Some have dubbed them the Thelma and Louise of card purveyors.
The reason: They drove across the country pitching their line of greeting cards.
”We got a lot of support,” says Kimberly Ford, 26, who has teamed with her sister, Nannette, 25, to create the Norwich, Vt.-based Not-So-Square Card Co., which specializes in greetings for the lesbian and gay community.
In the year since they hit the road, the sisters have created about 50 greeting-card styles that are sold in more than 140 stores nationwide.
This week, they hope to enter the bigtime card-sellers arena by peddling their designs at the National Stationery Show, becoming the first to offer a lesbian and gay line there.
Though the Fords are not part of the community to which they are catering, they say there is a market for their products.
”Both my sister and I have worked in the arts field, professionally and academically,” Kimberly Ford says, ”and we have a lot of friends who are gay and lesbian and feel this (card line) is one that`s needed.”
One way the sisters` products target their audience is by incorporating a pink triangle into their subtle designs.
”It`s recognized among the gay and lesbian community as a symbol of respect and pride,” says Kimberly Ford. Yet, she says, ”Unless you know what you`re looking for, (the cards) don`t jump out at you as targeted to gays and lesbians.”
Still, the two hope the cards foster greater recognition and acceptance of lesbian and gay alliances.
”We want to say that gay and lesbian relationships are real,” she says. ”People need to understand that the message of love is that it`s universal.”
The team is already working on its next project, cards appropriate for those with serious and terminal illnesses.
”Retailers and consumers told us they wanted something that`s more direct, more modern, and something that just lets someone know you`re there for them,” says Kimberly Ford, ”as opposed to a 400-word essay.”
