Spotlight

from Greetings Today November December 2022

Retail Interview: Black

Something for EveryBODY

In a cheeky range of colourful print and pattern, the EveryBODY range celebrates the gorgeous beauty of female diversity.

This range of illustrated, modern pin-ups, designed by women, for women, is brought to life in a range of paper goods. Curvaceous lines dance together across greeting cards and wrap while touches of metallic gold accent female features, celebrating diversity from rich, dark browns through to the palest peach.

The elegant line drawings highlighted with gold foil sit, dance or simply rest on prints and greeting cards. The paper stock echoes natural beauty with a fibrous feel and exceptional quality.

Inspired by a mix of letterforms and female curves, monochrome shapes have become the EveryBODY logo and leap boldly across wrapping paper with a message that’s subtle, yet strong. There’s room for every woman to see herself, her friends and the strong women in her life at the heart of these designs. Arnelle Woker info@arnellewoker.com www.arnellewoker.com

Tales from the seaside

Suffolk-based card publisher The Chip Fork has introduced some new fishy characters to its Fisherhens range. Meet Slick Fishwhisperer, Captain Longcast, Sharky Crankbait and Salty Drifter. Read more about The Chip Fork, and designer Alaina Foster in our Artist Focus on page 37. The Chip Fork 07741 495897 welcomeaboard@thechipfork.co.uk thechipfork.co.uk

Hot gossip

Cath Tate Cards has added a selection of brilliantly bright and bold male cards to its popular new Hot Foils range. Vibrantly foiled, blank and birthday male cards that pack a punch! Printed on high-quality 100% recycled paper 12cm x 17cm, athey each come with a kraft envelope. Cath Tate Cards 0208 671 2166 orders@cathtatecards.com www.cathtatecards.com

Say it with words

Cherry Orchard Publishing has just launched a new Sympathy Collection. The beautiful empathy card designs have illustrations, artistic florals and photographic artwork with a wide range of titles available. The cards have heartfelt verses and messages of condolence. Cherry Orchard Publishing 01684 295500 info@cherryorchardpublishing.co.uk www.cherryorchardpublishing.co.uk

That’s funny!

The Comedy Card Company began 10 years ago, when Alan Auld started an online shop from a spare bedroom in his house, surrounded by boxes and drawers stuffed full of the funniest cards he could find.

Now the company sells humorous cards from a variety of publishers, both large and small, to customers all over the world.

More recently it has been dabbling in publishing, creating its own card designs to sell alongside its more established suppliers. Alan says: “To our delight and surprise, these have been selling really well on our retail website and our own cards now make up a decent percentage of our sales. This has spurred us on to offer our own designs to retailers. We’ve dipped our toes into the publishing world by exhibiting at a couple of trade fairs and created a trade-only website.’’ The Comedy Card Company comedycardtrade.co.uk

Milestone markers

South coast-based card maker lil wabbit is branching into giftware and has entered the arena with its Hand-Me-Down Baby Milestone Cards, which merge style with sustainability and make the perfect present for expectant parents and newborn babies.

The cards are intended to be passed through four families over as many years and have been developed for longevity. The velvet lamination and thick card stock make them tricky for tiny hands to tear or mark.

The pack contains 20 cards, each with a bold and characterful design and a singular poem card explaining the hand-me-down function, with space on the back for four families to write their babies’ name and date of birth before handing them on. lil wabbit hello@lilwabbit.co.uk | lilwabbit.co.uk.

Go wild

The fabulous new Wonderfully Wild range from Paper Shed Design features super-cute illustrations of wild animals from all over the world. There’s Monkeys, Pandas, Tigers, Parrots, Meercats and more.

Paper Shed Design is also working with EastWest and the wholesaler Joe Davies to produce a charming collection of quality china mugs featuring illustrations from the popular greeting card range Absolutely Barking. Papershed Design 0118 9744283 Ӏ info@papersheddesign.com www.papersheddesign.com www.joedavies.co.uk

Fowl and flowers

North Yorkshire greetings card brand Umbellifer is launching a new range of designs celebrating the beauty and variety of the UK’s wildfowl and wetland birds. The first six colourful designs feature the Grey Heron, the Kingfisher, Domestic White Geese, the Mute Swan, the Great White Egret and the Coot.

Umbellifer is also launching four new cards that celebrate the beauty to be found in the hardy plants that light up our winter gardens. Starting with Snowdrops, Cyclamen coum, Witch Hazel and Hellebores, the range is printed on responsibly sourced and carbon offset board. Umbellifer 07510 874363 stephen@umbellifer.co.uk www.Umbellifer.co.uk

spotlight

Danilo looks ahead to 2023

Danilo’s Dan Grant looks ahead to an exciting new year for the company

What’s 2023 all about for you and your company?

2023 is a great year for Danilo, as it sees our 45th anniversary. We will be commemorating the great success we have seen since our Chairman Laurence Prince created the company with the first official Elvis Presley calendar.

Disney and Warner Bros will also both be marking their centenary anniversary next year. Both entertainment companies will be releasing a whole host of fantastic movies next year, which Danilo will look to create calendar and diary ranges for - from the likes of Disney’s Elemental, The Little Mermaid and The Marvels through to Warner Bros’ The Flash, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, and Wonka.

Other key movies include Barbie, Dungeons & Dragons, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Transformer: Rise of the Beasts, Paw Patrol and Trolls 3; Danilo will be updating our greeting card, gift wrap and calendar ranges accordingly. Any major ranges planned?

We also have some fantastic new ranges coming to our greeting card and calendar portfolio in 2023 such as:

Bridgerton – Targeted towards females aged 25-plus, this costume drama series first broadcast on Netflix in December 2020 and has become a worldwide hit. Season 1 saw over 625 million viewing hours in the first month and Season 2 ranked number one on Netflix in 92 countries. As well as impressive viewing figures, an increasing popularity of Regency style on TikTok (#regencycore – 21m million views) has meant a season 3 and 4 have been commissioned, as well as a live event partnership with Secret Cinema. The new range will focus on key characters with a Regency-style design.

Peanuts – Aimed at teens and adults, this classic American daily comic strip was published from 1950 up until 2000. The main characters - Snoopy and Charlie Brown - have been ranked number one and two out of all cartoon characters and have a high 96% consumer awareness with 17+ million fans. Apple tv+ is the new home of Peanuts animated content and Danilo will use the iconic imagery across its range for this top millennial entertainment property

Squishmallows – With more than 1,400 characters to collect and more than 100 million plush toys sold to date, the versatile Squishmallows have grown into an international phenomenon and offer comfort, support and warmth as friends, couch companions, bedtime buddies and travel teammates. Squishmallows have many celebrity fans such as Lady Gaga, Kim and Khloe Kardashian and Charli D’Amelio. Tying in with the gaming trend, Squishmallows on Roblox is the latest success for the popular lifestyle brand, with unprecedented global demand. The new Danilo range will tie in to the sweet look and feel of this brand.

The World of Dinosaur Roar – Aimed at kids aged two to seven, Macmillan children’s books has published 10 World of Dinosaur Roar! Storybooks and sold over 1 million copies. Selected as a World Book Day title this year, a recent survey found that nine out of 10 parents would buy a World of Dinosaur Roar! Book (one pulse 2022). New designs will focus on the key dinosaurs outlined in the book, with captions to match.

Fall Guys - Fall guys is one of the most successful free-to-play PC/console launches of all time. It is the number one game title searched on Twitch and has over 83 million players across PC and consoles. The new season 2 game came out on September 13 this year and there are 30 more in-game collaborations planned across games, movies, music, TV film, personalities and fashion by the end of 2022. The new range will follow the vibrant neon colour palette and feature key Fall Guys characters.