WAVEY 
CHRISTMAS

50 Handmade Christmas cards to stay connected with my friends around the world.

SYDNEY - WORLDWIDE

PROJECT: CHRISTMAS CARDS

In my second year living on the other side of the world, I wanted to be remembered by my friends through my art and Christmas cards. Slightly inspired by the letters between Basquiat and Andy Warhol, and the cards filling my parents’ living room, I used lockdown time to create fifty bespoke Christmas cards.

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

I created fifty handmade Christmas cards from start to finish. Each card was spray painted in a simple production line process, finished with a gold marker and a golden Christmas tree. In true artist fashion, the inside of every card featured my loose, expressive handwriting and a personal message written specifically for the person receiving it.


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50 handmade Christmas cards to my friends around the world

Making fifty handmade Christmas cards was no small task. I set up a simple production line, but avoided anything that felt repeated or printed. Every card was intentionally different, keeping the paint splats, imperfections, and expressive handwriting that made each one unique.

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Hand painted gradient inspired the Australian ocean views

In my era of spray painting in my garden, I took this mass-produced art process by pre-cutting and folding my cards, laying them on a grid and spray painting all over them, deliberately not getting a clean blue finish, but something that had texture and imperfections. MY Chsitmas cards sent from Australia, was covered in the blue I see when I look out in to the ocean at Coogee beach.

A tropicool golden Christmas tree

Sending my Christmas cards from Australia needed some Australia context. I swapped the traditional Christmas tree for a palm tree, which also refers to my Tropicool history. Each card, each tree, was quickly hand-drawn with my gold marker, quickly to get the free-flowing nature of an artist.

We survived 2020

“We survived 2020” was written on the back of every card. It marked a shared moment of lockdown, distance, and staying connected through screens. I put just as much care into the envelopes, packaging, and presentation as the cards themselves, making the entire experience of opening them feel personal and considered.

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And one for me

Whilst I was there in my garden with all my blue spray paint, I thought I need to make one Christmas card for myself to remember. But this was more like a large format poster that I created using spray paint and pulling away masking tape to reveal a palm tree.

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And one for the wave

Finally, I created one last piece using blue to capture the emotional rise and fall of lockdown, expressed as a wave in the Australian ocean. “We survived 2020” became both the message and the memory.

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HIT ME UP FOR MORE

This case study is written from my perspective focussing on design, its process, craft and outcomes. S1T2 has a full case study about the wider project from content to technology which you can read here. For Francisco’s design process stay right here.

@FRANCISCOLONDON

FREBELLO.DESIGN@GMAIL.COM