Tanisha Uchil studied mass media and graduated in 2019 with a diploma in advertising and marketing. She was born and raised in Mumbai and moved to Bangalore after her graduation. She tried her hand at mainstream marketing, working on B2C brands, but realised in 2020 that that life wasn’t for her. Tanisha vividly remembers the day during the lockdown when she realised that she hadn’t sent a greeting card for a very long time. It was during this time that everybody missed their friends and families, and Tanisha too missed her friends back home in Mumbai. She started to send customisable greeting cards and this simple idea snowballed very quickly. The creative bug had bitten her and she knew that stationery was the industry for her.
Tanisha and her brother, Kartik, built Notcoy in 2020. While she worked on marketing, Kartik, as an architect, worked on everything design. They built the website themselves and every product on Notcoy’s website really is conceived with care. Tanisha began working with others in the creative space and collaborated with different designers and creators to make their funky ideas come to fruition. She didn’t want to be just another stationery business, she wanted every product they launched to have a ‘Notcoy spin’ and she decided to look beyond geographical boundaries from the get-go. Notcoy is established in both India and the US so everything they design is with the intention of it being for the international market.
It’s been 1.5 years since Notcoy launched and the brand’s vision and stamp have really succeeded in making heads turn. From the beginning with greeting cards, Tanisha didn’t want to make mainstream cards with Hallmark messages. She wanted them to say something honest, they want that one talks to one’s friends – without shyness, ‘not coy’. All of the Notcoy products have spread similar messages. The titles are as real as possible, and truly speak to a world beyond hustle culture, something that more stationery brands should aim to spread.
Notcoy may do it best, so take a look at some of their bestsellers that we can’t have enough of.
Planners
“It’s unrealistic to expect yourself to work 7 days a week. I don’t like blank pages in my planner so I wanted to make a simple planner to note d own what I have to do today and categorise them according to priority. I really did not want to add things that you wouldn’t bother reading!”
The planner that I have from Notcoy is titled Barely Organised and I’ve got to agree. Hustle culture may be where I want to be, but barely making it by might more accurately describe my current state of mind. I appreciate planners that motivate you forward but there’s something to be sad about planners that meet you where you are, this one is special.
Notebooks
“All the words in this collection are inspired by reality. We put a sweet little note because the whole point is to just be yourself. The whole internet is filled with people who are pushing for perfection but many of us are barely organised and just figuring things out one step at a time. The whole idea behind our stationery is so that you can actually resonate with it.”
All the notebook titles are a fun-read and I can bet that you could think of at least one person for each: Clueless AF, Lazy Kids Club, Dumb Things Inside (all my notebooks honestly), Oopsy Daisy, and I Bought It Cuz It’s Pink. The paper and binding quality are honestly amazing and they’re the kind of notebooks that you write private thoughts in and store in a cupboard closet for all of eternity. They’ll last that long, that’s for sure.
Party Card Game
“I was on a trip with two of my friends and I kept asking them ‘Would you rather’ questions. I thought to myself that I could ask better questions. We started developing the card game and we went through so many rounds of testing with game creators. When it finally came out, one year later, it was unbelievable to see it in person. I wanted to keep this game silly and light-hearted but in a way that you’d end up knowing your friends better by the end of it.”
I tried this out a couple of nights ago and it was really really fun. As the package mentions, tea is spilt so be warned! This game is best played with a group of close friends but it’s also a way to get to know new people (like how I used it). Let’s Get Candid!
Jigsaw puzzles
“We started developing jigsaw puzzles in December of 2020 and launched them in April. There aren’t that many puzzles for grown-ups in India and the response has been incredible. People reach out and tell me that they’ve been looking for a puzzle for so long!”
I can honestly say that putting this jigsaw puzzle together was the most fun I’ve had in a very long time. It’s the ultimate bonding experience! My dad and I solved it together over 4 or 5 days (yes, it thankfully takes that long) and the utter joy gained when any piece fit in was enough of a driving force. I recommend Water Baby if you’re up for a challenge because you’ll be in for a good time.
Notcoy has many launches up its sleeves so make sure to follow them on Instagram and check out their products on their website.
