Chao Cards

The Next Generation of Cards

Chao Cards creates and offers a wide variety of memorable and inspirational, handcrafted 3D pop-up greeting cards.

Our name Chao Cards is a welcoming gesture in many different languages. “Chao” is a greeting meaning “hello” in Vietnamese and is a salutation with similar renditions in many other languages as well – adding to the cards’ representation as a niversal greeting.

Our unique pop-up designs are the perfect way to share both your greeting and your special, memorable message.

History

The origin of the cards’ designs is rooted in origami, the process of folding paper, and kirigami, the process of folding and cutting paper, both with the intent to create art.

Although they are very similar, origami and kirigami have some slight differences. Origami is the Japanese art of folding paper into decorative shapes, while kirigami is a form of origami that includes cutting paper and assembling without glue, rather than just folding the paper. Both origami and kirigami grew from Japanese culture and became very popular in almost all of Asia.

Vietnam has a rich history of unique, traditional, handcrafted art, such as embroidery—the art of stitching thread into an image—and sand art, the art of pouring colored sand and powdered pigments to form a sand painting. Paper art is another common form of handicrafts in Vietnam that are inspired by kirigami and origami, which is then converted into a card. This is where Chao Cards was founded.