Hippo And Co

We design and make fun things for fun folk! Fun things being artwork and greetings cards!

Hello! We are Hippo and Co. ...a him and her team who create fun things for fun folk! - mainly prints to make your home look fun, a little quirky and very personal. All of our goodies are designed, created and made in our studio by us before being lovingly posted to their forever homes. Nothing makes us happier than when we stamp our happy post day stamp knowing our creations will soon be making their way to our much loved customers.

We feel that there is something very special about making products based on precious memories, much loved character traits and inspirational concepts. So much so, that at 5am on a cold March morning, we decided over a cup of tea to put our own footprint on the creative world. You might be wondering why we called our company Hippo and Co. ...bit different isnt it? Well, for us Hippo and Co. represents the very essence of what we do - we produce fun things that have stories behind them. Well Hippo and Co. has its own little story...

During a window shopping day at Manchester Trafford Centre, a colourful and funny book caught our eye (I Dont Want to Be a Pea by Ann Bonwill). The hippo did not want to be a rock for a fancy dress party and his friend the bird said but you are grey and blobby, to which the hippo replied I will ignore that comment. Despite our ages, we are actually kids at heart and we found this silly exchange really funny and it wasnt long until I will ignore that comment became the butt of our jokes.

From that point on, hippos seemed to be catching our eye everywhere...and it wasnt long until we had eyes for one particular hippo. We wanted Thomas the Hippo (by Carte Blanche) - we kept seeing him over and over again in amusement arcades in the claw crane machines and we became obsessed with trying to win him - we tried so hard but were always defeated. Eventually, Chris bought him for my 21st Birthday and he officially became Mr Hippo (he prefers this to Thomas anyway!). From then on, Mr Hippo was always there to chime his two cents - although he has a tendency to say erm erm a lot before deciding what he wants to say.

In July 2013, Chris and I moved into our first home together and Chris decided to name our Wifi Network Hippo and Co. (us being the Co. of course). It was shortly after this that we were inspired to start our own creative business (with Mr Hippo appointed the position of CEO of Hippo and Co. Limited!). Chris and I are the crew members...Mr Hippo is the real boss and he runs a tight ship (or so he thinks anyway!, we think he is a bit lazy to be honest!).

Since this point, we have learnt so much as we decided to take on as many of the roles possible involved with creating a business - from designing goods to sourcing high-quality material suppliers to photography. We wanted to ensure there would be no bounds to our creativity and the vision that we have for our products and customers is truly ours as we have nothing but top-quality in mind for our lovely customers.