Our Story Today
Zaquarella Design Studio makes precious use of watercolour art and our love of flowers to create unique designs suited to greeting cards and gifts. We combine the traditional artform of botanical watercolour art with contemporary design to produce high quality and luxurious products that you will love to share with your friends and family.
We are committed to the environment and usually ship greeting cards 'naked', with no cellophane to reduce the use of plastics, and print with FSC certified local printers to reduce transport costs and support local businesses in the United Kingdom. We do not make use of Glitter or shiny plastic embellishments - we let our beautiful flowers make their own statement!
Our History
Launched back in 2011 by Keith and Rachel Dickson, award winning Zaquarella design and manufacture stunning superior quality greeting cards.
The company began by creating artworks on a commission basis and came to wider prominence when they were involved in the Rose Africa World Rose Convention in 2012. In preparation for the convention, they were commissioned to paint the new rose for Rose Africa and another one hundred watercolour rose paintings. At the convention Zaquarella launched their first luxury greeting cards featuring these roses. The success of the launch and the momentum generated at Rose Africa saw Zaquarella take a decision to make their work more widely available by creating a range of cards to share their beautiful artwork to the wider public. Zaquarella now offer over twenty uniquely themed art collections.
What makes Zaquarella unique and distinguishes them from their competitors is the innovative way they operate and the detailed work that goes into researching colour and design trends in the greeting card market. The result is a stunning end product, producing some of the most beautiful, luxury greetings cards on the market. All this is done from their Kent based design studio.
Rachel Dickson is responsible for all of Zaquarella’s designs and her passion for what she does comes shining through when she talks about Zaquarella.
“Botanical watercolour art is usually seen as being in the realm of the elite. We want to make this art accessible to everyone, so that they can enjoy the beautiful pictures as well as a personal, handwritten greeting card made from superior materials.
People need to be bold in their decisions, and be brave in choosing independent brands, designers and artists to promote remarkable and unique products in the marketplace.”
Keith and Rachel put together a talented team at Zaquarella which includes two British and one Swiss artist. In June they introduced a new collection from Slovenian artist Zala. She is a vet by profession with a passion for African wildlife and a real flair for creating colourful images of lions, giraffes and flamingos to name a few.
Zaquarella supplies a range of local traders, independent stores, gift shops, garden centres and manor houses and their cards are all printed locally. Zaquarella believes passionately the importance of putting money back into the local economy. Despite their success and global outlook they have managed to maintain a local heart and remain proudly British and take a great deal of pride in their commitment to the environment, ensuring they supply product that is eco-friendly and sustainable.