An Interview with Kelly Lyden
The images will grab your attention right away: a beautifully designed tablescape, a perfectly wrapped gift with a custom die-cut tag, or a classic monogrammed notecard to thank the ideal hostess. All spring from the creative mind of Kelly Lyden, founder and designer of WH Hostess Social Stationery. With an eye for traditional, preppy motifs and a keen sense for the genial lifestyle her customers seek, WH Hostess offers dozens of perfectly designed gift items and paper goods for the gracious hostess. We sat down with Kelly to learn about her creative process and how she built her successful business.
What’s your background and what inspired you to launch your business?
I’m a graphic designer who loves product development. I come from a line of very creative, career-oriented women. My mother owns her own business, my aunt owns a retail store, and my grandmother had a big job for someone in her era. I think this was ingrained in me growing up. I was always doing art projects, and I was very into art and architecture in high school and college. I went to the University of Kansas to become a graphic designer but I didn’t really know what I was going to do with that graphic design degree, so I decided I’d go into fashion instead. My parents, both accountants, encouraged me to also get a business degree. They let me use my creativity and channel it into the skills I use now running a business.
My first career was as a clothing buyer for one of the largest specialty chains in the US. It was a phenomenal experience. I got to spend a lot of time in New York and go to Fashion Week. I learned a lot along the way. In 2008 the market turned and, unfortunately, that beloved specialty store went into bankruptcy. I lost my dream job and was devastated. I took a little time and started a blog called The Party Dress as a hobby while I was looking for the next step. My husband, a software engineer, helped me build the website and tried to teach me about coding. I just happened to hit it at the right time as blogs were taking off and we gained popularity quickly.
Where does the name, WH Hostess, come from and how did the business get started?
The Party Dress was a blog about fashion, entertaining, and ideas for your home. The tagline for the blog was “Inspirations from the Well-Heeled Hostess” so the WH stands for Well-Heeled Hostess. As we got deeper into the blog people started saying ‘you have all these great ideas for parties, can you help me plan one?’ I thought yeah, I have this graphic design degree I should be using it! The very first piece of paper design was for a frog prince themed first birthday party and that was what launched WH Hostess. We started as party goods, invitations, kid’s birthday parties, every paper decoration you can imagine for different themes. Our whole goal was to help parents throw a stylish kid’s party that reflected their design aesthetic and the kid’s favorite items. Seven years ago we started focusing more on what you see today: social stationery, personalized notepads, gift tags, invitations and holiday cards.
Your designs are so lovely – elegant and classic but unpretentious. How would you describe the WH Hostess aesthetic and where do you find your inspiration?
WH is pretty classic in terms of our illustrations and look and feel, but we do follow trends. We were printing ginger jars before they were on everyone’s dining room tables and still to this day it’s our number one seller.
I am inspired by home décor and textiles. I love playing with fabric. I joke that you can tell if I’m redecorating my house a similar pattern shows up in our next collection for retailers. Sometimes I’m inspired by something I see in children’s clothing. I see a really darling pattern and think that would be so cute on a note card. For the most part our collection is made up of items you find in homes: ginger jars, lemon trees, topiary planters. They’re relatable items that make people feel good and homey. That’s what we want the collection to be about.
Can you offer some tips for using your products as part of a stylish celebration?
I put my attention into setting a beautiful table so that when guests walk in they know that you’ve put thought into what kind of evening or day you want to have. Place cards make it more personal even if it’s only four of you. And I always like to start with a cocktail and appetizer gathering where you can sit down, chat and get acquainted again before dinner.
We use Instagram a lot in our marketing and we try to offer fans and customers ideas for how to use our products. For example, we put together a little s’mores kit – just a clear box with graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows. We tied it up with one of our striped ribbons and a topiary gift tag. We used a picture of my son holding the box. It got probably the most likes and sales for a particular item because it really resonated with people. We really try to offer our customers ideas of how to use the products to live a gracious life, set a beautiful table using our products, or use our tea towels to wrap up a bottle of wine as a gift.
I published Stylish Kids’ Parties in 2013. It offers twelve different kids party themes with ideas for decorations, invitations, themed foods and dessert tables. It includes some paper goods templates so you can recreate some of the ideas yourself.
What’s next for your business?
We’re launching our fall and holiday collections. Our holiday collections just make my heart happy. So much goes into them and we really try to create products to spread your family’s warmest wishes and entertain and decorate beautifully. We’re very excited about what we’ll put out there this season, especially since so many of us are staying close to home right now and making our homes into a sanctuary where a beautiful life can take place. We’re so excited about the new designs and look forward to seeing our customers’ reactions!
