Museum pieces of art

Museums & Galleries has developed a collection of distinctive, targeted fine art ranges from the iconic Natural History Museum

In many ways, the Natural History Museum’s (NHM) collections seem to be a perfect match for greeting cards. Animals of all kinds are a firm favourite with the public, and this love affair extends to organisms of the far distant past – the dinosaurs – through to modern wild fauna and household companions of today. Many people identify with a ‘totem animal’ and human civilisation has always delighted in the wonders of nature. Today, this keen interest in nature has developed into a public desire to conserve wildlife and the natural environment, and enhance the welfare of animals in general, all making faunaand flora- centred card ranges a hit with consumers.

The Natural History Museum is a world-leading science centre and one of the most visited attractions in the UK. A global source of curiosity, inspiration, and joy, with more than 80 million specimens, it is the custodian of one of the world’s most important scientific collections, spanning 4.5 billion years. Its 350 scientists are also finding solutions to the planetary emergency.

In today’s challenging times, the Natural History Museum aims to create advocates for the planet; to inspire individuals to make a positive difference to our shared global future. Also, as an iconic heritage brand, its licensing department develops innovative products that reflect the Museum’s core values and inspire a love of the natural world.

Museums to the high street

Museums & Galleries Ltd (M&G) was founded in the mid-1980s to bring the treasures of the world’s museums to the high street. Today, the company publishes a large range of high-quality greeting cards, gift packaging, social stationery, journals, gift products, calendars and year planners, and works with many national and local museums.

The archives of the NHM hold a huge array of all kinds of representations of flora and fauna from many cultures over centuries, offering a tremendous choice of imagery to select from. From the branded card range’s inception in 2018, Museums & Galleries’ NHM cards have grown in number and developed in style and approach, with the NHM’s licensing team and M&G’s design teams working together to create a coherent, attractive and modern stylistic approach to diverse source material, with an emphasis on finding a unique, commercially distinctive card range identity.

Iconic animals are paired with decorative vegetative motifs and framed against fresh pastel backgrounds with crisp, enhanced borders. The animals pop, whether it’s a Tyrannosaurus rex, octopus, hedgehog or butterfly. Paired with white envelopes and M&G’s distinctive ecoband packaging with clear NHM brand identification, the range is smart and distinctive on shelf (individual cards SRP £2.85).

M&G’s creative interpretation of NHM imagery is also seen on two quite distinct ages birthday ranges, one more decoratively feminine and the other bold and masculine in feel, although not necessarily exclusively so. Both ranges feature NHM archival imagery arranged around the birthday number (SRP £2.85).

Of course, since the rise of photography in the 20th century, this medium has become a key tool for both academic and public education, and through the artistic and technical skills of the photographer wonderfully enhances emotional impact and realistic immediacy of the subject.

Wildlife photography

Wildlife Photographer of the Year is an international showcase of the very best in nature photography and one of the Natural History Museum’s most successful, long-running exhibitions. Today more than a million visitors visit the touring exhibition across the UK and internationally.

It is the most prestigious wildlife photography contest in the world. The first competition was held back in 1964, with three categories and around 600 entries. The competition has received entries from 100 countries, and in 2020 the competition received more than 50,000 entries.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year celebrates and amplifies the power of photography, to move hearts and minds, sparking change. Contextualised and empowered by Museum science, the winning images tell remarkable stories that spark emotive reactions that benefit the planet. They are also made more personal through the photographers’ stories.

Maxine Lister, head of licensing at the Natural History Museum, says: “We are delighted to have worked alongside the team at Museums & Galleries to develop such a beautiful collection of greeting cards that showcase some of the incredible photography on offer from the archives of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. Not only do the cards highlight the true diversity of nature on our planet, they are also kind to the planet as they come with minimal, paper-based packaging and are fully recyclable.”

Sustainability

M&G is committed to a continuous process of review and change to improve sustainability in all its operations. It was at the forefront of reducing plastic packaging for its cards, developing the ingenious, completely paper-based plastics-free ecoband that neatly ties card and envelope together while at the same time providing the most powerful branding solution.

Ben Dorney, creative director at Museums & Galleries, says: “For us Wildlife Photographer of the Year is a perfect blend of ‘art’ and ‘emotional content’ – which is just what Museums & Galleries customers appreciate. We were honoured to be asked by Maxine at the Natural History Museum to consider working with them on it, and then very quick to confirm our interest once we saw the photographs.

“We were blown away by the quality and originality of the images which are – literally – award-winning. In addition, the competition’s aims ‘to create advocates for the planet’, and its ownership by the Museum, adds a genuine environmental urgency and potency to the licence.

“For such a complex project involving so many photographers, Maxine and Georgie have made it an incredibly smooth process. We’re thrilled to be launching the range and have already received extremely positive responses from retailers on first sight of it.

“We’re excited to add more amazing pictures to the range as we progress!”

Launched in January 2022, M&G’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year range has grown to almost 40 designs, with more in the pipeline. It’s a brilliant celebration of the best of wildlife photography, with a dazzling array of stunningly original action shots – but always remembering the beauty and awesomeness of nature. Among all the iconic lions, whales, elephants, and hippos, the current bestseller overall is a serene, meditative ‘Lady Lake Fir’ by photographer Adam Gibbs (pictured top, second right).

In its wider stationery, gift packaging, gifts and tabletop ranges, M&G licenses coordinating Natural History Museum images, including journals, writing sets, organic cotton tote bags, zipped pouches and pencil cases, jigsaw puzzles, travel tumblers and drinks bottles.