SPECIAL DELIVERY VALLEY GREETING CARD DESIGNERS CREATE SUCCESS BY SERVING NICHE MARKETS.

Byline: Pam Park Staff Writer

In an industry dominated by a triad of giant companies, two Valley greeting card publishers are sending a message.

Colors By Design in Van Nuys and The Paperdoll Company in Encino are privately owned, award-winning companies that over several years in business have carved out a niche for themselves.

``We are extremely small fish in a big sea. It's our challenge to create products that are entertaining and artistic enough to stand out,'' said Gary Raskin, president of Colors By Design.

``We supply independents - mom-and-pop gift stores. They are card stores that are looking for alternatives to the Big Three,'' Raskin said.

The Big Three - American Greetings, Hallmark and Gibson Greetings, which was recently acquired by American Greetings - corner about 85 percent of the greeting card market, Raskin said.

Christmas cards alone will bring in about $2.6 billion in sales this season, with another $20 million or more in holiday cards for Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Ramadan, said Mila Albertson, spokeswoman for the Greeting Card Association in Washington, D.C.

The bulk of greeting cards are purchased at large pharmacies, supermarkets and discounters such as Target and Wal-Mart, but Albertson said there are lots of outlets for independent card companies.

``Not every community has the big chains, so you have a lot of niche marketing to different communities, cultures and lifestyles,'' she said.

Some independent card companies concentrate their marketing in a certain region. Others target a specific religious or ethnic group, or a lifestyle segment such as the gay and lesbian community, she said.

The Paperdoll Company makes high-end cards with special meaning for the Jewish community.

``People frame our cards,'' said owner Risa Mandelberg.

Both Paperdoll and Colors By Design have won Louie awards, which are the equivalent of Oscars in the greeting card industry.

Mandelberg started her company in her Encino home in 1992 after taking a class in traditional Jewish paper-cutting. Since then she has become one of the nation's prominent publishers of Judaica cards.

``We ended up becoming a niche company. There weren't any wonderful high-end Judaica cards then,'' she said.

Mandelberg sells her cards to upscale card and gift shops, boutiques, museum stores, Judaica stores and temple gift shops - mainly on the East and West coasts of the United States, but she has customers in Europe, Canada and Israel, as well.

Paperdoll cards cost $3.50 to $4 at retail.

The cards and a new invitation line are now designed by Mandelberg and a small staff, then laser cut by a professional printer.

Mandelberg sells only at wholesale, but her Web site, www.thepaperdollcompany.com, allows individuals to find a nearby retailer who carries her cards.

Technological advances have also increased the production and design options for Colors By Design and helped the company diversify its offerings, Raskin said.

Colors By Design uses computer technology to produce cards that are colorful, playful and look handmade or hand-painted, Raskin said. They sometimes have attachments such as ribbons or bows, or cutout areas to make them more interesting.

Colors By Design also licenses a software package, called Personalized Expressions, for retail stores to create custom invitations for customers. It gives the retailers their own image library and the ability to print the customer's order within a few hours, rather than the days it formerly took. Papers and supplies come with the software, Raskin said.

The company's Web site, www.colorsbydesign.com, has become a showcase for the company's work and a sales tool.

``The Web has been a tremendous source of opportunity for us to show new designs and sell older designs,'' Raskin said.

Although Raskin estimates he has 7 million pieces of paper and 2,000 products in his warehouse, not all of them are greeting cards. He also makes scrapbook papers, craft papers, social stationery and laser papers.

It took several years to build a market for their 8 1/2 x 11 papers, Raskin said, but now it's significant. It's an easy size to work with for holiday newsletters, informal invitations, restaurant menus, table displays and fliers.

His cards cost $1.75 to about 2.50 and are available locally at stores such as Paper Goose in Studio City, Paper Pushers in Tarzana and some Nordstrom stores, Raskin said.

The company was started in the mid-1980s by Raskin's sister, Laurie, and some artist friends. None of them had much business acumen, so Raskin went to work for them while he was getting an master's degree in business administration at UCLA. He intended it to be a summer job, but he got more enmeshed than he anticipated. Later, his sister moved on to other pursuits.

``I just never left. It has been fun ever since,'' Raskin said.

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(6) Colors by Design greeting card company owner Gary Raskin has found success by catering to niche markets.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer