Occasions
Cards by occasion.
Birthday
7 items
Wedding
1 items
Anniversary
2 items
Congratulations
7 items
Graduation
4 items
Thank you
5 items
Sympathy
1 items
Just because
17 items
Process
How a Vonderly card is made.
01.
Design and paper prep
Colors selected from our palette. Strips of color paper cut to width. The design is mapped onto the 300gsm card base with light guideline marks that the quilling will cover entirely.
02.
Specialists build by technique
The design is built by technique, not by picture. One pair of hands is strongest at coiling, another at scrollwork, another at fine line placement. Two to three collaborate on each card, and the mix depends on the design.
03.
Assembly and quality check
Elements are set with water-based adhesive, dried under press, and inspected against the master sample. Anything below standard is rebuilt, not shipped.
About two hours per card. Two to three specialists collaborate on every one.
Studio
Made in Jaffna.
Vonderly is made in Jaffna, on the northern tip of Sri Lanka. The studio is led by Kirushanthi and Shobethan, and the cards are made by a team of women who live and work in the city.
The multi-artisan model is why the surface looks the way it does. No single pair of hands is equally strong at every technique, so two to three specialists meet on each card.
2-3
~120 mins
All women
Jaffna · 3 Min
Inside the studio
9.6800° N · 80.0231° E
The Co-founder
We could print these in minutes. We choose not to. Every Vonderly card passes through two or three pairs of hands and most of two hours before it is finished, because that is what it takes to make something a person keeps rather than reads once. We would rather make fewer cards that matter than more that do not.
S.Kirushanthi
Co-founder and Creative Lead
⎯⎯ The Vonderly Idea ⎯⎯
Made to be felt.
Questions
Things people ask.
Are these cards really handmade?
Yes, every card is hand quilled in our Jaffna studio.
Each visible quilled element is shaped, glued and placed by hand. Some cards carry a small printed wish on the cover top, which we always state on the product page.
What makes a Vonderly card different from a store-bought one?
A store-bought card is printed in the thousands. A Vonderly card is quilled by hand.
Each one takes 90 to 120 minutes, made by a small team of women in Jaffna, and arrives as something the recipient can frame and keep.
What am I paying for?
Time and hands.
Two or three artisans spend close to two hours shaping each card, in a women-led studio paid above the local minimum wage. You are paying for the hours and the people, not a print run.
Will it survive the mail?
Yes. Each card is built on heavy 300gsm stock and ships in a rigid kraft box.
The box guards against bending in transit. Damage on arrival is rare, and if it happens we replace the card at no cost.
How long does shipping take?
Within the US, standard shipping is 3 to 4 weeks, EMS Speed post is 10 to 14 working days, and express is 5 to 7.
Every card ships from our studio in Jaffna, Sri Lanka.
Who makes Vonderly cards?
A team of women in Jaffna, on the northern tip of Sri Lanka.
The studio is led by founders Kirushanthi and Shobethan, and the team is paid above the local minimum wage. Each artisan specializes in one kind of element, so two or three hands meet on every card.
