Regional Accents

Keeping it local

Amplifying the UK-wide Shop Local movement, greeting cards are playing their part in reminding people where they are, where they’re from and rejoicing in their community.

PG tracks the rise in popularity and broader availability of localised greeting cards and how this has put retailers and publishers on the map.

With more folk choosing to work from home even as the world opens up again, the “local shops for local people” mantra - courtesy of TV’s Royston Vasey and The League of Gentlemen - has really taken off across the UK.

While the black comedy of the TV series harked back to the 1950s, it’s actually a saying very much of the moment, as many organisations are supporting the Shop Local push, from the Government and Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), through British Independent Retailers’ Association (BIRA), to Small Business Saturday and the Just A Card Campaign.

Indie greeting and gift stores have been at the forefront of the Shop Local movement, finding different ways to operate, not only in a bid to keep their businesses afloat but also as a show of support to their respective communities.

And it’s cards that are now shouting loudly to remind people of their sense of place, with the rise in popularity and availability of local cards from many different publishers growing by the day.

As indie retailer Sean Austin, owner of Austin & Co, Malvern, said of about working with local artist Hannah Lawson: “I originally met Hannah while she had a stall on the local arts market displaying her prints of the Malvern hills, I started selling the prints and a couple of months before Christmas I asked if she was interested in going down the cards route - lots of artists worry because people will buy the cards instead of their prints so she did three cards of Malvern that she hadn’t done as prints and they sold out. She’s just done six images of Malvern as cards with ColCards who are based here too.”

Austin & Co also does well with designs from renowned photograoher Jan Sedlacek. “Customers really love his images of Malvern. He did a range of cards for us for Christmas last year and they went really well,” says Sean.

Meanwhile in Ampthill in Bedfordshire, Jo Barber, owner of Number 14 card and gift store, stocks bespoke localised designs from Dandelion Stationery and Brainbox Candy. “Both sell well as customers like cards

relating to ‘New Home in Ampthill’, or ‘the most beautiful baby in Bedfordshire’, it shows they’ve gone out of their way to source the perfect card,” believes Jo.

Up in Scotland, Gullane’s BlackHouse store has taken the local theme to new heights with owner Lynne McCallum Barr using DTP Southfield to design and produce specific items as well as buying from local artists.

Lynne says: “Southfield provides excellent service for all my business needs, from personalised cards, jute bags, cotton tea towels and ceramic mugs. The company’s customer service is fantastic, whether it’s over the phone or by email they are always super helpful, and turnaround times are excellent.”

Left: Going local down in Royston Vasey – the local shop for local people TV mantra has really taken off. Below: Humour and locality go down very well for Jo Barber at Number 14, Ampthill as sales of designs from Dandelion (left) and Brainbox (right) prove. Bottom: The publishing collaboration with local artist Hannah Lawson has worked well for Sean Austin of Austin & Co, Malvern.

Lynne also says she is “genuinely thrilled” to have a brilliant new supplier - Fiddy & Mabel, a beautiful and unique collection of wild swimming and paddle boarding inspired designs. “This wonderful range has been created by the very lovely Hattie who is also a local East Lothian lass.

Ilona Drew of I Drew This specialises in colourful architectural designs (including many bespoke commissions) and is currently working with Margie Hume, who owns Arrowsmiths in Broadstairs. Margie says: “I met Ilona and really loved her and decided to work with her. Dandelion Stationery’s Best Mum In Broadstairs, Best Dad In Broadstairs, New House In Broadstairs cards have sold very well.” With four stores in London Sandra O’Connell, who co-owns Mooch with Evelyn O’Flaherty, currently stocks bespoke cards and gifts from Jessica Hogarth Illustration in their Ealing outlet: “We asked Jessica to do a special pack at Christmas from which we give £1 to our local hospice for each pack we sell.

We also stock a Greetings From Ealing card featuring the local landmarks. Ealing is fabulous as it has so many fantastic buildings. We come up with the ideas and Jessica then creates the designs. I make personalised cushions so we know anything to do with the local area will sell as long as it’s done well. We have a new shop in Fulham and Jessica is going to do some designs for there too.”

At Red Card in Petworth, owner Sally Matson is all for the personalised touch, stocking bespoke cards and gifts from Weekend 365, I Drew This, Bluebell 33, Julie Gash, Louise Mulgrew and Chichester Graphic Arts in a designated area in the shop.

“Petworth is a hugely popular tourist destination,” Sally says, “we’re in the South Downs National Park and also have the wonderful National Trust Petworth House & Gardens in the centre of town. It’s important to me to be able to offer quality, stylish local souvenirs and cards. They are part of our ranges and not just the souvenirs in the corner.

I’ve stocked bespoke souvenirs for a number of years, my favourites being the postcards designed by Ilona Drew and Louise Mulgrew. When we first launched Louise’s postcard range we put large-size prints in the window and they attracted a huge amount of interest as the locals recognised the scenes. I find the tea towels and coasters that match our cards also sell well as a gift pick-up to take home, and many of our local B&Bs also use these items in their properties.”

And you can really take the local connection to extremes as The Indigo Tree’s owners Adam and Harriet De Wolff discovered when Jonathan Crosby of Stripey Cats was inspired by their shop dog Doris, who is often in their Streatham and Crystal Palace stores where the Delightful Doris design is promoted on the counter with great success. For many indies, offering locallyflavoured designs is definitely barking up the right tree!

Left: BlackHouse is another retailer findings success with localised products. Right: A Broadstairs’ design by I Drew This, who has been working with Arrowsmiths’ Margie Hume. Below left: Some Jessica Hogarth’s bespoke products in Mooch’s Ealing store. Below right: The Indigo Tree’s delightful Doris in reality and on a Stripey Cats’ greeting card. Bottom: Tourists and locals buy the localised products on offer at Red Card.

Sheffield united

Having taken over as owners of Gifted, Eccles four months ago Sham and Shehla Haseen-Khan, have already upped the local flavour of its offer. “We’re two semi-retired teachers having a pre-pension shop adventure,” relayed Sham and Shehla. “We have about 20 artists coming in many of whom offer different views of Sheffield and places which would only be known to people from here. The shop is actually ‘more Sheffield’ now than it was before.” “We just want to do some good, either it’s people buying ethically and sustainably or helping Sheffield artists.”

Publisher’s

sense of place

PG checked in with some of the publishers and suppliers who have tapped into the localised appetite with designs that feature town names or regions or feature landmarks.

Dandelion Stationery

Jo Wilson, founder: “At Dandelion we have always had our own in-house digital print facility which allows us to offer short print runs for specific/niche cards. This puts us in an ideal position to offer personalised cards for our trade customers. We now offer over 16 designs which can be personalised, and these cover many occasions such as general birthday, new home, new baby, teacher, relations and various Christmas designs. Spring Seasons - Mother’s Day and Father’s Day have been particularly popular for us).

We picked up a lovely new customer at Spring Fair who was so thrilled with the personalised cards that they ordered 100 of one design!”

Above: One look from Dandelion’s personalised collection.

DTP Southfield

Alun Joseph, managing

director: “Bespoke, local designs are at the core of our range. Designs based around towns or locations work for locals, tourists and friends and family who have maybe moved away - there is always a market, but it needs to be the right design.

Working with both retailers and creatives, we develop bespoke ranges with customers producing bespoke greeting cards as well as other gifts and stationery products.

We put a lot of effort into working closely with our valued customers to get the range of products and the bespoke designs just right.”

Jo O’Meara, customer account manager: “We have shops in some areas who sell a lot of our Terribly Posh range, where in some areas the customer base is quite different and another range sells better. It’s very interesting to build a picture with our customers and help them get the right products for their shop.”

Above: Different artwork approaches from DTP Southfield, including Sketch Your Town, whereby the company will produce hand-drawn artwork from any photograph of a town, local landmark, building or view in either a line art or vintage style.

Buddy Fernandez

Lee Rowlett, creative sheriff and co-owner: “Following our Buddy Tour around these fair isles in January, we started coming up with some regional cards that would sell for customers in various areas - so now we have some local designs in the Regional Honesty range.”

The Eco-friendly Card Co

Sue Morrish, co-owner: “Tourist attractions are thriving in the south-west and retailers are looking for more products that are local to them. When we first saw Becky Bettesworth’s nostalgic posters we knew they would make fantastic cards, and we now have designs from locations across the South West and also offer mininotecard stationery too - which are especially popular with visitors.”

Living in Torquay by the beach with her three children, husband Matt and golden retriever Squiggle, Becky’s artwork takes inspiration from the classic travel and railway posters of the 1930s.

Above: Glorious West Country locations feature in Becky Bettesworth’s nostalgic artwork from The Eco-friendly Card Co.

Jessica Hogarth Illustration

Jessica Hogarth, owner and artist: “My coastal upbringing inspired me to start my business so my very first designs had a local flavour, although not as much as they do now!

I created my Whitby map design during a quiet couple of weeks in 2017. It now sells on various products including cards, prints, tea towels, mugs and coasters in a couple of local retailers as well as our own bricks and mortar shop in Robin Hood’s Bay. This design helped to get the ball rolling for me to create designs for other independent retailers in the UK. Every location has its own quirks!”

Emma Ball

Emma Ball, founder, artist and

owner: “We have a full range of regional cards and imagery that we can bespoke for our customers. And if we have a painting then the customer can have that image as a card, tea towel, postcard, magnet etc. We can also create a truly bespoke range for a customer too.”

All Emma’s products are designed with a smile over her two Nottingham studios, one at home where her cats help out, and the other in the offices/warehouse.

As well as introducing other artists to the Emma Ball brand, including Shelly Perkins, Eric Heyman, Caroline Cleave, Abigail Mill and Susie Lacome, Emma herself loves to paint and, 20+ years on, still runs the business herself with the help of nine other staff - including her mum and dad, June and Mick, ensuring the whole company is very local too!

Above: Many of Emma’s paintings are of British scenes so work well on bespoke items.

Holy Mackerel

Katie Meeke, co-owner: “One of our first ventures into local cards was the Beer Breakfast created for the Steam Gallery in Beer, the Devon village where I live and work.

From there we worked with artist Erica Sturla to create a whole host of cards featuring regions and counties of the UK, from birthday cards from ‘the best Dad In Cornwall’, to anniversary cards ‘for a couple of Worcestershire hardy perennials’ and have received lots of requests to go more local again, so we’ve made cards for towns stretching from St Mawes to Milngavie.

We have other ranges with a local flavour too - Andy Poplar’s brilliant Vinegar & Brown Paper range uses a little visual punning to bring Sheffield Steel, Yorkshire Grit and A Sprig of Cardiff Bay.

Then, a couple of years ago we decided to combine my sister and Holy Mackerel co-owner Sarah Hopkins’ stitching talents with a new bespoke offering where we’ve been recreating landmarks and heritage sites in fabric and embroidery to build ranges of bespoke products for our customers.”

Top: Two localised cards featuring Erica Sturla designs from Holy Mackerel. Above: Holy Mackerel’s Sarah Hopkins has painstakingly stitched the turrets and towers of Highclere Castle as well as a cheeky stitched reimagining Dorset’s Cerne Abbas Giant.

I Drew This

Ilona Drew, founder: “The first local Landmark I illustrated was Brighton Pavilion when I took part in my first Open House event here in Brighton. That design changed my life and I quickly illustrated more which continue to be best sellers with tourists and locals every year - the range now comprises 300+ designs and is still growing. I love the relationships that I have with my stockists, including Jessica Hogarth’s gorgeous shop with my Robin Hood’s Bay design, Sally at Red Card with Petworth House, Justine at Hyde & Seek in Exeter and Margie at Arrowsmiths in Broadstairs, alongside my local stockists in my home town of Brighton.”

Pink Pig

Mabel Forsyth, owner and designer: “I used to get an Invergordon Christmas card every year from my in-laws and I spent a long time trying to get a decent Edinburgh card to send back to them, so it was fun to be able to design and publish more fun, contemporary designs myself once Pink Pig was established - and they were a hit!

Our best-selling Christmas town card is our good old Robin design, the festive cards are the most popular. It was only when a stockist asked for personalised birthday cards as well that we went ahead with a range of localised and dialect cards to test - so many good ideas come from Pink Pig’s stockists as shops know what their customers like, and local obviously sells.

Local birthday cards with Best Mum or Dad in Town are always popular, as are best gin drinker in wherever.

Our ‘A wee cuddle from town name’ was very popular during lockdown months when it was difficult or impossible to meet friends and family. There are often places we’ve not heard of, so look up, and immediately want to visit - Minnigaff in Kircudbrightshire springs to mind!”

Above: Pink Pig’s Mabel Forysth and the Edinburgh card that started her personalised range, which now covers Christmas and everyday.

Sarah Patel

Sarah Patel, owner and

artist: “I paint my designs in watercolours taking inspiration from my surroundings, the seasons and family life.

In my local range I depict, in a series of images, the charm and characteristics of a place that make our surroundings so beautiful and rich - my Bedford card was so popular it completely sold out within a few hours at the first market I took it to!”

Abovet: Sarah in her studio where she works on her detailed illustrations such as her Bedford design. Right: Some of Sarah’s delightful designs.