A birthday gift with fifty years in it
A milestone birthday is the one time the whole family is in the room and everyone has a story. Most of them never make it past the speeches. A story-portrait keeps them: the song she sings at every party, the dogs she knows by name, the trip pinned to the fridge for a decade.
The gift for the person who has everything
By fifty most people own what they want. What they do not have is a picture of how the people who love them see them. That is a different thing from a photo. A photo shows what they look like; this shows what it is like to know them.
It is bought by family and friends rather than colleagues, which changes what goes in. Less of the job, more of the kitchen, the garden, the holidays, the sayings that have become family law, and whatever they are planning next.
How the stories get out of your head
You know them too well to summarise them, which is the usual problem. So the interview does not ask you to. It asks one plain question at a time, in your browser, for about ten minutes: what they spend their days on, the habit everyone teases them about, the thing they say so often it became a joke, who they are to the people around them, what comes next. You answer in your own words and the answers become the brief.
Siblings, children and old friends can contribute before you start. Ask each for a memory or two, collect the replies as they are, and paste them in at the beginning. The stories that come up twice are the ones that belong in the picture.
One example, from a made-up family
From the interview
A 50th-birthday gift for Lin
- Twenty years of 'I Will Survive' at every family party. Nobody gets the second verse.
- She knows every dog on the park loop by name. The owners? Less so.
- The Japan itinerary has been pinned to the fridge for a decade. This year, it's finally booked.
Lin is a fictional person we invented to show the process. The photo is a model image and the interview was written by us; no real customer's story appears on this page.
What to have ready
One clear, recent photo of their face, and two or three of their world: the kitchen, the garden, the dog, the thing they are never without. Phone photos are fine.
Two or three stories the family tells about them. If nothing comes to mind, that is fine too; the conversation is built to draw them out.
Questions people ask about birthday portraits
Which birthdays is this for?
Any birthday with a round number and a party. Fifty, sixty and seventy are the most common. Thirty and eighty work the same way; the interview simply asks about a different stretch of life.
Can the whole family contribute?
Yes, and it makes the portrait better. One person orders and does the interview. Everyone else sends a memory or two beforehand, and those go in at the start, in their own words.
Can I keep it a surprise?
Yes. Nothing is sent to the person in the portrait. Everything goes to the email address the order came with, and the photos you upload are the ones you already have.
How long does it take?
You see your piece within 48 hours of finishing the interview, usually sooner. One revision round is included. Start a week before the party and there is room for the revision and for printing.
Can we print and frame it ourselves?
Yes. You receive one print-quality digital file that prints sharply up to A2, through any printer or framer you like.
An honest note
Your piece is created with the help of AI image generation, directed by us. You tell us the story in a guided interview; we turn what you said into a detailed brief, and that brief is what drives the image. Then a person looks at what came out and decides whether it is good enough to send you. Most first attempts are not.
The AI is the brush. The story is yours, and the judgement about whether it is any good is ours.
One portrait, €48
Order, and we send you a private link to the interview. Ten minutes of your time, then your piece within 48 hours.
Start a portrait — €48