Hello, I’m Hazel. I draw cards for people who don’t really do sentimental.

Hazel Bee started with a university sketchbook, a shoebox and an inability to take greetings cards quite as seriously as everyone else seemed to.

While studying illustration, I was always doodling. Usually observations about everyday life, ridiculous conversations, awkward moments and the sort of things that made my friends laugh.

Some of those drawings found their way onto greetings cards.

Then into a shoebox.

Then into a local gift shop.

And somehow, what was essentially a collection of drawings designed to make my mates laugh got a little out of hand.

From sketchbook to card rack

I’ve been self-publishing Hazel Bee cards since 2008.

Hundreds of designs later, I’m still the person behind every one of them. Every Hazel Bee illustration starts with me, is drawn by me and then digitised before heading off to print.

The humour hasn't become any more sensible either.

Hazel Bee is inspired by ordinary life, relationships, people, Britishness and all the slightly ridiculous bits in between. The humour tends to be dry, occasionally dark and very rarely gushy.

Because sometimes you love someone dearly but would still rather make them snort with laughter than send them a card covered in hearts and inspirational prose.

Funny shouldn't have to mean throwaway

Making people laugh matters to me.

So does making cards in a way I can feel comfortable about.

Hazel Bee cards are printed here in the UK using recycled, sustainable card stock and vegetable-based inks. The packaging is 100% compostable and the whole range is plastic-free, including orders sent to my wholesale customers.

That isn't something I've added because sustainability happens to look good on a website. It's simply how I believe the business should be run.

If you're going to put hundreds of thousands of bits of card out into the world, you should probably give some thought to what they're made from and what happens to all the packaging afterwards.

Still independent. Still drawing. Still packing the orders.

Hazel Bee is still a one-woman business, run from my home studio.

I draw the designs, develop the ideas and pack the orders myself.

There isn't a mysterious creative department hidden somewhere behind the website. It's me, a lot of drawings and, I suspect, considerably more cardboard boxes than I ever imagined owning when that first shoebox went into a gift shop.

Over the years Hazel Bee cards have travelled far beyond that original shop, including across the Atlantic to customers in the USA, Europe & beyond. 

But the idea behind them hasn't really changed.

Make cards responsibly. Keep them independent. And most importantly, make people laugh.

Preferably loudly.