Tech-edged stationery designer expands to valley

Storkie Express is a stationery company with a tech edge, or a tech company that sells stationery -- either way you spin it, the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based business has expanded to Las Vegas, bringing with it new products and jobs.

"We want to use Las Vegas a hotbed for new technology and new products," said partner Jonathan Gudai, son of company founder Debbie Gudai.

Since its 1990 inception as a catalog-based, baby-related stationery business, Storkie has grown into a graphic design company that uses Web design tools to customize every element of its products, which now include wedding invitations, graduation announcements and holiday cards. Want your cartoon bride to have black hair instead of red? Brown eyes instead of blue? With a click of a mouse, Storkie's cards look any way you want them to.

Storkie processes hundreds of orders per day, which are printed at a facility in Idaho.

That growth prompted the company to expand, Gudai said. More products brought more customers, many of them on the West Coast. Gudai said Storkie needed a customer service presence in the West. The company began eyeing Las Vegas last year, and a local real estate agent referred Storkie to the Nevada Development Authority for help navigating the expansion process. Storkie retained a wing in an office building near the University of Nevada, Las Vegas for its main and additional offices.

"We've been working hand-in-hand with the Nevada Development Authority," Gudai said. "There's been a lot of cooperation in the Las Vegas community to help bring technology-based companies to Las Vegas to help diversify the economy."

Storkie got its start when Debbie's husband, Shlomi, a computer engineer, built a stationery software program for a local store that went out of business before he could finish the project. Debbie decided to take the program and start her own stationery company in the couple's Fort Lauderdale garage.

Now the company has two offices and a printing facility.

Storkie plans to create 30 new jobs over the next one to two years, most of which are in graphic design and customer service. Authority President and CEO Somer Hollingsworth said the company accepted training assistance from the state to help prepare employees. The state offers up to $1,000 per employee for job training, which is typically used to give unemployed residents new skills.

Hollingsworth said he expects Storkie to draw interest to Nevada from other companies looking to expand or relocate.

"This company has quite a following nationally," Hollingsworth said. "That they now have opened up in Las Vegas ... other companies ask, 'Why are they there? If they're leaders in the industry and they're in Las Vegas, why aren't we there?' "

Storkie once considered itself a custom stationery company that brought people and ideas together using technology. That is no longer the case.

"We're a tech company that connects people via stationery," Gudai said.

As part of its transformation into a tech company, Storkie at a Thursday night launch party was expected to unveil its latest product, an augmented reality application called Storkie Hidden Dimension. The app, which is expected to go live early next week, allows Android and Apple gadgets and camera-equipped computers to view their cards in 3-D.

The option is a free add-on that buyers can choose when ordering their stationery, the price of which ranges from $1.50 to $4 per card. Right now, the 3-D elements include a movie screen that showcases up to five photos of the buyer's choosing, but Storkie expects to upgrade the scenes viewers see and add video and sound options in later releases.

"It unlocks so much potential," Gudai said.

Contact reporter Caitlin McGarry at
cmcgarry@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5273.