Meet the Artist: How I Design Every Funkissd Party Theme

Hi, I'm Jules — the person behind every design you see at Funkissd. I don't have a design team or a factory floor. It's just me, a sketchbook, and a small studio in Montreal, Quebec, where I've spent the last 10+ years hand-illustrating party decor. I get asked a lot how a Funkissd theme actually comes together, so I figured it was time to pull back the curtain.

How Funkissd Started

Funkissd didn't start as a business plan. It started as a small passion project — I loved drawing, and I loved throwing parties for the kids in my own life, so I started illustrating decor for them. Somewhere along the way, other parents started asking where they could get the same thing for their own kid's party. That's the whole origin story, really: one hand-drawn banner led to another, and ten years later Funkissd is a library of over 280 designs that's been part of more than 40,000 parties.

From Sketch to Party

Every single design starts the same way: pencil on paper, before it's ever a cake topper, banner, or invitation. I sketch out characters and scenes by hand first, because that's where a design gets its personality — the slightly wobbly line, the expression on a puppy's face, the way a race car leans into a turn. Once a sketch feels right, I refine it, bring it into color, and adapt it across every product it needs to work on, from a two-inch cake topper to a wide party banner. Nothing in the shop skips that first hand-drawn step.

Where the Ideas Come From

New themes come from a few places. A lot of it is just paying attention — to what my own kids are obsessed with that month, to what customers are asking for, and to the party trends I see up close every single day running this shop. Some themes are timeless (dinosaurs and space are never not popular), and some are more of-the-moment, like the recent wave of vintage, storybook-style designs. I try to balance both: the classics people come back for again and again, and new ideas that feel fresh.

Why I Still Draw Everything by Hand

It would honestly be faster to work from templates or stock graphics. But the whole point of Funkissd is that it doesn't look — or feel — mass-produced. A hand-drawn line has a warmth to it that a generic printable just doesn't have, and that's the detail parents tell me they notice most: that their kid's party decor looks like it was made by an actual person, because it was. That's not changing, no matter how big the shop grows.

Still Me, After 40,000 Parties

Ten years and 280+ designs in, I still open every custom order and every new theme the same way I did with the very first one — with a pencil, a blank page, and the hope that it makes someone's celebration a little more special. Thank you for letting me be part of yours.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who designs Funkissd's party decor?

I do — I'm Jules, and I hand-illustrate every design in the shop myself from my studio in Montreal, Quebec.

Are Funkissd designs really hand-drawn, or just styled to look that way?

Every design starts as an actual pencil sketch before it's ever turned into a cake topper, banner, or invitation. Nothing in the shop starts as a template or stock graphic.

Can I request a theme that isn't in the shop yet?

I'm always paying attention to what customers are asking for, and requests genuinely shape what I design next. If there's a theme you'd love to see, reach out and let me know!