Over 75 Years of Holiday Card Innovation
Since the 1940s, MoMA has invited artists to create delightful, original and unexpected designs for our Holiday Card Program. Over the years, the designs have evolved from flat cards to pop-up and 3D paper-engineered cards.
Staying true to our mission of offering products that marry functionality with beautiful, innovative design, our holiday cards are more like art objects than ordinary cards. We seek out cards from both established and emerging artists, choosing original, extraordinary designs that are unlike any that are on offer from other retailers. The process of each card begins with the artist hand-assembling the prototype, which is then reviewed by our team. When the cards are ready for production, each one is printed and meticulously handcrafted. These artist-created cards are made for sending greetings for Christmas, Hanukkah, the New Year and the general holiday season. Most of the cards have a greeting printed inside but some, like those featuring work by MoMA collection artists, are blank—so senders can include personalized messages.
How We Choose Our Artist-Designed Holiday Cards
Each year begins with an open call to established and emerging artists: Send us your best holiday card designs. After several rounds of reviews by our selection committee over the course of months, we make our decisions based on the following criteria: innovative and experimental uses of paper, new interpretations of traditional holiday motifs and themes, witty sophistication and elements of surprise. Every holiday season we strive to create a diverse collection of cards with a variety of themes, colors, interactive features and construction techniques that come together to embrace the spirit of the holidays.
Our Festive History
Our Associate Director of Merchandising, Chay Costello, talks about the rich history of the MoMA Holiday Card program. She discusses some of the vintage cards in our archives that were created by MoMA artists such as Andy Warhol, Alexander Calder and Robert Indiana.
Colorful Chorus by Edward Miller
“When I was a kid in the 1970s, a new, modern church was built in our parish,” says Edward Miller. “My card reflects the special memories I have of that church, its stained-glass windows, and the Christmas decorations on the altar.” To create this card, Miller looked through his collection of vintage cards, then sketched several ideas on paper. He assembles the prototype from parts cut out by a Circuit machine.
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MoMA Pattern Skyline by Peagreen
"For the card design, I chose a close-up viewpoint to let you feel the energetic weight of the towering buildings around you," explains Peagreen designer Izzy Matthews. "Using a Z-fold layout, the card guides you across the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan, fully revealing the drama of the skyline as it unfolds. I paired contrasting colors with the warmth of holographic foil to capture the heart of the holidays, shaping the geometric buildings into abstract, gift-wrapped forms for the festive season."
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Reindeer on Pond by Keisuke Unosawa
We’re celebrating the 30th anniversary of this enchanting pop-up card. “Looking back, the idea for Reindeer on Pond might have been drawn from memories of scenes from movies I’ve seen,” explains Unosawa. “Or maybe it was a landscape similar to the silence of karesansui, a Japanese dry garden usually consisting of carefully arranged rocks, gravel and sand.”
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