Karen Adams Designs
A Memphis-based, family-run paper goods studio that prints and hand-finishes its own work in a converted bakery in the city's Edge District, known for desktop calendars and small-batch stationery that punches well above its size in independent specialty retail.
- Founded
- 1999
- Headquarters
- Memphis, Tennessee (Edge District)
- Founder
- Karen Adams
- Education
- Rhode Island School of Design (apparel)
- Family team
- Karen, husband Ed, daughter Wallis, son Avery
- Production
- Locally printed and hand-finished in Memphis
- Categories
- Paper goods, calendars, stationery, gifts
- Notable recognition
- Fortune Inner City 100 (2020)
The story
Karen Adams trained at the Rhode Island School of Design in apparel and spent the 1980s working in New York fashion, including stints at KIKIT and J. Crew. After moving to Memphis in 1994 to be closer to family, she translated her design sensibility into the home and garden, and in 1999 began designing custom invitations for local non-profits out of her guesthouse. Those early hand-finished pieces grew into a business.
The studio is now a family operation. Karen leads design; husband Ed is part of the team, daughter Wallis and son Avery (whose artwork features in some collaborative product lines) are involved as well. The headquarters is a former bakery in Memphis's Edge District — an arts-leaning neighborhood near downtown that has been undergoing creative-business revitalization for the last decade. All printing is done locally, all hand-finishing happens in-house.
What they make
Desktop calendars are the brand's defining product — classic refillable wooden-base desktop calendars where each day's card is a small original illustration. Customers buy the base once and refill it annually, which builds substantial year-over-year retention into the product line. Beyond the calendars, the catalog includes greeting cards, note cards, place cards, gift tags, invitations, party goods, and small desk accessories.
The aesthetic is consistently bright, classic-with-a-twist, and clearly hand-illustrated rather than digitally generated — a meaningful differentiator in a category increasingly dominated by stock-art-driven imports. Karen's stated design ambition is to make people smile, and the catalog reads that way.
How they sell
Distribution is through specialty paper, gift, and stationery retailers across the country. The brand is widely carried in bridal and registry-oriented stores, museum stores, and high-end fine-paper boutiques. Wholesale ordering happens through karenadamsdesigns.com and through Faire's wholesale platform.
The company is also visible in trade press as an example of a small studio that has grown sustainably. Fortune named the business to its Inner City 100 list in 2020, recognizing companies generating economic impact in urban neighborhoods.
Why they're worth knowing
For specialty paper goods and gift retailers, Karen Adams Designs offers a defining anchor product (the refillable desktop calendar) that creates a recurring annual purchase pattern. A customer who buys a calendar in year one is highly likely to come back for a refill cards each year after — the structural pattern resembles a subscription business, which is unusual for a $36-72 retail price point in independent retail.
The made-in-Memphis story carries weight in markets that value American manufacturing and small-studio provenance, and Karen Adams has a documented commitment to paying living wages and giving back to local non-profits. For a retailer building a curated paper-goods section that needs at least one identifiable studio brand, Karen Adams is a reliable choice.
Where to find them
- Website: karenadamsdesigns.com
- Headquarters: Memphis, Tennessee (Edge District)
- Wholesale: Direct + Faire
- Trade show presence: NY NOW, Atlanta Market, plus selected paper shows
Profile based on public information from Karen Adams Designs's official site, Fortune's 2020 Inner City 100 profile, and the company's LinkedIn profile. Updated July 2024. Return to all profiles →