“We draw our design ideas from a wide variety of social and cultural sources, but the creation and production of our pop-up cards is very much an art. Every card is highly unique in its innovative design, from the paper to the rubber band that makes them pop.” 

– Lowell Hess, Graphics3 Paper Engineer, during a press interview after winning ‘Card of the Year’ the first time entered in the Greeting Card Association’s International Greeting Card Awards. (Read more about Lowell below.)

Graphics3 evolved out of a family commercial printing business, Herlin Press, Inc., founded by Swedish-American, Gothard Per Herlin, in 1934, four generations ago. Graphics3's first rubber band-activated pop-up Christmas card was mailed to customers and friends. Customer response was so enthusiastic that they, in effect, put us in the Christmas card business - with a unique twist, rare in 1974; Graphics3 marketed directly to our own customers, businesses of every type, not via traditional retail channels.

Our early marketing and advertising customers saw first-hand how mailing Graphics3's highly dimensional pop-up Christmas cards brought their brands to life in customer's hands in the most positive way. Creatively standing out with whimsically memorable pop-up cards during the largest cultural tradition in the world, Christmas, the season of good will, builds relationships and brands.

Originally Graphics3 had a ‘businesses only’ policy. We had to give in when our business owners began retiring. Long enamored with the reaction our cards generated for them professionally, they found continuing the tradition personally was just as gratifying as it was for their businesses. You don’t say no to wonderful people – and our customers are every bit of that.

Today as the manufacturer, we still market directly to the people who send our Christmas cards. We can attest that the spirit of Christmas is very much alive. We enjoy working directly with our customers and we offer ‘white glove’ service befitting the nature of our customers. When you call we pick up the phone. Graphics3 focus on customers has earned us the high privilege of being a part of our customer’s annual holiday celebrations for years on end. If you have not heard of Graphics3 you may not be on our customer's Christmas lists - or ours, but you can be.

Breaking expectations for what can come out of a plain flat envelope is challenging. Our 51-year design portfolio of unique, highly engineered pop-up card designs keep our customers on top, season after season. Creating countless memories that strengthen  relationships like no other greeting cards is the happy result. Unique to Graphics3, our remarkable pop-up cards are freestanding, more fully dimensional ‘in-the-round’, toy-like paper miniatures perfect for display on tree or table - and truly appreciated as a gift. Yet they mail for a single stamp!

Today, all of our customers enjoy quantity-based pricing, and single-stamp postage.  Most of all our customers love hearing from their lucky recipients who often have their own gifted collections of Graphics3 pop-up cards on display during the holidays every year, thanks to a uniquely different holiday tradition our customers create with Graphics3.

Graphics3 also manufactures our rubber band-activated pop-up polygon design, a crisply geometric 3D pop-up ‘ball’ shape with 14 sides, a design that instantly pops up, to intrigue and engage like no flat mail can. Popular for desk calendars, custom printed pop-up greetings, and direct mail promotions that people keep – all mailing for a single stamp.

All of Graphics3’s designs are proudly produced in North America to an uncommon level of quality - with a satisfaction guarantee. To our knowledge we are the only publisher of pop-ups to offer one. Elegantly engineered and executed designs are our hallmark. Paper is one of mans great inventions – and all our designs use recyclable paper from well managed forests.

We showcase our collection for customers each year via our catalog and online. Join our list to receive occasional seasonal email or our mail catalog. We do not sell names.

Lowell Hess… paper engineer and illustrator extraordinaire: 

“Almost everything that guy ever did makes my head explode.”

– A contemporary illustrator, commenting on Lowell Hess’  work.

Lowell Hess was the inventive genius behind Graphics3’s original pop-up card designs - a purely American design innovation. An Oklahoma native, Lowell served as a lieutenant in the US Army in Europe during World War II and later attended the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. Lowell came of age as an illustrator during the heyday of magazine illustration, his art adorning the covers of Collier’s, New York Magazine, and Boy’s Life as well as the hugely popular children’s Golden Book series, touching the lives of millions - yet illustration was only one facet of his genius.

Lowell possessed an uncanny ability to visualize 3-dimensional transformations from flat 2-dimensional art, combining knife, paper and brush with brilliance long before computers and lasers. All painstakingly designed and engineered by hand and eye. With Graphics3, Lowell pioneered the innovation of freestanding pop-up designs – a hidden rubber band would create the magic on opening the envelope – a gift tag would carry the greeting(another Graphics3 innovation) and allow a card to hang as an ornament!

“Card of the Year” - Winner of the International Greeting Card Association Awards.

Graphics3 entered seven of Lowell Hess’s original pop-up card designs for the first time in the International Greeting Card Awards held by the Greeting Card Association in conjunction with the 1990 National Stationary Show in New York City. These “Louie Awards”, so named for the father of the American Christmas card, Louie Prang, are the greeting card industry equivalent of Hollywood’s Emmy, Oscar, or Tony Awards. Actress Mariette Hartley hosted the ceremony in the famed Waldorf-Astoria’ Grand Ballroom.

The first time entered, out of 800 greeting card publishers, all seven Lowell Hess designed Graphics3 pop-up cards were nominated as finalists, winning top honors outright in five categories plus winning the industry’s highest honor, the ‘Card of the Year’ for Graphics3's ‘English Toy Shoppe’, a Charles Dickens theme inspired pop-up Christmas card. This design simultaneously also won the award for ‘Best Traditional Christmas Card’. The following year a Graphics3 pop-up Christmas card design again won the ‘Best Traditional Christmas Card’.