British artist Jane Crowther began her career in 1986 after studying illustrative arts at Kingston Polytechnic.
The money Jane earned as an artist barely covered her living expenses in the British capital. To supplement her income, Ms. Crowther developed a series of greeting cards, noticing a high demand for exclusive items while the handmade market was largely untapped.
Jane Crowther dove headfirst into creating greeting cards, which she sold at local craft fairs. Business took off: the artist designed the cards herself, selected the paper, painted, glued, and colored the characters. The first products were labor-intensive; for instance, the Snout series featured a small, funny bug with a plastic nose and wobbly eyes that were attached by hand.
Interestingly, the cartoonish bug that started it all lent its name to the company Bug Art, which Jane Crowther later established, and its tiny image now appears on all the cards from various series.
Over time, the trickle of orders grew into a substantial flow, and Jane realized she could no longer manage everything on her own. She enlisted family members to help produce the cards based on her sketches, allowing her to focus on creating new designs.
Within a few years, Bug Art had agents covering much of the UK, as well as distributors operating in North America, Australia, and parts of Europe. The popularity of the cards soared, and in the following years, millions of these artistic creations were sold worldwide.
Today, Jane Crowther serves as the art director of her company, using her imagination and talent to craft new storylines for the cards. Among the most popular series are the Paper & Foil collection, each image adorned with raised gold foil, and the Jewel series, featuring innovative use of “gem-like” foil embossing on a black background. Both series are among the bestsellers at Bug Art and are regularly updated with new designs.
However, despite the variety of themes and series from the Bug Art brand, we have chosen Christmas and New Year-themed cards for our gallery. We invite you to admire this beauty and wish everyone the greatest miracle in 2025, which we hope will bring us Victory!
In another article, we shared the history of Christmas cards.