Christmas cards
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Traditional Christmas Cards and Their History
Everything has its own history. And the history of Christmas cards is exceptionally long and interesting. People wrote each other wishes for various holidays on Egyptian papyrus and in China on red paper associated with New Year's celebrations. Today, the tradition of sending Christmas cards to friends and family seems very obvious to us, and yet the first Christmas card in Europe was created only 170 years ago! It was created in England, on the order of the museum director, Sir Henry Cole, and interestingly, it did not have any motifs typically associated with Christmas. The card showed a family sitting at a Christmas table and the inscription: "A Marry Christmas and a happy New Year to You". It was sent in 1843 and is considered the first Christmas card in the world!
The first Christmas cards reached Poland at the end of the 19th century. In 1900, a competition was even announced in the press of the time for a Polish name for the so-called correspondence card. Henryk Sienkiewicz's design won, and so the word - so familiar to us - a postcard appeared!
Despite their longevity, traditional paper Christmas cards do not lose their popularity - they are still sent by many of us. The range of Christmas cards is very wide today. We send Christmas cards to friends, family, loved ones, but also to co-workers and companies. In this way, we express respect and remembrance and celebrate the tradition of Christmas. We often decide to send wishes to our loved ones via text messages, emails or social media. Such solutions are of course quick and convenient, but they lack the charm of a paper postcard. Each of us knows how different our feelings are after receiving a standard text message with wishes, from those that accompany taking the card out of the mailbox and reading the text written by hand, and especially for us, by someone close to us. Maybe it is worth remembering this tradition and planning some time for reflection during the pre-Christmas bustle while writing out Christmas wishes?
Unusual Christmas cards
The first Ilustris Christmas cards were very different from the traditional canons. They were black and white graphics decorated only with a thin, golden frame. And their themes were quite controversial. For example, they depicted Santa Clauses, Santa Clauses and Immaculates, or a tiny figure of newborn Jesus between two large piles of presents.
At Ilustris, we have been creating Christmas cards for over 20 years and we still manage to come up with new ideas and find new contexts for traditional holiday motifs. At the same time, we try to remember the tension characteristic of our times between the idea of an ideal, family holiday - in the shadow of a huge, illuminated Christmas tree - and the reality of our everyday life, in which the pursuit of ideals, other people's expectations and ideas often puts us in a rather un-Christmassy mood. That is why we try to empathize with our recipients and create Christmas cards that reflect both this longing for the magic of traditional holidays, as well as the distance and sense of humor that we all need so much in a rapidly changing world, where traditional values are being put to a hard test. We hope that thanks to this approach, each Christmas card from our collection has a chance to find its recipient, who will find in it their own emotions and reflections that they would like to share with their loved ones.
Christmas cards for companies
It is worth noting that along with the custom of sending cards to loved ones, the custom of sending "official" Christmas cards also appeared. In 1840, the first such card was created at the request of the British royal family. And almost 100 years later, this practice was also taken up by the American head of state.
Charity cards also appeared very early, sold by charities for the purpose of raising funds. Christmas cards from the United Nations Children's Fund, or UNICEF, or OXFAM, an international humanitarian organization that fights hunger in the world and helps developing countries, have enjoyed huge popularity in this regard for years. We are proud that the Ilustris cards, designed by Andrzej Tylkowski, had a chance to be among the honorable company of cards from both of these organizations. Every year we also design charity cards and coordinate their sale for Polish humanitarian organizations, including the Polish Humanitarian Action (PAH), SOS Children's Villages, and the Wrocław Children's Hospice.
It seems that today it is companies that contribute to maintaining the tradition of sending Christmas cards more than individuals. A Christmas card is often the only opportunity to thank customers and contractors, and to express gratitude to them for