Get to Know...Paper Plane

This week we were lucky enough to catch up with Jack and Laura from Paper Plane. I first met the talented duo through Not On The High Street and we've been pals ever since. It's been a joy to watch their brand go from strength to strength over the years and the evolution of their product line never ceases to amaze me—I don't know where they get all these brilliant ideas from! Read on to get to know them a little better...

We are Laura and Jack, a happily unmarried couple who run Paper Plane (or at least attempt to run it) a greeting card and gift company based in Rutland, England's smallest county.

We really love where we live and work. We both grew up half an hour away, so it feels like home. We live near the south shore of Rutland Water and work just to the north, which means there's loads of great wildlife around and lots of footpaths to explore. Our studio is in the village of Exton, which really is a traditional English village - with lots of cute dogs being walked past our big window, which means we never get any work done!

We're just so used to it. We met at work, where we sat next to each other, then we lived together, then we started a business together - so we're pretty much together 24/7 and always have been. We definitely treat each other differently to how we would treat a colleague we weren't in a relationship with, but then we're also generally on the same wavelength and know each others' strengths and weaknesses and respect that we sometimes have differing views of how things should be done. It's great to have each other there for celebrating successes or to pick each other up when things don't go so well. Having a studio makes it much easier to separate work and home, so we'd definitely suggest coming up with a clear way of determining when you're at work and when you're at home.

The Bath Noodles are one of our stranger ideas, but they have gone down really well - they're just a really fun gift. We were in Ikea when we saw a room set-up full of takeaway boxes. We both thought it would be fun to sell a product that came in a noodle carton and bath noodles was the first idea that popped into our heads. Then we had to work out what bath noodles actually were and how we could source or make them. That was the hard part! 

Our hearts are always with cards - they're such a simple thing, but can mean so much. Everyone likes to receive a card in the post, but sometimes it can be hard to find the right words to sum up your feelings, or to strike the right note in terms of humour or tone. We always try to come up with unique words that feel honest and relatable. Our slogan is Cards That Keep It Real, because not everyone thinks their Mum or Dad is the best in the world (statistically, it's very unlikely to be true, right?) or wants to declare undying love with soppy words. We love it when a card seems to strike a chord with our customers.

Who knows? Five years ago we'd only just launched a few cards and prints that we were packing in our dining room. Now we have over 100 stockists worldwide and have packed and sent out more than 70,000 orders. We never would have imagined that. We think we know which direction we'd like our products to go in - and maybe we'll launch a spin-off company at some point. We're always learning what works and what doesn't. There's no plan, but where's the fun in planning?

You can see more of Paper Plane's products in store and online.