| Founded in 1995 by Kevin and Lori Graham; two people who shared a passion for each other and a passion for the world around them. Lori had just graduated from the University of Washington with a BA in Fiber Arts and Kevin had just left a career as a commercial fisherman in Alaska (both life changing experiences). In planning their own wedding they discovered they enjoyed working together both in making the necessary arrangements for a party for 135 people and while endeavoring to make their invitations. They still have some of the original invitation pieces (and have been surprised to learn over the years which friends hung onto them as well) which included a self mailing reply card (handmade), folding invitation card (handmade with flowers applied to the paper), a folding direction card with map (there were two versions of this as their friends received an email reply request - in 1995!!) and a handmade envelope sealed with wax. This amounted to more then three hundred individually formed sheets of paper made one at a time in their kitchen, dining, and living room (picture a one bedroom, 770sq. ft. condo). The kitchen blender was never to be the same (thank goodness for wedding gifts). On their honeymoon while recounting everything that lead up their big day, they discussed what they wanted out of life and realized that they had an opportunity to make a difference and a living together. In the majority of responses they received on their reply cards there were handwritten notes commenting on how much the invitations were loved (someday we will put scans of these online). They saw that wedding invitations touch so many people and can have an impact in their choice of words, paper and delivery. Lori and Kevin realized that by creating a business that embraces our environment with earth friendly practices and an earth focused product, they could reach even more people if they helped other couples to send green wedding invitations. In the intervening ten plus years their dream has become a reality with more then 1,000,000 people receiving a card or invitation made on paper created by hand with the earth in mind. Of The Earth is proud to continue offering great earth focused products. We are also proud of our efforts to be a low impact business, to encourage our customers to use less paper (we love single envelope invitations and postcard reply cards), to produce paper with recycled/recovered water and to use every practical measure possible to ensure an environmentally responsible workplace. Thank you for sharing our vision. |
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