San Francisco and New York City-based sisters Mary Carter Taub and Hopie Carter Avery announced the opening of HobNob Press in March 2003!

HobNob Press is a design company that plays with everyday images to create clever and quirky stationery. HobNob offers both a prêt-à-ecrir collection and a couture option. The prêt-à-ecrir collection includes six lines: greeting cards, correspondence cards, calling cards, invitations & announcements, gift enclosure cards, and holiday cards.

Hobnob Press was named not only for Hopie's childhood nickname but because Hobnob seemed the perfect name for a company that is devoted to encouraging old-school socializing with de la moda flair. Not limited to black type on ecru paper, the HobNob customer is interested in social stationery indicative of her personality and lifestyle—be it antiquing in Balenciaga, running in Adidas, or day-trading in Marc Jacobs.

Transplanted to New York City by way of North Carolina and Puerto Rico, Mary and Hopie's HobNob products reflect these very different living experiences. Their designs are steeped in colors of la isla encantada, fashions of their childhood and verbal sauces that are a mixture of island chill, Carolina charm, and New York wit.

The sisters attribute their sense of humor to growing up southern-fried in the visually stimulating 80s. For inspiration they reach back to the days when they wore Gloria Vanderbilt jeans (shrink-fitted in the tub) and Forenza sweaters coordinated with their Pappagallo pocketbooks and Candies clogs.

Mary, referred to as "the Smarter Carter" by little sister Hopie, has a background that combines an MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York and an MBA from Thunderbird, the Garvin School of International Management in Arizona. Prior to earning her MBA, Mary spent eight years creating art in her studio in the Meatpacking District of New York City. Her work has been exhibited everywhere from Barneys' front windows to Parsons School of Design and the Islip Art Museum. One memorable piece incorporated hundreds of hot pink feather dusters jutting out of a bright red wall, prompting a naughty-but-nice title: "French Tickler." From feather dusters to finance and marketing experience in Fortune 500 companies, Mary brings big picture creativity, bossy big sister art direction, and business savoir faire to HobNob Press.

Hopie, the original Hobnobber, fine-tunes her big sister's big picture creativity with her background in design. After studying art at the women's college Sweet Briar in Virginia (whose school colors are preppy pink and green and the mascot a Vixen!), Hopie followed big sister Mary to New York City. Hopie hails from an 8-year career in product design at Tiffany & Co., where she worked with only the finest materials to create classic and timeless designs. Hopie brings a keen eye for fashion, a sound design acumen, and an unmatched finesse to HobNob Press.

The designing-duo sisters are excited to bring their creative, cracked, saucy, never staunchy designs to the world.