Remember the days when you would order checks and consider splurging on the themed ones? The faded pastel beach scenes, Mount Rushmore, adorable kittens and motifs of money all remind us of the 80’s and early 90’s. It was almost a right of passage to page through the options and pick the background you most identified with…regardless of if it was ever ordered.
Fast forward. If I got a kitten check in the mail today, I’d laugh, maybe cringe, and think the whole exchange was a bit ironic. It may be that the check and imagery licensing worlds never evolved (as a side note- how many of you still write checks?) or that there are more exciting places to put art these days- at least in the banking and money worlds.
Last night, while trolling Instagram, I stumbled upon Beci Orpin’s latest collaboration with the Japanese department store, Marui. It’s pretty great, isn’t it? I wish I could switch out my blue and gray card for one of these bad boys. The image seems so cool and so out of reach as an American.
It’s a weird thing, as a whole, we love identifying w brands. We outfit our smartphones, our handbags and our tech accessories in colors and patterns we love. We administer at home DIY projects and scour Pinterest for artistic inspiration. Why is it that Visa’s Japanese distribution is eons ahead of ours? (Rhetorical, I know).
Try googling Epos. You’ll discover a Japanese database full of cards and themes. Everything from nature to food, fashion, ‘cute’, art, travel and ‘Japan.’ It’s an interesting and obvious move. What do you think?
