Meet the Artist: Anna of The Choice Calligraphy

As we've mentioned before, one of our favorite (yet totally unexpected) parts of IvyMay is forming relationships with our local plant community. Many of our customers have become friends and some have a passion great enough to suggest collaborations & become partners in our journey! It's been amazing to meet so many who have also taken the leap of faith to start their own. Meet Anna, owner & artist at The Choice Calligraphy. We had care cards for our plants on our to-do list, but then Anna reached out to us with a collaboration for care cards all ready to go! The fit was so perfect, it was a dream come true & we are ecstatic to include Anna's beautiful digitally drawn care cards with plant orders!

Note: Not all orders will have these cards as we are starting out with 7 plant families - Monsteras, Hoyas, Pothos, Scindapsus Pictus, Aglaonema, Calatheas & Sansevierias. We will add more as time goes on, but we're excited to share these beautiful cards with you!

Each care card will feature Anna's gorgeous illustrations on the front along with water, light, & fertilizer tips on the back. In addition, we know that many of you have fur babies at home, so we've included whether or not the plant you receive could cause irritation if licked or ingested by your dog or cat.

We always love getting to know the person behind the work, so we caught up with Anna to ask her a few questions about her journey as a calligraphy artist & her inspiration behind her plant care cards.

What inspired you to start a calligraphy business?
I remember first learning calligraphy in the fifth grade & immediately falling in love with it. I had no idea it was such a broad creative outlet for those who enjoyed writing. As an adult, calligraphy as an artform became fascinating & I decided to become more invested in broadening my skills. I started my Instagram as a way to share my talents with any who were interested in following my calligraphy journey.

What kind of projects do you design?
If you can think it, I can create it! I love writing with the classic pointed pen & paper, lettering on different mediums (acrylic, wood, glass, etc.), & digital calligraphy & lettering.

What was your inspiration behind the collaboration with IvyMay?
I always loved plants, & drawing them became a fun & creative outlet for me. Growing & caring for my own also became a new hobby with the help of IvyMay. During one of my many sleepless nights, I thought of drawing IvyMay’s plants & soon reached out to Tammy proposing to make some care cards for them.

What was your thought process behind creating the care cards?
I found myself constantly googling the correct care instructions for each plant that I had, & thought it would be helpful to have cards right in front of me instead of searching each time. I wouldn’t be the only plant parent doing so… am I? 😊 Instead of the normal list of instructions, I wanted to create something that was just as aesthetically pleasing as informative.

Which care card is your favorite?
This is so hard to choose! After creating the illustrations, I would say the Calathea card because of the colors & detailing.

What plant is your favorite?
I own most of the ones I drew, so again, this is another difficult choice. I always wanted to care for a thriving Monstera Deliciosa & recently took the leap. Tammy gave me so much confidence in doing so, & I can proudly say “Ivern,” my monstera, is doing so well. 

Anna - thank you so much for reaching out to us & providing us with your art as something valuable we can deliver to our customers as well. You're truly appreciated & we're so excited to collaborate more in the future! Thanks for taking the time to meet & work with us.