the pictures of our cards. When we really thought about it, we decided to give it a try because there seemed no harm in doing so. The thing that happened next was completely unexpected.”
While the duo thought they wouldn’t be getting many orders, Bhattarai terms the turning of events as “completely overwhelming”. From looking at their posts, people loved their cards and to a point, there were so many orders and so little time, they actually had to close down the order taking process. Ever since then, their business has been doing well and there has been no looking back.
Having already completed almost two years of successfully running the business, Bhattarai recalls the days where things also got difficult at times. “We both were doing our bachelor’s while also managing the business. Since all the cards are handmade, it took a lot of time and effort making them. At times, things got a little difficult due to time constraints,” says Bhattarai. Paper Towns specializes in cards that are purely hand-made with love to make your near and dear ones feel special.
When asked about other challenges in their entrepreneurial journey, Bhattarai says that finding necessary arts and crafts materials easily was always a challenge. She says,” Unlike other countries, arts and crafts supplies aren’t easily accessible here. It would have been much easier if the required materials were easily accessible.” Similarly, she says that the abundance of opportunity but lack of capacity here in Nepal was and is still also a challenge. She also says that art and craft are not really appreciated as much as it should be and sometimes it can be a demotivation factor too.
However, despite the challenges, the best friend duo kept continuing their business with passion and never gave their customers a chance to feel let down. “With consistency, hard work and determination, we made through difficult times. If you really love doing something, it’s your will against the barriers. Nothing can stop you,” says Bhattarai. She says,” We wanted to bring a culture where gift-giving wasn’t extremely materialistic. Somewhere, other gifts didn’t feel special enough. When our customers receive the final product and send us their priceless reaction, that is enough for us. Seeing them with such delight makes us want to keep doing what we do.”
When asked if she had any advice for newbies starting out as an entrepreneur, Bhattarai had a few-“Unless you go out there and try it yourself, you’re not going to get what you want. Results will only be seen if dedication and hard work is put into your work. It may get extremely difficult at times but in the end, everything is going to be worth it.”
Gift giving is an important part of life and a handcrafted greeting card is a gift. Every handmade card is a work of art. When you send one of these cards, you are sending an emotional piece of yourself. What better way to tell someone you care? With cards from Paper Towns, it is absolutely certain to win over someone and melt their heart!