For Holiday greetings
with style and wit you'll find none better than those presented by
card company Bob’s Your Uncle. A particular
favorite of ours reads, "Merry Christmas
and Happy New York." The above set of four different styles comprises
the 2002 jingle bell rock card set, an
exclusive collaboration between Bob and Fred, now a
collector's item. We chatted with founders Michele and Martin Yeeles over
the holidays and
found them to be - no surprise here - incredibly stylish and witty. Read
on to learn more.
What inspired you to start Bob’s
Your Uncle?
We always wanted to have a business together, and we both come from creative
backgrounds (Martin's a graphic designer, Michele's a shoe designer). We
made a list
of all the things we thought we could do and we kept coming back to greeting
cards.
People love to send them and everyone loves to receive them. Who wouldn't
want to
have a business that could make so many people happy?
Who are some of your design idols?
In graphics: Paul Rand, Bob Gill, Alan Fletcher, Peter Saville… architects:
Frank Lloyd
Wright, Mies van der Rohe… furniture designers: George Nelson, Charles
and Ray
Eames and all-round enigma Philippe Starck.
We love that your work is so
text-driven, almost like poetry. Read any
good books lately?
Yes. Just got through all the Harry Potter books published to date, Richard
Russo's
Empire Falls, Bee Season by Myla Goldberg, White Teeth by Zadie Smith and
we love
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris.
What’s your fave Brit-Pop music?
Currently on the Bob's Your Uncle studio sound system, you'll find Cornershop,
Underworld, Coldplay and Radiohead. On Fridays we like to break out the
old vinyl
collections from the 80's: Madness, The Jam, The Undertones, and one of
our favorite
bands, Bob.
What have been some of your favorite
things about 2002?
Being able to celebrate with our friends this year: six weddings all over
the place
(Austria, Wales, London, Vermont, Arizona, Massachusetts) five new babies
(including
twins!) and walking the Boston Marathon to raise money for the Jimmy Fund
Cancer
Research with our friend who survived cancer.
Do you have any special plans for the Holidays?
We'll be back in England to spend time with our families. Turkey dinner,
Midnight Mass,
Christmas Crackers, Figgy Pudding, The Queen's Speech and Top of The Pops
on
telly… all great, nostalgic British traditions.
It seems you both enjoy travel. Any
tips for a novice?
Don’t ask, we always travel heavy and arrive late!
We have to ask… How would you describe
the differences between life in the U.S. and life in the U.K?
When you order a cheese sandwich in England, that’s what you get:
a slice of cheese
between two pieces of bread. Here you get asked, "Is that american,
cheddar, swiss,
provolone? White, whole-wheat, rye, pumpernickel, sourdough or syrian?
Lettuce,
tomato, mayonnaise, onion, pickles, hots?…For here or to go?"
