'Behind The Designs' With Postmark

We’ve been lucky to work with In Real Life since they launched and we were particularly excited to have recently worked together to create two beautiful ranges of greeting cards - Jessica Eyre x Postmark and Jess Holt x Postmark. 

Both ranges are now exclusively available at Postmark and have been a huge hit with our customers.

As part of our ‘Behind the Designs’ series we sat down to chat with Clare who shared some brilliant insights into life as a business owner, along with the story behind how she and Kitty brought In Real Life to life. 

From their early ideas to building a brand that truly reflects their values, her answers offer an inspiring glimpse into their journey and the passion that drives everything they create.

How do you approach building a collection – is it carefully planned or does it evolve more organically?

It’s a really well-planned process. I always start by reviewing trends, consumer insights, and previous sales to understand what’s performing well. It’s just as important to understand why something isn’t selling, as there’s a lot to learn from why a card or notebook might miss the mark. From there, we look at next season’s trends and choose the ones that feel right for the In Real Life brand. I’m definitely a planner, so I’m always working on new strategies and thinking about how to create fresh, innovative products.

Is there a particular range or product you’re especially proud of? Why?

I’m really proud of our mini journals, as they’ve been very successful in both the UK and the US. The market is saturated with beautiful notebooks and cards, and competition is fierce, so it’s not easy to come up with new products that truly resonate with consumers. Each of our mini journals taps into the customer mindset for 2026. For example, The Little Book of Self Discovery is driven by customer demand for a deeper connection with themselves and a desire to unplug from the digital world. It encourages users to document new experiences and embrace spontaneity. We’re excited to be expanding the collection with the launch of two new mini journals for AW26.

Have you always worked in the greeting card industry? If not, what did you do before?

IRL launched in September 2024. Before that, I was a Buying Manager at WHSmith, where I helped launch their sub-brand Curiocity. Prior to that, I spent nine amazing years as a Buying Manager at Paperchase, developing their stationery collections. I’ve been in the market for a long time, so I really understand it—and I love it!

What motivated you to start your own publishing business?

My main motivation was to create a better work-life balance, as working for large corporate companies can be really demanding. When Paperchase went into administration, it led to me and the co-founder Kitty starting IRL as there was a gap in the market for design-led stationery and cards.

What’s been the toughest challenge of running your business?

Running a start-up is tough! Kitty and I quickly realised we had to do a lot ourselves to keep costs down. We taught ourselves how to build our own website, figure out new accounting software, and deal with tricky logistics and tariffs—basically all the stuff that used to be done by whole teams when we worked for big companies. It was a learning curve, but also really rewarding, and we picked up so many new skills along the way.

What do you enjoy most about owning and growing your business?

The part of the job I enjoy most is collaborating with designers and seeing our ideas come to life. We’re lucky to know a lot of really talented designers, and it’s been so much fun working with them. Right now, we work with 10 designers and are always talking to more. Each designer brings something fresh and unique to the brand, which helps us keep things exciting and stay ahead of the competition.

What advice would you give to someone looking to start their own card or stationery brand?

There are so many amazing stationery and card brands out there, so it’s definitely a tough market to break into. But if I were giving advice, I’d say it’s not just about having nice products. IRL has grown really quickly and is stocked in retailers around the world, and a big part of that is having a strong strategy in place—and sticking to it.

Bonus question: Which part of the process do you love most?

I’d say it’s the initial idea. It’s tough to constantly come up with new designs and products, so when you have a strong first idea and you know it’s a good one, it’s really exciting to develop it all the way through to the finished product.