24 July, 2010 by david
Hallmark sneek peek into the future
We just returned from a trip to Kansas City MO, world headquarters of Hallmark Cards, Inc, for the 100th anniversary celebration of Hallmark. First I would just like to say that we are so thrilled to be able to work with such a first class company & its people. We got to meet and talk with everyone at Hallmark from sales people, to creative artists, merchandisers & senior management & even the owners Don Hall & Dave Hall. We even had lunch one day with Dave Hall who sat at our table with 8 other retailers. The Hall family is amazing & so is the history of this family. J.C. Hall started the Hallmark company back in 1910 by selling post cards out of a shoebox while living at the YMCA. We attended many interesting seminars and on one evening we even got to tour several floors at Hallmark to meet artists. We talked to John Wagner (Maxine creator), Linda Sickman, Katrina Brinker, Ken Crow, Don Palmiter, Nello williams, Mary Hamilton & many other non Keepsake artists who create cards, gifts, hoops and yoyo & more. What was so cool was being able to watch some of these artist while they were demonstrating how they work & create. The keepsakes artists were creating with mediums suchs as clay, drawings & computer software designs. Nello wiliams showed how he even uses 3D glasses while working on a computer to create intricate detials inside ornaments. Talk about an awesome experience. We got to see new ideas & creations for next year (sorry can't tell you what) and beyond. The first 100 years of Hallmark have been very exciting & we got to have a sneak peek into the first chapters of the next 100 years. Hallmark is embracing technology not only to create gifts & collectibles but also for consumers to use. Each retailer received a nice keepsake box with a Hallmark card from each decade over the last 100 years. We have this on display in our store so stop by & we can chat more about our trip. We are proud to be Hallmark Gold Crown retailers. Any questions just email me: david@thepartyshop.com