In 1980, Paula left her “day job” and Paula Skene Designs moved from her garage to a real building; she purchased her first foil stamping and embossing press and assembled a team to move the business forward.  Over the years, presses and designs have been added and now her cards can be found at fine stores in the United States, Europe, and Japan.  From day one, Paula’s mission has been to create the highest quality notes that reflect unique designs that captivate and hold your attention.

As any chef or lover of food knows, it all starts at the beginning – with the best ingredients prepared from scratch.  In our creative design phase we do not rush; we focus on creating fewer cards of exceptional design. We use hand carved brass dies (not machine made), we craft our own counter dies by hand, and we select premium papers from Europe and the United States.

Much like America’s Test Kitchen, we have our San Francisco Bay Area studio.  This is where we produce every one of our cards, very on shore USA; they are produced one card at a time, one color at a time.  Embossing is much like making waffles: the paper is the dough, and the hand carved brass die and counter die are the “waffle iron.”  Embossing is created when the paper is put between the two dies and the press closes and puts pressure on the paper.  Foil color is created by a stamping die.  Each color is a separate die. Many designs require up to six passes of color all in perfect registration.

By producing every card in our San Francisco Bay Area studio, we assure the highest level of quality and innovation.  We bring you 35 years of design experience and 35 years of knowledge of the embossing process…truly a life passion.  We hope the result brings sunshine to your day; that too is our mission.