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Sisters Jackie Zarrilli, 13, left, and Angie Zarrilli, 17, show their custom-designed playing cards based on Broadway musicals at their home in Greenwich, Conn. Monday, May 9, 2022. The sisters, whose trade name is AJ Ink Designs, designed a deck of cards featuring depictions of characters from "Mamma Mia," "Grease," "Bye Bye Birdie," and "Guys & Dolls" that are for sale to raise money for the Off-Beat Players inclusive special needs theater company.
Sisters Jackie and Angie Zarrilli's custom-designed playing cards based on Broadway musicals are displayed at their home in Greenwich, Conn. Monday, May 9, 2022. The sisters, whose trade name is AJ Ink Designs, designed a deck of cards featuring depictions of characters from "Mamma Mia," "Grease," "Bye Bye Birdie," and "Guys & Dolls" that are for sale to raise money for the Off-Beat Players inclusive special needs theater company.
Sisters Jackie Zarrilli, 13, left, and Angie Zarrilli, 17, show their custom-designed playing cards based on Broadway musicals at their home in Greenwich, Conn. Monday, May 9, 2022. The sisters, whose trade name is AJ Ink Designs, designed a deck of cards featuring depictions of characters from "Mamma Mia," "Grease," "Bye Bye Birdie," and "Guys & Dolls" that are for sale to raise money for the Off-Beat Players inclusive special needs theater company.
Sisters Jackie Zarrilli, 13, left, and Angie Zarrilli, 17, show their custom-designed playing cards based on Broadway musicals at their home in Greenwich, Conn. Monday, May 9, 2022. The sisters, whose trade name is AJ Ink Designs, designed a deck of cards featuring depictions of characters from "Mamma Mia," "Grease," "Bye Bye Birdie," and "Guys & Dolls" that are for sale to raise money for the Off-Beat Players inclusive special needs theater company.
Whitby School design teacher Phil Lohmeyer speaks about the Zarrilli sisters' custom-designed playing cards based on Broadway musicals at their home in Greenwich, Conn. Monday, May 9, 2022. The sisters, whose trade name is AJ Ink Designs, designed a deck of cards featuring depictions of characters from "Mamma Mia," "Grease," "Bye Bye Birdie," and "Guys & Dolls" that are for sale to raise money for the Off-Beat Players inclusive special needs theater company.
Jackie Zarrilli, 13, shows her and her sister Angie Zarrilli's custom-designed playing cards based on Broadway musicals at their home in Greenwich, Conn. Monday, May 9, 2022. The sisters, whose trade name is AJ Ink Designs, designed a deck of cards featuring depictions of characters from "Mamma Mia," "Grease," "Bye Bye Birdie," and "Guys & Dolls" that are for sale to raise money for the Off-Beat Players inclusive special needs theater company.
Angie Zarrilli, 17, shows drafts of her and her sister Jackie's custom-designed playing cards based on Broadway musicals at their home in Greenwich, Conn. Monday, May 9, 2022. The sisters, whose trade name is AJ Ink Designs, designed a deck of cards featuring depictions of characters from "Mamma Mia," "Grease," "Bye Bye Birdie," and "Guys & Dolls" that are for sale to raise money for the Off-Beat Players inclusive special needs theater company.
Whitby School design teacher Phil Lohmeyer shows drafts of the Zarrilli sisters' custom-designed playing cards based on Broadway musicals at their home in Greenwich, Conn. Monday, May 9, 2022. The sisters, whose trade name is AJ Ink Designs, designed a deck of cards featuring depictions of characters from "Mamma Mia," "Grease," "Bye Bye Birdie," and "Guys & Dolls" that are for sale to raise money for the Off-Beat Players inclusive special needs theater company.
Angela (right) and Jacklyn (left) holding the 16 face cards that have custom drawings made by the two Zarrilli sisters. These cards are characters from the Broadway musicals, Bye Bye Birdie, Guys and Dolls, Mamma Mia, and Grease.
Angela Zarrilli, GHS Class of 2022, draws Rosie Alvarez from the musical Bye Bye Birdie. The drawing is part of a 52-card series based on Broadway musicals, completed as a fundraising project for Greenwich non-profit organization Off Beat Players.
Jacklyn Zarrilli coloring a card of Albert Peterson, a character in the hit musical/movie Bye Bye Birdie. Colored using an online application called Pixlr.
Angela (left) and Jackie (right) Zarrilli work together to animate a commercial for “Cards for a Cause,” their latest fundraiser for Off-Beat Players. Apps such as Stop Motion Studio and Garageband were used to record, and the final video was posted on AJInk’s YouTube page.
Angela (left) and Jackie (right) Zarrilli work together to animate a commercial for “Cards for a Cause,” their latest fundraiser for Off-Beat Players. Apps such as Stop Motion Studio and Garageband were used to record, and the final video was posted on AJInk’s YouTube page.
GREENWICH — Sisters Angie and Jackie Zarrilli bounced around dreams of starting a business called “AJ Inc.” as they jumped on a trampoline years ago. Now, they are the founders of AJ Ink Designs, a brand that raises money for charitable causes while stretching the teens’ creative talents.
The proceeds of their latest project, “Cards for a Cause,” benefits the Off-Beat Players, a theater company in Greenwich featuring actors with disabilities. Angie, 17, and Jackie, 13, created a custom deck of cards inspired by Broadway musicals to highlight the theatrical cause.
“We felt that it was so amazing that they put on theater productions with kids with special needs,” Angie said. “They give them the opportunity to have lead roles which usually, not all institutions will do that. And we felt that that was really great.”
The sisters have a heart for the Off-Beat Players because their brother has autism. AJ Ink’s first project benefited Abilis, a Greenwich-based nonprofit that provides programs and services for people of all ages with developmental disabilities.
Guided by design teacher Phil Lohmeyer, the sisters created a “Star Wars”-inspired calendar to raise money for Abilis, which was experiencing budget cuts at the time.
Last year, AJ Ink’s “STEMinist” design helped a conference for women in science raise funds. The organizers had canceled the conference, but AJ Ink’s STEMinist merchandise caught the attention of the conference’s largest donor, who increased the donation, Lohmeyer said.
The sisters work on more than just a product when they take on a new initiative. Each week, they chronicle their progress as they tackle each step.
To create the “Cards for a Cause,” Jackie and Angie created pencil drawings of each character and symbol, outlined them in ink and uploaded an image to Photoshop.
When card-manufacturer Bicycle requested an Adobe Illustrator file, they learned the software.
The sisters produced a stop-animation commercial to show off the whimsical face cards in the deck, and they synthesized a tune from “Bye Bye Birdie” for a second video that teaches a few favorite card games.
“I do treat this as like a design firm,” Lohmeyer said. “I’m like a project manager, and these are two professional designers. We assign tasks so we kind of brainstorm together and make it happen.”
He has worked with the Zarrillis for about 10 years as a private art teacher.
“He helps us figure out the tools that we need to get to the point where we want to be,” Angie said. “It’s not a lot of hand-holding. It’s more just, he knows what he’s doing and then teaches us how to know what he knows.”
The cards have been for sale for a week, and 22 decks have sold. Jackie and Angie hope to sell all 100 decks to raise $1,000 for Off-Beat Players, which produces shows each summer.
“I started theater tech years ago, in middle school,” Angie says on their website. “These cards are meant to provide others with the same joy theater has brought me.”
Jackie explains on their website that “our mission is to help several causes with art and design.”
Angie, who is a senior at Greenwich High, plans to study theater design at Carnegie Mellon this fall.
“I had to make a portfolio for college,” she said. “I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t have anything to put in this. I’m going to have to start from scratch.’ And then I talked to Phil, and he’s like, ‘What are you talking about? We’ve been working on stuff.’”
Even with college nearing, Angie doesn’t see AJ Ink as a past project. She looks forward to sharing what she learns with her sister and creating during the summers, she told the Greenwich Time.
“It’s cool to see the culmination of years and years of project completion, like figuring out how to start with an idea that is literally just like a thought, and now we’re here,” Lohmeyer said.
The process of creating certainly keeps these sisters going, as humor works its way into every project, they said. In the deck of cards, a goat’s cameo in “Mamma Mia!” inspired a goat taking the role of the king of hearts.
For more information about AJ Ink Designs or to place an order, visit www.ajinkdesigns.com/.