This Is Our Life

Witty, political, feminist and funny, to some, Cath Tate is the queen of comedy greeting cards!

Born in London in 1951 and brought up in the swinging 60's, Cath Tate began making anti-Thatcher photomontages on postcards and posters including the image of Mrs Thatcher pinching someone's handbag 'Prevent Street Crime'.

The image (left), was created from a photo Cath took of her friend and toddler which she later cut into the iconic montage.

Propelled by her desire to shout about her favourite (often underrepresented) women cartoonists, Cath began working with the women to publish and platform their designs on cards.

At first, Cath Tate Cards were exclusive to the alternative bookshops that could then be found in every major city in Britain, like ‘Gay is the Word’ in London’s Soho and the ‘Silvermoon’ women’s bookshop who were among the first places to stock the designs Cath was publishing.

Along with juggling small children (and working from home in the '90s), Cath pioneered the use of retro knitting pattern images paired with witty captions and created the 'Loose Knits' range. Following the success of Loose Knits, Cath started to develop the Photocaptions range in the noughties (2000s).

Rosie Tate, Cath's daughter, thought she might just try joining the family business for 6 months in 2011 (because who knows how working with your mother will go!), it ended up working quite well, so she never left!

Together, Cath and Rosie now work with an amazing team of artists, illustrators and designers, championing witty and wise women. They are often the wordsmiths behind the captions.

The mother-daughter duo firmly believe that a sense of humour is an essential for survival!

Their only real rule is that every card they publish has to be either funny or beautiful - and preferably both!

In 2018, Cath co-edited The Inking Woman (Myriad Books), a new book of comic art celebrating 250 years of women cartoonists.

Read more about the book & get your copy

Cath Tate Cards publish work from the likes of funny illustrator Veronica Dearly, well-known mum blogger Katie of Hurrah for Gin, hand drawn celebrity illustrations by Northern lass ‘Wotmalike’ and hand painted 'seeded' cards by artist and horticulturalist, Charlotte Day, which are printed on handmade paper and embedded with wildflower seeds that you can plant when you’ve finished with the card!

As well as our online shop, our cards can now be found in indie stores and on highstreets across the globe! You can also find Cath Tate Cards in translation across the Channel, with French language cards in wide distribution in France.