a note from oak atkinson

I followed my dreams  and created tumbalina in 2003.  Our little company started with my hobby of making personal cards and, with a lot of passion, hard work and a great team, has flourished into an award-winning greeting card design company located in Bedford, NY. 

We began by selling to a couple of local stationery stores.  One of them went out of business
before we were even paid.  We kept at it though and gradually expanded to more than
2,000 upscale stationery boutiques across the USA… as well as Hong Kong, Tokyo, Paris, 
London… even Buenos Aires!  Our cards can also be found at WholeFoods and The Container Store.

We recently partnered with Kleinfeld (yes, THE bridal boutique) to design several wedding
invitation collections for the launch of their Wedding Invitations and Stationery. They can be found online at Kleinfledpaper.com.

Tumbalina is delighted to have won several national design awards, including a “Louie” for one of our birthday cards. The Louie is considered the Oscar of the greeting card industry (picture us all patting ourselves on the backs).  We also recently won a national packaging award from Graphic Design USA for our Everyday Giftcard Tin. 

I spent my childhood in the tiny town of Masaka, Uganda.   And since there were no gift shops, I began making collage cards as gifts for birthdays and other special occasions. After graduating from Colgate University, an MBA at Fordham and spending years working in corporate marketing, I returned to this old past time to start my own company.

The goal of each card we make remains the same as my very first handmade card — to make people smile.

Behind the name…So many people have been curious about the origin of the name "tumbalina."  Well, the name comes from a pet name that my boyfriend (now my husband) gave me when I was 16 years old. The name was an appropriate fit since it was a token of affection, very much like the cards that we create at tumbalina.