TORONTO -- A Canadian company is hoping its business will help revive the lost art of handwritten notes, while keeping people connected during the pandemic.
Tiny Owl Cards is owned and operated by Jasmine and Nik Paukkunen, a Vancouver couple whose business model is to use gratitude and self-reflection to recognize the important ones in their lives.
“Our mission is to help people show gratitude and share joy,” Jasmine told CTV News Channel on Saturday.
Jasmine says the idea is to encourage people to start a monthly practice of pausing and reflecting on those who are making a difference in times of need and loneliness with a card of gratitude.
Those who take part in the subscription will receive a blank, handcrafted card in the mail, once a month, along with a stamp and an envelope. The cards are intended to be a reminder to thank others. The company also offers a gift box option that includes 12 handcrafted cards, envelopes and stamps.
The company sources and designs all of its cards in east Vancouver from an old refurbished letterpress, according the company’s website. The company states that not only is using a letterpress is a more artisanal way to print, but it also makes the cards more meaningful.
Although the couple say the pandemic gave them the time needed to launch the business, the idea has been in the works for several years.
“The other important factor is how it was needed now more than ever, really,” Nik said.
He says they both felt disconnected from friends and family, but the isolation inspired them to send letters to loved ones as a way of staying connected, rather than using social media.
“Being able to sit down and reflect and think about those people and then write them a handwritten ‘thank you’ has been a way for us to keep close and improve our own mental health,” Nik said.
The couple said the story behind the name Tiny Owl Cards was inspired by J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” book series where owls serve as mail carriers.
Jasmine and Nik said that if it were not for a ritual they call “rose and thorn,” they may not have started their business.
At the end of each day, the two would share the best and worst parts of their days to one another. They soon realized it was particular people who made a difference in the ritual.
They say “rose and thorn” ended up being the inspiration behind their company.
“This has been a powerful thing for us as it has allowed us to stop and reflect and recognize all of our small victories in all of the amazing things that were happening, yet we realized a pattern over time that it was almost always people that we were most grateful for,” Jasmine said.
