About Us
We believe that good taste can be courageous, challenging and humorous. Although it might be subtle, it is never bland.
Christine (Chris) FitzGerald was a world traveler, a writer, a teacher, a voracious correspondent – and most importantly a collector and curator of beautiful things. She spent the last decades of her life encouraging her granddaughter, Sophie Coleman, to develop her own personal conception of style. Guiding her toward a discernment of good taste that is deeply and un-apologetically personal. Sophie was so influenced by her grandmothers courageous belief in the value of her own sense of taste that she was inspired to name this company in her honor.
The History
Chris FitzGerald was born at the start of the twentieth century on the French island of Jersey. She had a deep-seated belief that good taste and a sense of style was defined by ones internal sensibilities rather than societal constraints, and shared much in common with other stylistic pioneers of the early 1900s – such as Peggy Guggenheim and Dorothy Parker.
Refusing to accept the staid constraints of the times she was among the first generation of women to attend a British university, and went on to travel and live abroad for many years – in Egypt, Lebanon and Australia. Throughout these adventures she developed and honed a deeply personal concept of beauty, quality and style.
The Legacy
Many decades later Sophie Coleman shares her grandmother’s belief that fine taste is innate. It cannot be learned, dictated, or imposed. Those who truly displayed style are the ones who hold a deep-seated conviction in their own preferences and delight in the opportunity to share their sense of fine taste with others.
The central tenant of Fitz Cole (as it's affectionately called) is our conviction that, in the act of giving gifts and sending correspondence we are afforded a unique chance to share our own sense of taste and style with those around us. Our aim has been to curate a collection of the best that paper goods and gifts have to offer - and then allow our customers to define the parameters of their own taste within that collection.
To this end we have a shameless bias toward goods which are made by hand, deploy ingenious design principles, have daring wit, are exceptionally hard to find, or are just exceptionally beautiful
All of the goods that we carry are required to meet our own rigorous discernment of quality. If we wouldn’t be happy to send it, we wouldn’t expect you to. We also understand that you demand social and environmental responsibility from us and we in turn ask that a commitment to these principles is reflected in the brands we carry.
We hope you are inspired by our collection to curate your own from within it, and to share your unique sense of good taste with the world.
