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A maker focused on offering eco-friendly options.

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Flowerink Stationery is a Montreal-based business that creates plantable greeting cards and other stationery merchandise, with a focus on always offering eco-friendly options. Melanie Girard-Brisson, recently submitted information to Stationery Trends through our Share Your Story initiative.

Girard-Brisson explained that the paper her business uses is embedded with wildflower and herb seeds that is plantable! “Moreover, our watercolor illustrations are a good representation of our love for nature and the small pleasures of life,” she explained. “(Some) other of our stationery items include plantable calendars, tree-free notepads and plantable pencils.”

Prior to the pandemic, Flowerink Stationery had focused more on wholesale, but that changed once the world was impacted by the virus. “The pandemic brought a lot of new direct customers. We started focusing more on them as our cards make for a great gift when in confinement,” she shared.

During the pivot of its business focus, Flowerink Stationery turned to increasing its visibility online, since industry events were not an option with shut-downs in place. “We shifted our focus from in-person events to online visibility, whether it is through online events or online resellers,” Girard-Brisson emphasized.

Staying in touch with customers was important and Flowerink Stationery utilizes email and social media as its communication tools.

“We propose our fun plantable greeting cards as a way of battling the distance imposed by COVID-19. The flowers you get when planting our paper makes a lovely and positive gift to receive through this situation,” she explained. “Moreover, our eco-friendly products are a nice way to end the year and move towards an ecological transition.”

For its wholesale resellers, Flowerink Stationery began creating customized options on the plantable paper. “The idea is for them to include thank you notes in their online orders. It has been a real success and we plan to continue this service going forward,” she detailed.

For its retailers, Girard-Brisson explained that Flowerink Stationery now offers a platform to purchase merchandise online. “We now use the Gorilla app with our Shopify Store,” she said.

Girard-Brisson says it is important to stay connected. “Collaboration and human contacts are the best way to survive these unprecedented times,” she emphasized.

For more information, visit www.flowerink.ca.