Un-PC greeting cards set smart alecks free

Northwest Portland pair find a friendly market for nontraditional cards

By jason vondersmith

The Portland Tribune, Oct 22, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009

JAIME VALDEZ / TRIBUNE PHOTO

Tom Polzin and Kris Jones, both ex-Lakeridge High classmates, produce their off-the-wall, in-your-face greeting cards at their Northwest Portland home.

Trying to toe the creative line between being crass and boring, Kris Jones and Tom Polzin, former high school classmates and longtime friends, have entered the business of catchy greeting cards.

Except their Roast Greeting Card Company is just a bit different from the traditional Hallmark and other established cards you’d find in any grocery or card store. Jones and Polzin take a “refreshingly non-politically correct” approach to their greetings from their Northwest Portland house/headquarters.

They’ve even had a gay friend write cards for gays and lesbians, leaning toward gay marriage.

“Happy Birthday, Homo” reads one of the covers … “You’re officially old enough to be a gay cougar” goes the punchline.

“Congrats on coming out!” reads another . . . “Who knew? (Everyone)”

Jones, 36, a freelance designer, says the duo started thinking about greeting cards one summer day in 2008, when they needed to buy one. So, one brainstorming session later, they had 20 ideas for smart-aleck cards, and their business, influenced by celebrity roasts and Seinfeld-esque humor, had been born.

“We’ve grown tired of everything in today’s world having to be PC,” Jones says. “We wanted to create a line of greeting cards that were irreverent, topical and humorous.

“Sometimes people are saying things that are so flippin’ true, but they don’t have the guts to put it into print.”

Roast does some online business (www.roastgreetings.com), with cards also sold in retail shops. Jones says Powell’s City of Books in downtown will soon carry the cards.

Polzin, 39, a counselor at Highland Park Middle School in Beaverton, won’t give up his day job anytime soon. But, eventually, he and his girlfriend hope the greeting card business takes off.

Shock cards for friends

Jones says their greeting cards are not for every friendly exchange, only for those people “you can tease and play with who are close to you.” And, they’ve pushed for greeting cards between men because, as Polzin says, “it’s a male-bonding thing . . . The more you’re ripped on, the more you feel loved . . . And, we’ve heard men don’t buy (cards) because they’re too foofy or written by women.”

“Happy Birthday, tool.” reads one . . . “No, seriously, you’re a tool.”

“I was going to call you …” . . . “but somehow I just carried on with my life.”

Roast has made about 70 greeting cards, with Polzin and others writing them and Jones designing them. They’re not ornate, just simple. They’re printed on paper made from 100 percent post-consumer waste.

1 | 2 Next Page >>

Facebook	Digg	Del.icio.us
Newsvine	Stumbleupon	Reddit