About George

Company

Cecily is a small New Zealand company that was founded by Celia Allison. The company's mission is to "produce quality products that are humorous and useful, and have been produced in a way that demonstrates respect for environmental, ethical and social issues". We use only paper and card from managed forests, and bleaching uses an elemental chlorine free process; then printing is with vegetable and soy based inks. Cecily products are almost exclusively made locally in Christchurch, New Zealand. Where this is not possible we use other New Zealand manufacturers. In very exceptional situations some products can not be made in New Zealand. When this occurs we use certified suppliers to ensure that the environment and human rights are respected.

Above all Cecily is about having a laugh. While we would like you to purchase Cecily product from our web site and from our stockists, we want you to enjoy Cecily. Somethings you can do are: view the gallery here, and follow Cecily on Facebook and Twitter (links at the top of the page), Also use the 'Contact us' tab to send an email requesting to join our mailing list to receive offers and a regular essay on what is on Cecily's mind.

Have fun with Cecily!

Celia

Celia Allison is the creator of Cecily. She grew up in rural Canterbury, and attended school in Timaru and Christchurch. After leaving school Celia gained a Bachelor of Science from Otago University. It was at this point that her left brain took over from her right and she moved North to Wellington to complete a Diploma in Visual Communication Design, in illustration and graphic design, at Wellington Polytechnic. Following her graduation Celia worked in illustration and graphic design in Wellington and in London. In 1988 Celia returned from Europe and started Moa Revival, a stationery company producing products with a notable emphasis on Kiwiana. In the late 1990s a cartoon about a single woman living alone began to take shape; by 2000 this hobby had gained enough attention to demand an audience of it's own. The cartoon character was, of course, Cecily. What you see here is the culmination of many hours at the drawing-board following a great many more hours spent talking, laughing and drinking with friends. Not that we are suggesting for one minute that Cecily is autobiographical.The bob hair cut, iconic glasses, the years spent as a single woman and enthusiasm for life are just coincidental, right?

At Cecily HQ Celia is in charge of drawings, humour, sales and the Christmas party. When she's not working Celia loves to recreate in the hills. Skiing ,hiking or biking have long been favoured activities. Lately she has taken up surfing, throwing herself into this with her characteristic enthusiasm. Family and friends are very important to Celia and somehow she manages to keep in touch with most of her extensive social and familial networks. She lives with George in a new house that was a replacement for her beloved old Sea Captain's villa that was damaged beyond repair in the Christchurch earthquakes.

George

George also hails from rural Canterbury. George's first career was in farming, but after one too many days spent standing around in muddy gumboots he fled to the University of Canterbury, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science. George then attended Christchurch Teachers College before teaching science in Christchurch for the next twenty years. His fondest memories of teaching were at Hagley Community College where he was the Head of Science until 2007. This was a big year for George as he not only left teaching for Cecily, but he also married Celia.

George's role at Cecily HQ is to look after logistics and processes, publications and communications, the web site, anything remotely technological and putting out the recycling. George has two gown-up children and loves nothing more than careering downhill out of control on skis with them and Celia in the winter. Like Celia, George loves the outdoors and in particular skiing, surfing, tramping and mountain biking.