Brooklyn Inspires Holiday Greeting Card Collection

Eitan Weinreich had trouble sending holiday cards.

Weinreich, who comes from a Jewish background, was tired of sending bland, uninspired “Season’s Greetings” – trying to remain politically correct. He didn’t know how to please all denominations with store-bought messages, so he made his own.

“I ended up making our own cards and part of it was the holidays,” Weinreich said.

And Brooklyn Animal Design was born. Weinreich, a filmmaker who often found himself doodling for work or with his two children, started by drawing Santa Claus with the words “ho ho ho.”

“If you write ‘ho ho ho’ with the right font and turn it upside down, you get ‘oy oy oy,’” Weinreich said. “I think it’s kind of funny that to me and a lot of other people that Santa looks vaguely Jewish.”

The first card featured two jolly men – one dressed as Santa and the other as a rabbi. He’s since expanded into a line of Brooklyn-themed cards, prints and T-shirts. The cards are hand-designed by Weinreich, scanned and reproduced one at a time using a “very sophisticated kind of ink-jet printer,” according to Weinreich. This makes for very saturated and very vibrant prints, but each card has its own unique flaws and feel, unlike letterpress cards that are mass-produced by greeting card companies.

Each card features Weinreich’s designs and a blank space for a personal note from the sender. Weinreich said it’s because he doesn’t like the impersonality of cards written by copywriters.

“Cards fall into a common mold,” he said. “It’s providing a nice piece of paper – a display, in a way. You made a specific choice and one that has a personal voice to it.”

Weinreich lived most of his life in Manhattan and moved to Brooklyn as his family began to grow and when he and his wife, Nina, needed more space to work from home. He admits he was a “Manhattan snob” until he discovered the “making” community of Brooklyn.

“And then I discovered there’s all this cool stuff happening and you feel this energy,” Weinreich said. “And something about the Brooklyn model where people actually say, ‘I can do thing, I’m going to do this really well and I can sell it.’”

The name Brooklyn Animal came about when he was explaining the history behind the Brooklyn Bridge to his children. They were fascinated with the structure, and Weinreich began to sketch a creature in the bridge’s form.

“I was being asked stories about it so that’s when I made this four-legged creature,” he said. “It’s one of those amazing iconic forms. I’ve made all kinds of Brooklyn bridge art and people just responded very well to it.”

If you’re still looking for that perfect holiday card, Weinrich’s works can be found in five stores in Brooklyn and four in Manhattan. You can also buy his greeting cards online in his Etsy shop.

“I think Brooklyn affords this – it’s a place that’s being celebrated right now,” Weinreich said. “It’s a place where people who make things feel welcome and feel part of a community. We have the chance to get to do this.”