The name ily designs means, simply, I Love You. Some might assume that the name has its origins in the current texting/emailing/instant messaging environment that seems to have truncated language to mere letters. However, the concept dates back to a much earlier source: Anna Karenina. In Leo Tolstoy's novel, steadily moving forward beneath the passionate throes of Anna's romance with Count Vronsky, the relationship between Kitty and Levin blossoms. And in the climax of their courtship, they proceed to have a lengthy and detailed conversation on the green cloth of a table, using merely the first letters of the words that pour so beautifully from their heartfelt emotions. It's this scene, coupled with the shortcuts that seem to be killing off the beauty of handwritten notes, that created the concept of ily designs: the marriage of something so classic with something modern and continually evolving.

So, yes, Tolstoy was the father of chat abbreviations.

ily designs was founded by Sylvia Kim, wife, mother and former English teacher. She finds inspiration in the beauty of calligraphy, the power of literature, and the smile of her son.