Recently, Amy Patrick of Thalia Engineering Studio in Houston commissioned Happy Cactus Designs to create custom stationery for her company. Not only did Amy and I go to school together for eleven years, but we're also both small business owners, so I was thrilled when Amy approached me! Amy's envisions Thalia as an engineering studio that puts clients first (I love her manifesto about her company's core values). Keeping in line with that vision, Amy tends to write a lot of personal notes to existing and potential clients and wanted a design as unique as her company.
Amy sent over a folder of her marketing materials and gave me leeway to do whatever I wanted (both exciting and daunting). When I asked her for any inspiration or ideas she had in mind, Amy emailed me a photo of a stained glass window in the building where she offices. It seems that Amy hit the office space jackpot and works from the loft of a church that was constructed in 1929. It now houses office spaces and has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places since 1978!
I immediately knew I wanted to build a motif off of the beautiful stained glass window. I hand-drew an outline of the top of the window and then created a pattern out of the shape. I also showed Amy a design of hand-drawn dots in shades of teal (Thalia's signature color). Amy loved both and we worked together to combine the two designs into one. Voila! The final product!
On the back of the note card, a little note was included about the inspiration for the design.
This was such a fun project to collaborate with Amy on and I'm so pleased with how the cards turned out. Best of luck to Thalia on its endeavors!
