Or rather, it started because I couldn't find one. I went looking for something nice for him, and came up empty. Then I realised the same was true for my brother, my dad, my uncle, my grandad, there just weren't good cards for the men in my life. So I started making a range for them.

Then I thought: wouldn't it be nice if they were in my language? Afrikaans. South African. No frilletjies, no fieterjasies, no dingetjies, just a plain, card that says what it needs to say in a nice masculine font.

So I created The Originals: a range for South Africans, by a South African. Because honestly, most cards on the shelf feel like they were made by a kindergarten teacher somewhere in China or Russia, for absolutely everyone, everywhere, which means they're really for no one. Have you ever seen a Zulu or Xhosa card in your life? It's such a simple thing to ask for, sending a message to someone you love in your own words.

From there, the feedback rolled in, and when I looked at what was actually selling, I noticed something: the best-loved cards all traced back to places I'd lived. You know a guy is from Pretoria the moment he walks in and says "Howzit." You know a foreigner's been in the Cape a while when "Aweh" or "kiff" comes out in an akward accent. These words don't just belong to a language, they belong to a place.

Having lived in almost every province, plus stints in Namibia and Mozambique, it felt right to turn that into something you could actually see.

 

A visual story of all those places, and the words that live there. That's the Territories range.