Behind the Scenes

The BBC’s FestiveGreetings The BBC delivered a wonderful Christmas gift to the whole greeting card industry, dedicating a major chunk of its popular Inside the Factory Christmas Special episode to showing just how much thought and care goes into the making of a Christmas card. The TV programme (which is available on IPlayer for a year), that was shot at Woodmansterne Left: BBC’s Inside the Factory Publications’ Watford HQ as well as the publisher’s Milton Keynes presenters Gregg Wallace and Cherry Healey in thewarehouse, tracks the impressive journey its Red Stag Christmas card Woodmansterne Publications’ design from creation to being packed and shipped to retailers and showroom. distributors all over the world with viewers treated to engaging and Above: The Red Stag Woodmansterne Christmas card, insightful dialogue between presenter Gregg Wallace and various based on a design which started members of the Woodmansterne team along the way. with a pencil drawing by Amy Eastland that was the star of the

PG snuggled up on the sofa and pressed the ‘replay’ button to relive Inside the Factory Christmas the whole televisual celebration of our industry. special.

Right: Having been challenged to a drawing competition by Amy, Gregg admitted: “I have never ever considered how my Christmas cards were made. I have never considered there would be an Amy here drawing them!” Far right: Filming underway, focusing Amy sending The Red Stag design files to production.

“Spread it like jam across a piece of toast,” said Gregg as his added the ink to the printer rollers.

Left: (left) Seth Woodmansterne, md of Woodmansterne taking delivery of the Fedrigoni board on which The Red Stag is printed. Right: Having gone through creating the four etched ‘plates’ Gregg moved into Woodmansterne’s printing press area delighting in spreading the four different ink colours onto the rollers under the direction of press operator Rod Clark. Gregg described the “the Rolls Royce of printing presses” as a ‘monster of a machine, more than eight metres long” weighing nearly as much as two double decker buses, and able to print more than 10 cards a second.

Above: Having gone through the test batch process, which resulted in some slight colour adjustment, Gregg is delighted by the magic which results in the card coming out of the other end of the printing press. The printed sheets of cards are left to dry for 24 hours.

“I’m really impressed that you go to so much trouble to get it absolutely right. I’m really impressed,” exclaimed Gregg Wallace to press operator Rod Clark.

Left: Time to for Woody’s Bob Surguy ‘the man with the golden touch’ to add the glitz and glamour to the design via some heated embossed plates with the raised parts being enhanced by some gold foil. Right and top right: Keen for another “slice of the action”, Gregg meets Dave De Cruz, who is in charge of the super sharp guillotine machine, which cuts through 250 sheets “like butter” explains Dave. Having depressed the cutters, Gregg checks he still has all of his fingers intact!

“That looks big and meaty and scary, and I would love a go!” says Gregg enthusiastically when presented with the opportunity to operate the guillotine machine.

“The incredible precision that goes into every part of making of these cards…with specialist skills and a little bit of festive fun, this factory turns a sheet of paper into a Christmas card that will bring a little bit of joy to millions of us,” summed up Gregg Wallace at the end of the programme.

Right and far right: Moving to the publisher’s distribution centre in Milton Keynes, trying his hand, Gregg discovers that while Mihaela Micu, hand packer and re-work operative makes it look easy, adding the envelope to the card, folding it and applying gems to the cards by hand is not as easy as it looks.

Above: The publisher’s commitment to sustainability featured strongly in the programme relaying how 55 tonnes of plastic is being saved a year through its switch to paper banding and smart sealing alone. Gregg tries his hand at paper banding! Left: Ending in the picking and despatch area, for all his festive attire, Adam Osborne, Woodmansterne’s operations director explains how running a large publishing company efficiently and sustainably is a serious business. Gregg relays how Woody’s “giant greeting card grotto” holds a “gobsmacking” nine million cards, which double in number in the run up to Christmas.

“Buying a card is a nice thing; it’s a nice shopping experience. Because virtually every time, you are buying something for someone you like,” says Gregg.