The Model
Several hands meet on every card.
The work is divided by skill. Artisans specialize in quilling techniques rather than in one fixed element, and the mix of hands on a card depends on its design.
Most workshops put one person on a card from start to finish, which caps how refined it can be. Vonderly divides the work by technique instead. Artisans are not locked to one, and a card is built by whichever hands its design calls for. What stays constant is the model: no one builds a card alone. Meet them on the artisans page.
From design to doorstep
How a card comes to be.
01
Designed
Kirushanthi and Shobethan develop each design together, through idea, color and composition.
02
Explored
The creative team works it up in different colors and styles until the strongest version is clear.
03
Prepared
One master design is chosen. Papers are cut and the base cards printed in bulk, ready to build on.
04
Built
Two to three artisans add their work by technique. No one builds a whole card alone.
05
Inspected
The quality team reviews each card, then Kirushanthi inspects every one herself before it moves on.
06
Packed
Boxed in recyclable kraft, ready to ship from our Jaffna studio.
What is inside
What is actually in Jaffna.
Every Vonderly card is built from the same short list of materials. Paper, adhesive, a heavyweight base, and the hands that put them together.
i.
The base
ii.
The quilling
iii.
The adhesive
iv.
The wish, where present
v.
The packaging
The quilling
What quilling is.
◉
Coiling and shaping
A strip is wound tight, then loosened or pinched into a teardrop, leaf or eye shape.
∞
Chains and scrollwork
Ends are curled into open scrolls and S-shapes that build the flowing borders and frames.
▩
Line and Filling
Fine lines and filled lattice work the space between elements. Our first series, Filigree, is built on this.
⎯⎯ Made to be felt ⎯⎯
We could print these in minutes. But we choose to build them by hand.
Questions
The ones we get most.
01. What is paper quilling?
Quilling is the craft of rolling, shaping and gluing narrow strips of paper into coils, scrolls and petals, then arranging them into a raised design.
Each shape is formed by hand. On a Vonderly card, hundreds of these shapes build the artwork in three dimensions.
02. Are these handmade, or just made to look it?
Every visible quilled element is cut, coiled, shaped, glued and placed by hand by artisans in Jaffna.
The base carries faint guideline marks that the finished quilling covers completely. Some cards also include a small wish set in calligraphic script on the cover top, which we always state on the product page. The inside is always left blank for you to write.
03. How many people work on one card?
Two to three artisans build every card.
Each specializes in quilling techniques such as line placement, filling or assembly, and most are skilled across several, so no one builds a whole card alone. Each finished card is then inspected by Kirushanthi, our creative head, after the quality-check team.
04. How long does one card take?
Around 120 minutes on average.
That time is spread across the two to three artisans who build it. Complex designs take longer. Cards are made in editions, never in runs.
See the work
Now look at what comes off the table.
You have seen how it is built. The cards themselves are in the shop, and you can meet the women who make them.
