What to know
- The couple’s relationship began with a chance meeting at a Toronto post office and blossomed years later.
- Maria started leaving Andrei Post-it notes, which became a daily ritual and a symbol of their love.
- Their heart-shaped monument of notes inspired the creation of an app for sharing digital love notes.
- The app now connects people around the world, encouraging acts of love both online and offline.
For one couple, the post office delivered more than mail; it delivered love. After a five-year pursuit, hopeless romantic Andrei bought roses; his partner, Maria, returned the love with Post-it notes, each a little love letter. Soon, these notes formed a giant heart monument, which sparked something even bigger: a place online where anyone could leave their own note.
A local Toronto couple, Maria Gruppuso and Andrei Bondarenco, have been dating for five years, and Bondarenco says that every day he falls deeper in love.
“With every single day, the more I got to know her, the more I saw how beautiful her soul was,” Bondarenco told Now Toronto. “Every day, I just fell in love with her more and more.”
But what made him fall head over heels for Gruppuso was her commitment to their shared love language: words of affirmation.
“She would leave me little Post-it notes around the house with sweet messages, words of encouragement, and reminders that she loved me,” Bondarenco said.
“One love note can literally spark a wave of love,” he added.
How Post-its became the ‘Biggest Heart in the World’ monument
Each note didn’t go unnoticed or undervalued. Bondarenco kept every single one of the 400 Post-its and turned them into art. “Because I love her so much and with all the kindness and love towards me, I couldn’t just throw them away. So I would just save them,” Bondarenco explained.
So, on a Tuesday, while Gruppuso was out visiting her family, Bondarenco decided to turn the Post-its into a giant heart.
“On one of the bigger walls in our living room, I’ve compiled them all into a giant heart,” he said, explaining that his girlfriend started crying once she came home and saw the piece.
“It’s kind of an art piece by both of us because obviously she wrote all of the notes, and I’m very grateful to her for that. And I just put it together into this beautiful art piece,” he said.
Spreading the love online
Describing themselves as hopeless romantics, Bondarenco said he and his girlfriend decided to spread love in a time where the world felt very “divided”.
“Our attention is being split in all the directions, and even romance, something so beautiful and sacred, has been kind of like bottled down to just swiping left and right,” Bondarenco said.
To combat this, the pair decided to co-found House of Love, a public platform where others can leave a love note and be inspired by the kindness, romance, and love surrounding them.
Inspired by a small act of leaving love notes on Post-its,the couple grew the project into a nationwide initiative, printing 2,000 vinyl stickers, each designed to look like a Post-it note featuring real messages submitted on House of Love, before sticking them onto their vehicle and embarking on a cross-country road trip from Quebec City to Vancouver before returning to Toronto.
“We want this to be a platform that is inspired and driven by love and kindness,” Bondarenco said. “Not just a place where you go once to leave a little note of love, but perhaps a place where you return to daily or weekly to celebrate love with your friends, your family.”
