Progressive greetings july 2016

PG Front Covers itty bitty June '16 FINAL.pdf

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Leader

On The Cards Harold Wilson’s famous 1965 quote: “A week’s a long time in politics” is certainly true. In fact, at the moment, a day is a long time in politics, such is the pace of unexpected happenings as PG went to press.

Like everyone, we will all have our own ‘where were you when?’ memories when the flabbergasting decision was announced that the UK is to leave the EU. Perhaps fittingly for such a crazy decision I was out in Las Vegas at Licensing Expo, a mega trade show for the IP industry.

On the flight out there, the Saturday previous to the EU referendum, I read an article in the Times Saturday supplement based on an interview with David Cameron, who was confident about the outcome, but gave light-hearted assurances that even those MPs who had opposing views “would not be struck off the Christmas card list.”

On my return, the day of the announcement that he had resigned as Prime Minister in the face of the Brexit vote, the newspapers and newsfeeds were making references to the ‘sorry you’re leaving’ cards that would be sent to the soon to be ex-PM. It is cold comfort amid these confusing and uncertain times that greeting card mentions were

Above: The calm before the storm at the Licensing Expo Opening Night party in Las Vegas. (Right-left) Peter Reichwald (GBCC), Jakki Brown (PG), Penny Griffin (GBCC), Tim Rudd-Clarke (Gemma) and Rick Ruffner (Avanti).

Left: The official 'christening' of Windles new state of the art facilities saw Laura Darrington (right) introduce her baby daughter Heidi Belle to PG's Jakki Brown (see page 25).

Below left: John Lewis' buyer Lisa Rutherford (left) told PG's Jakki Brown a lot of good news about the department store's greeting card activities (see pages 37 and 39).

so pervasive, but we need constants in our life and relationships with those we care about; certainly they come into their own at times like these.

Which brings me to Father’s Day, and the last of this year’s Spring Season events. There does not seem to have been a conclusion in the pattern of how it went. Some retailers did astoundingly well - Scribbler had a 90% sell through (and had a more extensive display than usual) for example, while others struggled with a lacklustre pick up.

I did love the mental picture of Lauren Keen at Sentiments in Burnham on Sea (see News pages 9) who had to raid the shop’s window display in order to satisfy customer demand for Father’s Day cards and gifts - now that is the type of unexpected ‘vote’ from the public that I like hearing about!

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Max Publishing Ltd, United House, North Road, London N7 9DP Tel: 020 7700 6740 Fax: 020 7607 6411 www.progressivegreetings.co.uk PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 3

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Contents

What’s Inside 37

With This Issue: FOCUS ON ART CARDS

61

greeting cards, wrappings, stationery, partyware and seasonal events, Lisa Rutherford.

9-23

News 25

41-45

News Extra

Retailer Top Picks

Stocks And Shares

Summer Lovin’

Greeting card printer Windles officially opens its new state of the art premises.

Retail visitors to PG Live share some of the product ‘rays of sunshine’ they discovered at the show.

26-27 Over The Counter

47-55

Choosing Opportunity Independent card and gift retailer, David Robertson, co-owner of JP Pozzi in Scotland, highlights seizing those opportunities.

Innovations Some new product launches at Harrogate Home & Gift.

57-59 Jeremy’s Journal

28-29

Network Thinking

Cardsharp

Blue Eyed-Sun’s Jeremy Corner discusses the shift from institutional thinking to network thinking online.

Gender Agenda Cardsharp muses over topical events happening in the industry.

61-63 Gardeners’ Question Time

In Full Bloom A bountiful bunch of licensees who are digging deep into the RHS’ abundant art archives.

65-69 Spring Seasons Trends 2017

A Spring Garden Design trends ‘cultivating’ on next year’s Spring Seasons cards.

71-73

Art Source 75 Debbie Wigglesworth’s Paper Journeys

Something’s Brewing Debbie shares her latest paper art discoveries.

76-77 31-35

What’s Hot?

Viewpoints

The Brexit Divorce Card

79-81

Views on how the UK’s exit from the EU may affect our industry.

Lynn’s Lines

37-39 In Conversation With… John Lewis

Multiple Choice Decisions PG caught up with JLP’s buyer for

Card Heaven Right: A Valentine's penguins design from Roisin Cafferty's Watercoloured Shapes range.

82-95

Classified

Progressive Greetings is a monthly business magazine.

SUBSCRIPTIONS: UK subscription: One year £50 Two year £85 Three year £110 Overseas subscription: One year £75 Jakki Brown

Warren Lomax

Gale Astley

Editor

Advertisement Director

Deputy Editor

jw@max-publishing.co.uk

warren@max-publishing.co.uk

galea@max-publishing.co.uk

SUBSCRIPTIONS ENQUIRES: maxsubscriptions@marketingreinforcements.co.uk Tel: 020 8943 9541

PG is the official magazine for the Greeting Card Association GCA: Sharon Little 020 7619 0396 Email: gca@max-publishing.co.uk www.greetingcardassociation.org.uk Use your smartphone app to scan the QR code to visit our website.

Copyright© 2016. While every effort has been made to ensure the information in this magazine was correct at the time of publication, the publishers cannot accept legal liability for any errors or omissions, nor can they accept responsibility for the standing of advertisers nor any organisation mentioned in the text. Views of contributors do not necessarily reflect those of the publishers.

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 5

VALENTINE’S DAY

MOTHER’S DAY

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Summer Hamper!

LUXURY HAMPER GIVEAWAY

IC&G are giving away 100 bespoke Summer Hampers.

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The Hamper is packed full of goodies and is exclusive to IC&G Customers For the Full T&C’S please visit our website

W: www.icgcards.com

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NEWS No Socks We’re British

TOP STORY

Pitter Pater Dissent In The Dad’s Army Falling as the European Championship 2016 was underway, and with testosterone levels soaring, there were high expectations for Father’s Day (just like those for the England team before being kicked out of the football competition by Iceland).

And while this last Spring Season event was not a top goal scorer for every retailer, many indies fared a lot better than England’s national team.

“It was very good!” summed up Nick Gornall, owner of Romantica, who owns three shops in Bristol. “We always theme our shop windows for events and our Father’s Day windows helped highlight the occasion. In the last couple of years the event has really picked up,” he added, underlining Paperlink’s Father’s Day cards as top scorers.

For Jane Rodgers, partner/buyer of Gorgeous Gifts & Cards in Birkenshaw, despite being “quite a girlie shop, it was one of our best ones yet!”, citing Yorkie Ware mugs by Moorland Pottery with the words ‘T’ Best Dad In’t World’ or ‘T’ Best Granddad In’t World’ as clinching extra gift sales.

Meanwhile, Sentiments, Burnham-OnSea, was taken by surprise by the demand for dads. As its manager Lauren Keen

Below: Moonpig really went to town to promote Father’s Day, including posters on the tube.

Below centre: Scribbler reported a 90% sell through of Father’s Day cards.

revealed, “Father’s Day was so successful for us this year we had to take the window display down early because we needed the stock!

Specialist captioned cards such as Granddad, Godfather and From the Cat and/or Dog were highly sought after, with card designs from Noel Tatt, Abacus and IC&G “all doing very well for us this year,” says Lauren.

Another retailer who fared well on the caption front was Sarah Bowman, owner of Nice Thoughts, Coleshill, Birmingham.

“Father’s Day was good for us, remaining on a par with last year’s level. Carte Blanche always offers some really good alternative card captions for dads, such as ‘From The Bump’ or ‘First Father’s Day’.”

The shop attracted a lot of attention for its window display, which featured Star Wars and Only Fools and Horses card designs (from Danilo Is It Art). “And we literally only had one card left from Jonny Javelin’s Velvet range for this last Spring Seasons event; the range sells so well for all occasions.”

Game Of Two Halves Father’s Day however was a game of two halves, as other independent card retailers reported lack-lustre sales.

Amy Singer, owner of Cloudy Blue, Aberdeen, admitted “Father’s Day was probably not as good as previous years for us.” She puts her drop down to the knock-on effects of redundancies for those working in the oil industry in the area.” However, among its strong sellers “for young funky dads, U Studio’s (previously Urban Graphic) designs were a favourite, as were The Art File’s designs with their simple play on words.“ Down in the South West, Lolly Blackman, owner of Lorelei, Truro, admits that “Father’s Day was not terribly good” for her, but suggests this “could have been down to a shortage of the right product. I have a wide age range of customers, and some of them are older with older dads so I stocked a lot of traditional Father’s Day card designs, but unfortunately they didn't go as well as expected.

However, Woodmansterne’s cards sold out straight away, especially its Quentin Blake range as (young and older) everyone knows him. Stop The Clock’s offering went very well, as did Wendy Jones-Blackett’s little Quicksilver cards and Belly Button’s smaller size Platinum designs.”

The Sun Shines On Dad’s Day The Sun newspaper got behind the greeting card industry by fanfaring actual Father’s Day cards on the front page of an 8-page Father’s Day special on Friday 16 June’s edition. The Mrs Crunch special, which reached an estimated 5.1 million people, served to highlight the diversity of card designs on offer and featured Father’s Day cards available from Asda, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Poundland and Morrisons.

Hallmark launched its Sock Amnesty in time for Father’s Day this year. Hallmark asked people to join its Sock Amnesty by sending in any unwanted sock gifts to raise money for Prostate Cancer UK. Steve Wright, ceo of Hallmark UK, said: “We know that dads are often the unsung heroes in the family, chauffeuring, changing fuses, and generally keeping things ticking over, so we wanted to highlight their importance in our lives and give them the proper recognition that they deserve.

Our insight tells us that parents much prefer to receive a hand-written card over a gift from their kids, therefore, we definitely think dads deserve more than a pair of socks - this is a fun way of reminding people to send their dads a card on Father’s Day and raising money for a great cause”.

Using all of the socks collected as part of the campaign, the creative team at Hallmark is planning to commission a piece of art which will be auctioned to raise even more money for the charity.

Below: Esther Key, consumer marketing manager for Hallmark, and some of the socks collected for charity.

Dads Are Card Happy Dads want a little less for Father’s Day the more kids they have – yet mums want considerably more. A survey of UK consumers, carried out by the leading Gamified eCommerce site, MadBid.com, shows that 31% of men with one child would be happy with just a card or nothing at all, rising to 36% when they have three kids or more.

For mums, though, the opposite is true. The survey claims that 31% of mums with one child would be content with only a card or nothing at all for Mother’s Day – but this plummets to just 21% when they have three kids or more. They’d far prefer be pampered with a day off (14%, rising from 5% for mums with one child), given some cash to buy clothes (14%, rising from 5% for mums with one child), or be bought something special to wear (9%, rising from 3% for mums with one child). And despite the fact that just 12% of mums wanted flowers, 31% were given them for Mother’s Day last year.

Above: Dads are quite happy with just a card for Father’s Day.

Left: Father’s Day cards featured in The Sun on Friday 16 June.

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 9

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NEWS TOP STORY

Leaving Cards For PM GCA President Seeks Positive Side To Brexit “One of the few positive outcomes I can see for the industry as a result of the Brexit decision is that there will be a mini boom in ‘Sorry you’re leaving’ cards being sent to Prime Minister David Cameron!” quipped Ged Mace, md of The Art File and president of the GCA. Changing the tone, he added: “In all seriousness, this is a very uncertain time for all of us in the industry, whether we are a publisher, retailer or supplier. After all the scaremongering, what the UK needs is a solid plan.”

While the general consensus is the UK’s decision to leave the EU is not ideal for those in the card trade, Ged makes the positive point: “We are a lot better placed than many industries. Greeting cards really come into their own in times of need.”

He also suggests that the weakness of the £pound and the UK card trade’s world leading position should bode well for exports.

“I was very relieved to hear the views of Laurent Reiz of Zazous Editions, our French distributor, who assured me “whatever has happened, we will continue to find ways of working together,” said Ged. l For more comments on the possible ramifications on the UK’s exit of the EU see Viewpoints on pages 31-35.

Above: Ged Mace.

Left: A week is a long time in politics - a Have I Got News For You design from CardMix.

Floury Language From Mary Berry On Writing Cards Mary Berry (right) picked handwriting cards and letters and making handmade gifts as topics to talk about when she was guest editor of Woman’s Hour on BBC Radio 4 on Monday 13 June. She told listeners: “My mother always wrote letters, for weddings and any occasion really. I feel a text or email isn’t the same.”

Mary joined a line-up that also included Angelina Jolie Pitt for the week-long Woman’s Hour Takeover. Each day the guest editors chose the topics and added their insights - the results were moving, funny and sometimes surprising.

Mary Berry and radio presenter Jane Garvey also talked about writing sympathy cards, with Mary telling listeners: “When I write to a friend I like to write about memories, perhaps a funny occasion or how they taught me something. People want to hear happy memories. If you put that in a text or email it’s gone. Something written is such a personal thing and it’s very well received.”

Mary’s other topics included the virtues of gardening, Girl Guides and bee keeping.

Cock-a-hoop For Calladoodles’ Website Surrey-based retailer, Calladoodles, has launched its new-look website, blog and newsletter. The store, which won the award for Best Non-Specialist Independent Retailer of Greeting Cards – South at The Retas last year, will feature product reviews, interviews, photos, videos and promotions on the new website.

“We’re beyond excited about our new website, blog and newsletter,” says executive manager Clare Callanan. “We already have a loyal following via Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, and the new site means customers won’t miss out on a thing. It will only reinforce our continued mission to promote the need to ‘shop local’ and, with the added bonus of a community blog, will give something back to our loyal client base who love to keep up with the latest shop news and current market trends. Hopefully, they will feel inspired to spread our ‘shop the high street’ message, too!”

Above: The new website from Calladoodles features product reviews, a blog and newsletter.

Mantons Shows An Art For Fundraising

A Mixed Bag For WHSmith

An art competition run by independent retailer Mantons Cards of Port Erin on the Isle of Man has not only raised £1,105 for local charity, Crossroads Care, but also provided an innovative range of gifts that have attracted attention in store and raised artists’ profiles.

The challenge was to design a range of gifts made from recycled materials, to be sold at Mantons, with all proceeds from sales going to Crossroads Care. The winner was Katrina Bell.

"As well as raising funds for such a fantastic local charity, the idea of the competition was to help raise the profile of local artists," commented Chris Beards, co-owner of Mantons. "Judging from the quality of entries, the Isle of Man is clearly full of creative talent and we are proud to showcase an artist like Katrina in one of our windows. We have helped Crossroads with its funding in the past and hope to continue to support this fantastic local charity in the future.”

In the latest results from WHSmith, group sales were up 2%, with like-for-like sales flat for the 14 week period to 4 June. Total sales for the high street business were down 4% and like-for-like sales down 3%, in line with expectations.

However, the retailer’s travel division which includes stores at airports and train stations – continues to flourish, with total sales up 9% and like-for-like sales up 3%.

This sales performance reflects the ongoing investment in the UK business and the improvement in passenger numbers, with new stores opening in the UK and internationally.

Above: Katrina Bell and her winning recycled gift range with Chris Beards of Mantons Cards.

Above: WHSmith’s stores at airports and train stations are doing well with total sales up 9%.

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NEWS Cooking Up A Big Drew

TOP STORY Below: One of Hallmark’s factory outlet stores soon to be taken over by Cardzone.

Smart Taylor-ing Cardzone To Take Over Hallmark’s Factory Outlets As revealed by PG Buzz last month, Cardzone, the multiple card group owned by Paul Taylor, is to take ownership of the bulk of Hallmark UK’s factory outlet stores.

Hallmark currently trades from 16 factory outlets in the UK, which retail its excess stock at reduced prices.

This new deal works well for both parties as it gives Cardzone a strong foothold in high volume factory outlet centres while enabling Hallmark to concentrate on its role as a publisher.

“This is a wonderful fit,” Paul Taylor, md of Cardzone, told PG. “However, it is not a straightforward acquisition as it requires the landlords’ consent, but everything should be finalised in the next few months.”

Commenting from Hallmark’s perspective and reinforcing its publishing roots, its ceo Steve Wright said: “We’ve made lots of changes over the past 12 months, all focused to helping us evolve our business model and focus on what we do best - creating great product.”

Under the agreement, the outlets will continue to trade under the Hallmark

brand and sell the publisher’s excess stock. “In addition to Hallmark products, we will also be selling other companies’ products to fill in the voids,” revealed Paul.

Paul says the attraction of factory outlets is the high footfall they entice.

“One of the biggest challenges of the high street currently is the drop in footfall.

What is great about factory outlet centres is that not only do they get high volumes of people, but the consumers are going there to shop,” he summed up. “While we already have one factory outlet, located in Bridgend, that we inherited when we acquired the Card Centre business, outlet centre landlords prefer to deal with consumer brands, which is why Hallmark has been able to secure so many sites.”

Simon Drew, the distinctive artist behind the greeting cards, homewares and art brand, has been ‘cooking up a storm’ by adding some extra theatre to leading cookshop chain, Steamer Trading stores.

Shortly after PG went to press, the Devon-based artist was due to add some extra ‘theatre’ to the opening celebrations of Steamer’s new Truro store by sketching and signing merchandise for customers.

The fast growing Steamer Trading group, which now comprises 38 stores, now stocks greeting cards in all of its stores.

Commenting on their role in its impressive product portfolio, which includes all the leading kitchenware brands, Rob Falconer, Steamer Trading buyer, said: “Having the right choice of greeting cards available in our stores is essential for us. Gifting is a growing area of our business, and increasingly time-pressed customers are looking to reduce the time spent shopping around.”

Simon Drew was also part of Steamer’s Wells store opening in May, and he will be attending its Dorchester store’s birthday celebration at the end of July too.

“We are delighted to have him on board and he proves a real draw to customers, and having him sketching brings a little theatre to our stores too!” commented Natalie Bruce, Steamer’s PR manager.

Above: Simon Drew ‘drawing’ in the crowds at Steamer Trading’s Wells store.

Cardies Walk For Charity Some 29 ‘cardies’ took part in The Cardgains Charity Challenge – The Edges of the Rainbow - on Thursday 23 June, enduring a 20 mile walk in the Peak District to raise £10,000 for The Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity.

Joining Cardgains’ buyer group’s Chris Dyson, Steve Grocott and Penny Shaw were individuals from Abacus Cards, Axiom, Boxer Gifts, Carte Blanche, Cherry Orchard, Doodle Press, F&F, Gemma, Greetings Today, H&H, House of Cards, i2i, Icon, Nigel Quiney, Pioneer, Sarunds, GBCC, Tisa Solutions and Words ‘n’ Wishes.

“We had a brilliant day, some said it was our best yet,” summed up Cardgains’ marketing director Penny Shaw. “The walk was challenging and there were the usual few blisters and sore legs, but the Peak District scenery was beautiful.

The weather was perfect walking weather most of the day, though it was hot when the sun came out and there were a few sunburnt faces and shoulders. All in all, a fantastic day and we're well on our way to exceeding the £10,000 target for The Rainbow Trust Children's Charity.”

Above: Ready to go! 29 ‘cardies’ ready to take on the challenge.

Above left: Chris Dyson, Steve Grocott and Penny Shaw from Cardgains enjoy a well-earned pint.

Left: It was a beautiful day for a 20-mile walk in the Peaks.

Occasions To Open In Leicester Who says independent card shops can’t open in shopping centres?

Following on from opening in new shopping centres in Bradford (pictured above) and Newport, M&P Cards, which trades as Occasions, has secured a 3,300 sq ft unit in a prime position in Highcross Shopping Centre in Leicester. The store is anticipated to open at the end of August.

Explaining more, Terry Harvey, md of M&P said: “This shop will be extra special and will set the framework for all our new stores moving forward. You will see a new branding of Occasions by a top London firm as well as new store architecture. We’re very confident this store will be magnificent and there is a very special twist to the retail offering, which we are keeping a secret until we open!”

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 13

the best thing to hold onto in life is each other...

Life is Sweet greeting cards designed by icon order online: www.icon-art.com telephone: 01242 679800 / email: info@icon-art.com

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NEWS TOP STORY

Record Sales For JLP

Below: The John Lewis card and stationery department in its new Birmingham store.

Cards Are A Traffic Driver For The Stores John Lewis has recently reported that sales from its department stores were up by 5.4% in the half year to June 25 - with greeting cards and stationery contributing positively.

The media lapped up the good news that the department store side of JLP, often seen as the bellwether of UK retail, was able to hold its head up high, though Waitrose’s sales were only up 2.6% for the same 21 week period.

“Our card and stationery sales enjoyed a record year last year and this year we are on target to beat that figure,” Lisa Rutherford, John Lewis buyer responsible for greeting cards, wrappings, stationery, partyware and seasonal events, told PG. Lisa is leading a series of improvements in a number of areas - product selection (from its 40 supplying card publishers as well as own brand), relationships with supplying publishers, as well as encouraging more customer interaction with the products.

In recognition of the importance of greeting cards to JLP, the card and stationery department has been given pride of place

right at the entrance of the new John Lewis department store in Birmingham.

Looking to improve on the relationship with its supplying publishers, in conjunction with Woodmansterne (which category manages greeting cards for the store group), last month John Lewis staged a Supplier Seminar Day, at Woodmansterne’s distribution centre at Milton Keynes.

Currently comprising 46 stores (32 department stores, 12 John Lewis at home shops and outlets at Heathrow Terminal 2 and St Pancras station), additional John Lewis stores are in the pipeline for Leeds and Cheltenham. l See pages 37-39 for the full article on John Lewis.

Puppy Love A lovable pooch has become the star for not just one, but two greeting card companies. Thomasina is the dog/muse/studio companion of Jo Scott from Scott & Robson Designs, and features in a few of Jo’s card designs, including the new All You Need is Love range. And she’s now been picked up by fellow publisher Perkins & Morley to star as a new card design in its Animal Ink range.

Jo Scott explains that she was travelling through the Lake District after a mini break for her birthday and had arranged to meet up with Jan Morley, co-founder of Perkins & Morley. “I’d met Jan and Jill [Perkins] for the first time last year at a trade fair and they have been such a help to me starting out, I’m not entirely sure I’d still be in this publishing game if it hadn’t been for them!”

When Jan gave Jo a birthday card she was surprised and delighted that the design featured Thomasina. “I don’t really think you get this level of cross-business collaboration between, what are in effect, rival businesses in any other industry. I truly hope Thomasina is a best seller for Perkins & Morley in fact I’ll be a bit disappointed if she isn’t!” said Jo. Above right: Thomasina is the star of the All You Need is Love range from Scott & Robson Designs.

Right: Thomasina and her card from Perkins & Morley.

Hayes’ Final Greeting The start of this month marked the end of an era for Card Factory as its long-serving chief executive Richard Hayes officially passed the baton onto new ceo Karen Hubbard.

In an unexpected farewell gesture from the stubbornly PRelusive Richard, he made contact with PG on his final day with the value retail group.

Summing up how he felt after a decade of heading up the company who has arguably changed the card retailing landscape, Richard told PG: “I am very proud to have been a part of one of Yorkshire’s biggest retail success stories in the last ten years!”

Above: Richard Hayes (left) with Card Going on to pay tribute to the team’s achievements, he added: “The Factory founders Janet (right) and commitment, determination and drive of so many people in the team has Dean Hoyle. enabled us to achieve so much in such a short space of time.”

Smiggle Writes More Business In The UK Fun Australian stationery brand Smiggle is continuing to expand in the UK, having just opened two more stores in the UK to bring its total number of outlets up to 62.

The stores in Doncaster and Aberdeen opened in June and hot on their heels come two more this month in Wigan and Coventry. It’s all part of the plans to be trading from 200 outlets across the country by 2019.

Smiggle, whose first UK store opened in February 2014, focuses on offering original, fun and affordable stationery.

Managing director of Smiggle, John Cheston, says: “It’s important for us to inject fun into everything we do – from product design to store design we will always focus on delivering to our fans the most original and playful stationery possible.”

Below: Smiggle has now opened 62 stores across the UK since the beginning of 2014.

Studio Pets Comes To Clintons Clintons has signed a deal to develop a range of Studio Pets by Myrna gifting, launching in stores and online for Valentine’s Day 2017. Studio Pets are cute baby animals photographed in adorable settings, with stylish props and stunning graphics. With hundreds of images to choose from, Studio Pets have inspired many successful merchandise collections around the world, including a recent collaboration for Claire’s Accessories.

Victoria Gardner, gifts buyer at Clintons, says: “We are happy to be working with Studio Pets by Myrna, the licence will fit well in our stores and is perfect for customers. We look forward to developing a gift range that will complement the rest of the brand.”

Below: Studio Pets by Myrna is coming to Clintons in 2017.

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NEWS TOP STORY

Thinking Ahead Gearing Up For Thinking Of You Week “This year we have every layer of the industry involved in Thinking of You Week – from trade suppliers, publishers, exhibition organisers, major and independent retailers, as well as Royal Mail. We are also putting the finishing touches to a dedicated consumerfacing website for the Week which will also encourage participation in this growing event,” commented Sharon Little, ceo of the GCA. Awareness and participation in Thinking of You Week, which encourages people to spread happiness by sending extra cards in the week 26 Sept-2 October, is definitely ramping up in this third year.

In addition to a new ToYW toolkit, which is live on the GCA website (www.gca.cards), comprising downloads, ideas and inspiration for publishers and retailers to get involved, thousands of flyers will be sent out to retailers over the next three months by publishers, thanks to the support of the specialist trade printers and third party warehouse operators.

“Our lovely new retailer flyers have already been printed in their thousands, free of charge by our printer members (including Corners Cards, Digital Colour Services, Graphite Creative, Johnsons of Nantwich, Loxleys, The Imaging Centre, The Sherwood Group and Windles) and are ready to be sent to publishers with their card deliveries throughout July, August and September,” confirms Sharon. “In

A Crakel-ing Win Above: This years ToYW branding.

Left: The GCA’s Sharon Little promoted Thinking of You Week at a Sunday Assembly meeting last year.

addition, the GCA’s warehousing members (2WL, JBH, LB Warehousing, My Pack Company and Pack It In) are also packing these with every order too!” she added.

While major retailers, such as Paperchase and Clintons, have already confirmed they are committed to support ToYW activities, many others are currently planning their involvement.

Cardgains is also to promote the week to its retail members, while Thinking of You Week branding and information will be prominent at both Home & Gift Harrogate (this month) and at Autumn Fair and Top Drawer in September.

Brand new for this year’s ToYW, Rajeev Aurora, md of Davora Greetings and GCA council member, has been spearheading a consumer-facing website for the event, that he is developing (at no cost to the GCA).

“As Thinking of You Week is still relatively new we wanted to do everything we could to encourage involvement. Raj’s offer to develop a website was warmly welcomed by the Council and is on course to go live in the next two months," Sharon said.

More Thinking Down Under Thinking of You Week isn’t just growing in the UK, it is now establishing itself in Australia. Celebrated five months earlier than in the UK, the second ever Thinking of You Week was marked in Australia 20 - 26 June by John Sands, UKG’s sibling company which is a major publisher in Oz, and the Australian Greeting Card Association (AGCA). Building on its Thinking of You Week activities in 2015, John Sands developed its own Point of Sale and instigated a promotion for its many independent accounts.

The month of June was selected in order to create a promotion between seasonal events - Mother's Day (celebrated in May in Australia) and Father's Day (which takes place in September there).

John Sands promoted the week on Facebook and Twitter with the tags #ThinkingOfYouWeek and #RaiseASmile, as well as running a competition to win a year’s worth of greeting cards.

After only launching Crakel Cards & Gifts last February, the new division of Aurora Digital Print has won the ‘Hybrid & Combination Print’ category in the prestigious Print, Design & Marketing Awards 2016, for the publisher’s Coaster Gift Card concept. The awards were held aboard the Silver Sturgeon, on London’s River Thames last month.

At the beginning of the year Aurora took on new business partner Lee Nelson from the greeting cards industry to head up its new sister operation, and since its birth Crakel Cards & Gifts has launched a number of product concepts, and one that has caught the imagination of customers and retailers alike has been the new Coaster Gift Card range that has increased to more than 200 captions in less than three months.

Aurora’s print director Craig McCall, who collected the prize at the awards, is “extremely honoured to receive the accolade, especially when we saw the calibre of the other nominees. I’m grateful to everyone who has supported our launch. It is also a great endorsement to all of the hard work put in by the Crakel team to launch with such an impact.”

Crakel is now looking to recruit agents from the Midlands south. l In addition to celebrating its shiny new accolade, sister company Aurora Digital Print is celebrating a decade of trading this year.

To celebrate, Aurora would like to share its success and offer a 10% off invoice discount for any print order placed before July 17 (minimum order value £125 excluding VAT).

Pen Poised London-based card publisher and design studio, Betty Etiquette, is running two calligraphy workshops at the V&A in July.

Covering skills including contemporary calligraphy, stationery design and paper craft, the workshops are accessible and fun, and set within the world’s largest museum of decorative arts and design.

The courses, headed up by Betty Etiquette founder Becca Cahill-Roots, follow on from a series of courses held at Liberty London earlier this year.

Below: Learning calligraphy at Liberty London.

Above: The Thinking of You Week poster from John Sands’ Australian promotion.

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A Majestic Card

Below: The correspondence from Buckingham Palace that arrived at the PG/GCA offices recently.

Bottom: PG’s Jakki Brown (right) and GCA’s Sharon Little arriving at the palace with the 90th birthday cards from the industry.

The Queen Gives The Industry Official Thanks For Her Birthday Cards The Queen has written to the GCA saying that she is “delighted and moved by the many cards” she has received for her 90th birthday.

Her Majesty delivered her heartfelt thanks to the nation from the balcony of Buckingham Palace last month as celebrations were continuing with gusto to mark her milestone birthday.

The number of birthday cards the Queen has received – now over 70,000 - has far exceeded expectations and more are still arriving at the Palace every day.

The greeting card industry received a very special personal letter of thanks from Buckingham Palace for the impressive collection of bespoke and handwritten birthday cards that were handdelivered to the Queen by the GCA’s Sharon Little and PG’s Jakki Brown shortly after PG Live in late May.

The letter, signed by Susan Hussey, Lady-inWaiting, included the following: ‘The Queen is very touched that so many people who attended the recent Progressive Greetings Live show took the time and trouble to design and write cards especially for her, and Her Majesty greatly appreciates the kind messages and sentiments they expressed.’

Accompanying the hand-signed letter was an official thank you card, printed specifically for those who have sent the Queen a birthday card (and included their name and address). A dedicated Correspondence Team is currently very busy accepting the cards on the Queen’s behalf and also replying to the well-wishers.

Fair Dues From Dewsbury UK Greetings shared its greeting card prowess to the people of Dewsbury, where the publisher is based, by inviting everyone in the town to sign a special card it had created to mark the Queen’s 90th birthday. The Mayor of Kirklees, Paul Kane, Mayoress Susan Bedford and Dewsbury Town Crier Laurie Gilbert visited UK Greetings’ HQ to pick up the card before taking it to the Dewsbury Town Hall for residents to sign. The card was then hand delivered to Buckingham Palace

by Dewsbury MP, Paula Sherrif.

UK Greetings' ceo, Gary Rowley said: “It was an honour to be asked to create this beautiful card which allowed the residents of Dewsbury the opportunity to wish Her Majesty the Queen a very happy 90th Birthday.”

Above: The Dewsbury Town Crier and the Mayor and Mayoress of Kirkless collect the special card from Gary Rowley of UK Greetings.

Left: A very special greeting card from the people of Dewsbury.

Celebrating Summer With IC&G

NEWS IN BRIEF l After more than a decade in Warwick, Pomegranate Europe has moved out and upgraded its office facilities. The art-based publisher is now based just outside of Coventry, on the Middlemarch Business Park, within a professional office building called ‘number three’. The upgrade has bought fantastic new luxuries to the team, such as an on-site cafe and a spacious air-conditioned office.

Above: Pomegranate Europe’s new offices in Coventry.

l Splimple has recently relaunched its popular Wordies range of cards. First bought out in 2003, the pithy word-based cards have been given a makeover for 2016. There are 36 square cards in the new range, with the humour re-sharpened; but still with the same tone, target audience and price that the original range was known for.

Above: Wordies from Splimple have been given a makeover for 2016.

l Tesco has sold Dobbies Garden Centres for £217 million to an investor group led by Midlothian Capital Partners and Hattington Capital.

Tesco bought Dobbies Garden Centres in 2007, and since then it has grown to become the UK’s second largest specialist garden centre retailer, operating from 35 garden centres across Scotland, England and Northern Ireland.

The new owners of Dobbies Garden Centres have vowed to add more stores to the chain and boost the retailer’s ecommerce offer.

Above: Dobbies is the UK’s second largest specialist garden centre retailer.

l The number of convenience stores has grown by 21% over the last five years (2011 – 2015), but this growth has slowed in the past year. The fastest growth came from the big four supermarkets as they rolled out their convenience store formats across the country, with Sainsbury’s topping the list with 82 new convenience store formats, the majority of which sell a selection of greeting cards.

But according to analysis from Local Data Company (LDC), the boom in the fast-growing convenience market may have peaked after 228 towns and cities across the UK reported a fall in the number of convenience stores last year.

Above: Sainsbury’s has opened 82 convenience stores in the last five years.

This summer card publisher IC&G is looking to give away 100 hampers full of summer goodies to retailers who place an order of £400 or over in the month of July. The hamper includes Prosecco with two flutes, Pimms, luxury snacks and a picnic blanket. Director of IC&G, Simon Wagstaff, commented: “Whatever the results of the sports events this season, the hampers we have up for grabs is a dead cert winner for retailers! We want to give our customers a luxury hamper, containing hand-picked items that encapsulate the spirit of summer.”

IC&G has recently launched its spring 2017 range with many new products coming in the next few weeks and months.

l A piece of artwork, published

by Glebe Cottage as a greeting card, has been shortlisted for the David Shepherd Wildlife Artist of the Year competition 2016. The painting, Curled Fox, is one of 12 designs launched by Glebe Cottage in its new wildlife art collection by Rachel Toll. The original is currently on display at the Mall Galleries in London as part of the 9th annual Wildlife Artist of the Year Exhibition.

Left: IC&G is looking to give away 100 summer hampers to its retailers over July.

Above: Curled Fox by Rachel Toll.

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Very Hands On

Below: Card making is one of the top five crafts in the UK.

Card Making Is A Top UK Hobby Greeting card making is among the top craft hobbies in the UK, confirms findings of a recent 2015 Craft Intelligence Report from the Craft & Hobby Association UK. The report paints a rosy picture of the UK’s creative and craft market, worth an estimated £3.4 billion to the UK economy in the last year. The research indicates that 69% of British females in the UK participated in at least one craft in the last 12 months - that's 18.3 million women, and many of these put greeting card making as their favourite craft hobby.

The study highlighted that card making was in the top five crafts in the UK in 2015, alongside knitting, cake decorating/sugarcraft, drawing/painting and sewing.

Encouragingly, the biggest growth in the craft market has been at the younger end, where 73% of 16-34 year-olds have participated in a craft in the last 12 months. But crafting really does span the generations with the highest participation in the 2534 year-old group and the 65+ years group.

Craig De Souza, executive director of the CHA-UK, said; "We are thrilled to announce the availability of the 2015 Craft Intelligence Research Report and I am confident that this research will provide valuable insight into factors that will benefit and help business owners become more successful."

London Bound The British Craft Trade Fair (BCTF) will make its London debut in September this year at The Old Truman Brewery in London’s trendy Brick Lane. The popular trade show has been staged in Harrogate for the past 41 years, but it is now to have a London sibling show.

“We have had many requests over the years from both buyers and exhibitors to create a southern version of our fair,” says Margeret Bunn (right), BCTF and BCTF London show director. “Bringing a version to London is a logical step for us and with a very loyal exhibitor base we believe we can deliver a great show in year one.”

The show will be restricted to 200 exhibitors in year one, including all manner of products, including greeting cards. “This gives us the opportunity to be selective with our exhibitors, making sure they are right for the London market place,” says Margeret. “All will be small producers and many unknown to buyers, making it an even more intriguing fair to visit.”

News Beat

Above: Then and now: George Alagiah and Chris Wilcox (right).

GBCC was ‘in the news’ recently for a human interest story!

The card publisher’s director Chris Wilcox, was recently reunited with one of his best pals from Durham University in the late 1970s - BBC news reader George Alagiah. Chris and George initially teamed up to work together on the university newspaper and remained great friends throughout their time at college. “Student journalism was always great fun,” recalls Chris. “But George had an edge and enthusiasm that marked him out as having a real talent.”

Chris’ writing skills however have not gone unnoticed either, as he has been involved in copywriting thousands of GBCC’s humorous cards.

It had been over 30 years since the two had seen each other. “Even though he speaks to millions of people every evening, George has remained much grounded.

Yes, he is the consummate journalist, but also the same, genuine nice guy I became mates with all those years ago,” added Chris.

In Praise Of Christmas Cards Following its TV launch on BBC’s Songs of Praise a few months ago, the programme’s Design a Christmas Card competition in aid of Children in Need galvanised a host of amateur artists to submit an impressive clutch of entries that captured the spirit of Christmas. An eclectic mix of designs were received, with hundreds of entrants of all ages from all corners of the UK depicting Christmas in a variety of different styles.

The GCA and PG were involved, both in the programme’s research for the competition as well as the filming of the episode in which the competition debuted.

The ten winners of the Songs of Praise Christmas card competition have now been announced and the winning designs will now be made into Christmas cards and sold at retail to contribute funds to the BBC Children in Need campaign.

The final ten winning designs were chosen by a panel of judges and will form a pack of Christmas cards which will be sold in aid of BBC Children in Need in the run up to the festive season. The judging panel was made up of actress and accomplished water-colourist Una Stubbs, who stars in BBC One’s Sherlock; the BBC’s Arts Editor, Will Gompertz; and Songs of Praise’s very own presenter and art enthusiast, Josie d’Arby.

Actress Una Stubbs has been vocal in her praise of Christmas cards, saying they are one of the best things about Christmas.

She also commented on the competition, saying: “With Christmas cards I really enjoy naïve art, and I think children’s Christmas cards are lovely handmade examples. I’ve really, really enjoyed judging the competition, I love looking at art and I think there was some really wonderful art in this competition. Better than I ever imagined. I hope the cards go on to help make a difference to young lives."

Above: The judging panel: Will Gompertz, Una Stubbs (centre) and Josie d’Arby with some of the Songs of Praise Christmas card competition entries.

Below: Nieve Taylor’s Christmas card design, one of the winning entries.

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Nearly Pimms O’Clock Heading For Home & Gift Harrogate This year 80 greeting card and stationery exhibitors will be showing their wares in their own marquee at Harrogate’s Home & Gift Buyers’ Festival (17 – 20 July).

“We’ve introduced a dedicated Greetings and Stationery marquee to the Home & Gift Buyers’ Festival this year following strong support from the sector for the new location within the ever-popular Design Point area,” says Cleere Scamell, Home & Gift Buyers' Festival show director. “Greetings and stationery are very important to so many retailers that we will aim to build on this widely-welcomed initiative over the next few shows.”

The focus given to greetings and stationery has gone down well with exhibitors, as Jeremy Corner, director of Blue Eyed Sun explains: “I love the new

Below: Greetings and stationery has its own marquee at Home & Gift at Harrogate.

marquee for greetings and stationery. It’s well located, the stands are nice and shallow, which works well for cards, and the quality of publishers they have in there is first class. It’s a big step up from greetings halls having spent years in the basement or out a limb. It’s nice and central and attracts a good footfall.”

Not Cockey After 40 Years Peter Cockey, sales agent for the south coast, has just celebrated 40 years’ service with card publisher Noel Tatt. Summing up the last four decades, Peter said: “It’s been a wonderful 40 years and to be honest my role has not changed that much. I’m welcomed into all the shops I go into and people love the Noel Tatt cards. Obviously the cards themselves have changed and there’s so much more selection than there was when I first started out. Another change has been the number of card shops. When I first started, they were few and far between, now every town has one. Cards have a terrific future.”

Paying tribute to Peter, Michael Griffiths, sales manager for Noel Tatt says: “Peter has been a wonderful advertisement for Noel Tatt over his 40 years and is well-loved and respected by his customers and colleagues alike. All of us at Noel Tatt wish to thank him for his dedication and commitment. And as Peter is showing no signs of slowing up, in 10 years’ time I expect to be congratulating him on his golden anniversary with us!”

l Ling Designs has made two new appointments to its senior management team. Kay Gilbert (right) has been appointed national account manager responsible for the sales of Ling Design, Penny Kennedy and Talking Pictures products, and is based at its Bath studio. While Chris Dunn (right) takes up the position of head of operations responsible for the company’s customer service, distribution, IT and facilities management at the Paddock Wood Head Office. “I am delighted with these two new appointments to my senior management team,” says Ian Bant, managing director. “I am sure that both Chris and Kay will become key players in helping the business achieve its goals over the coming years.” l Nicole Mendelsohn (right), previously art director for The Almanac Gallery, has joined boutique art agency Astound as its new UK agent.

Previously responsible for the creative footprint of Almanac and with 10 years’ experience of developing seasonal and everyday card ranges for the retail and charity market place, Nicole is now working with Astound’s varied and talented artists to create beautiful and commercial designs for the greeting card and stationery market. l Siobhan Harrison, the creator behind the April Rose brand, has been developing a lovely new website on the run up to Harrogate Home & Gift Show. The website is a reflection of the quintessentially English brand and has a new login section for wholesale. See April Rose’s new ranges at Harrogate, stand G120 Spotlight section.

Above: Peter Cockey who has clocked up 40 years with Noel Tatt.

People Matters At UK Greetings UK Greetings celebrated the success of its sales team at its spring 2017 product launch last month, presenting a series of awards. The whole team attended the celebration dinner at head office, including the 32 sales executives, 14 regional sales coordinators and six regional sales managers.

Here are the UKG winners for 2016: l Clifton Trophy: Dave Lenthall who has endured a tough two years with a cancer battle (now thankfully in remission), the award is made in recognition of his exceptional achievement and sales excellence throughout the year. l Sales Executive of the Year: 1st Lorraine Ward, 2nd John Dyer, 3rd Jeanette Casement. l Regional Sales Manager of the Year: Allen Taylor. l Gold Pacesetter: Allen Roberts and Gary Trout for achievement of their sales target seven times during the last 10 years. l Silver Pacesetter: Mark Williams for achievement of his sales target for five consecutive years. l Top Team FY 16: Northern Region comprising regional manager, Allen Taylor; sales execs: Caroline Crawford, Brian McDonald, Jeanette Casement, Laura Boyes, John Dyer, Ann Rivett and regional sales co-ordinators: Alison Pearson and Amanda Farrell.

Above: All the UK Greetings award winners.

Left: UKG’s Jayne Myers (left), commercial director, and Tony Roberts (right), director of independent sales, congratulate Allen Taylor, Regional Sales Manager of the Year.

A Boofle Relaunch UK Greetings is putting its weight behind relaunching the Boofle brand this month, with a raft of new card designs, a new look and a range of gifts leading the charge. There are 64 new birthday and friendship designs using new formats, styles and imagery, plus pop-up and lenticular designs. The new look also features across key caption groups such as female, male, wedding and adult ages.

Much of the new content is also culturally relevant, with Boofle posing for a selfie on Instagram and touching on popular topics like Great British Bake Off (see above).

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Stocks And Shares Windles Celebrates Its £5m Investment Greeting card printer Windles officially christened its new state of the art premises last month with a memorable afternoon party for card publishers, trade suppliers and its staff.

Windles’ new home in Thame “is only a mile away from our former premises, but it is a million miles away in what we can now offer publishers under one roof,” said Bruce Podmore, md of Windles (pictured right with his wife Lucy). “It represents a £5 million investment, but it is our future,” he adds.

Following a tour of the highly impressive new set-up, which breaks new ground with its environmental approach and print technology, publishers were then able to enjoy some good old-fashioned fun – a big top with a live band, dodgems and bouncy castles.

Leading from the front, Bruce agreed to going into ‘the stocks’ and having wet sponges (with Windles’ red dye) hurled at him, to kick off the company’s fund-raising initiative for the Orangutan Appeal UK. When asked by PG what he thought his father, Dennis Podmore (founder of the business, who died a few years ago) would say about the new premises, Bruce said: “His immediate reaction would be: “What have you done boy?” But I would quickly point out that we have doubled in size, grown sales by 17% in a year and moved our factory. I think he would be pleased!”

Above: The new Windles premises brings all its facilities under one roof – with many ‘Willy Wonka’ type inventions incorporated, such as pipes which whisk all waste away underground to be recycled.

Below: Windles’ owners Bruce and Lucy Podmore with ‘Lucy’s lorry’ that she drove between the former and new premises to facilitate the move.

Left: The official opening day involved key supplier sponsors, including paper companies Antalis, Fedrigoni and GF Smith. Lucilla Lavender (right) and Anneke Driscoll, both of Lucilla Lavender discuss paper options with Antalis’ David Aylwin.

Left: Foiled again! Windles’ marketing manager Michelle Mills (centre) with GCA’s Sharon Little (left) and PG’s Jakki Brown, with a selection of coloured foils that publishers can use.

Below: Windles’ sales director Andrea Norcott (left) with designer Lizzie Grainger.

Left: In addition to dodgem cars, bouncy castles and a BBQ, a band played in a ‘big top’ at the party.

Below left: It was the first industry outing for (far right) Laura Darrington’s new baby daughter Heidi Belle!

Right and below right: As part of md Bruce Podmore’s commitment to encouraging a “succession policy”, he backed the idea put forward by Windles 20 year old customer services account manager Maisie Spittles to support the Orangutan Appeal – and he was prepared to put his head in the stocks and be pelted with soggy sponges with red dye to launch the fundraising efforts!

Right: A cheeky mime artist with (right) Saffron’s national accounts manager Viv Barlow and JBH Associates’ director Jan Harrison.

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Choosing Opportunity Independent card and gift retailer, David Robertson, co-owner of JP Pozzi in Scotland, discusses grasping opportunities

As I write this column it is the week of the big decision - not if you give Dad socks or sweeties for Father’s Day - but whether you are in or out of the EU? Well by the time you read this the decision will be made and we as businesses will have to deal with the fall out regardless. Either way the decision will be an opportunity to move forward... and, as always, we will have to.

If you live in Scotland this would have been your fourth big vote in two years and to be honest we are getting numb to the whole experience. In fact many of us are at that point where we simply have lost interest (or perhaps taste) in the political situation.

Our cousins Stateside are also gearing up for their own big vote on November 8. This Presidential race is one that has also been based on tub thumping and fear. Trump is talking about being greedy for America and grab, grab grabbing so much money!

I went to New York eight years ago to be there when Obama first swept to power on a sea of hope and social media. He galvanised the masses and made people believe their vote counted. I can clearly remember at 5am watching an African American in her 80s queuing to vote for the first time in her life - it was inspiring.

However, I believe the political system in America has hampered Obama in terms of what he has tried to achieve. Again, this past week, gun control was brought into sharp focus with the terrible mass shootings of 50 people killed in Orlando, yet still the gun lobby wins the argument that Americans have the right to bear arms.

If things are bad just now then the fear is that Trump may well pull off the biggest upset since a certain Wild West 26 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

actor won as President of the States.

What is fascinating to me is why Trump has connected with huge chunks of the American public. The straight talking, chest beating, ‘send them home’ message would carry him so far, but the reason I believe he is really making inroads is that he is selling them the American Dream. A dream that many in middle America believe they have lost. The fact that Trump is a billionaire who is totally disconnected with normal life is neither here nor there.

The American dream of buying your own home, running your own business and buying great products made right here in the U.S of A in many people’s opinions has been eroded. Trump is looking directly at and talking to a middle America who feels their opportunities and ambitions are not being met or supported. I believe they call this the disengaged/disenfranchised middle. I call it a growing majority.

In our small country I am beginning to feel there is a groundswell like this as well.

Big businesses seem only to be getting bigger. Bankruptcy is used as a way out and

Above: This has been a year of big decisions for the UK, and will be later in the year for the USA. Below: Donald Trump seems to be promising the comeback of the American Dream in his Presidential campaign.

a fresh start. Situations of HMRC negotiating with companies to agree payments does not hide the fact that these companies have avoided paying their dues through clever accountancy over a number of years. I am sick of reading about companies being asset stripped/management buy-outs... and then simply put down like some kind of suffering animal.

We hear constantly about how new businesses/small businesses are being supported and nurtured, which is great, but what about you and me? What about us? The small to medium enterprises - the ones who continue to grow, creating work both directly and indirectly; who pay their 20% corporation tax ever year and their VAT on time. Often we are the ones who suffer.

Retail as a category is facing huge challenges, perhaps more than any other sector, but we are forced to adapt or die. The Centre of Retail Research published a report in 2013 detailing where it thought retail would be in the next five years. It predicted a

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Over The Counter

22% drop in physical stores, a rise to 21.5% of online sales by 2018 and around 164 chains/ groups of shops going into administration.

Even more worryingly than that, it predicted that the increase in consumer spending would only be around 12%, with operating costs set to rise by around 20%.

The report used the word ‘crisis’ and to be honest that is how I see things going. We need to make efforts to change, but so many struggle to have the cashflow or money to make the changes needed. With costs soaring and less people spending that vicious circle will only get smaller.

Many are aware of the need to become a multichannel retailer, but again may struggle for the cash or knowledge to get there.

I am constantly asking myself what is the incentive to grow? Maybe I should be asking myself why are we doing this? Yet the answer is that I love it and don’t want to do anything else. I thrive on the challenges and opportunities.

Another reason to have hope is the amount of brilliant product and people that are out there in our greeting card sector. Card publishing has never been a more accessible route for someone to express themselves creatively. With the technology available, designing, printing and launching card product is perhaps one of the easiest creative industries to access.

This was wonderfully demonstrated at the recent PG Live exhibition which saw massive players exhibit right next door to tiny indie card publishers. I may be biased, but I believe that this show is all about furthering our industry and making a difference.

Now don’t get me wrong, I think the Springboard area of the show needs a further shake up as this year there were too many of the same publishers in the same spot as the previous years. It also needs to have even more new up and comers, and I think some kind of ‘talking shop’ with those who aspire to exhibit could be a great step forward as well. Obviously it can’t replicate The Ladder Club annual meetup in November, but linking even more closely with the fantastic work started by Lynn Tait and PG’s Jakki Brown 16 years ago could see even more publishers reach their goal.

But fundamentally at its core, both PG Live and The Ladder Club are about giving people the chance. Springboard highlights these card publishing newbies, many of whom are making their show debut - the first time that they have put themselves out there

Above and left: Both card publishers and creative designer makers Sarah Kate (above) and Newton and the Apple can be found on NOTHS. Below: Ben Sherman, the menswear retailer, was sold via pre-pack administration to the clothing supplier BMB Clothing in January 2016.

to retailers. For some that will be enough. For some that will be the beginning. For others they will strive to be the next Five Dollar Shake or Belly Button.

The question is why should they grow? Is the incentive to grow any better for the publisher than it is for the retailer? Probably not as they too will get all tied up in red tape.

I believe that is why so many card makers/publishers decide to stay in the comfort of websites such as Etsy or Not On The High Street.

In this way they are protected from the real issues of growing their business yet can still feel that they work for themselves and make a good living.

These retail websites are fantastic business models. They give the consumer that feeling of being a hipster and they basically are a middle man who hold no stock yet showcase a huge amount.

Etsy was founded in 2005 and has now grown to colossal figures. It boasts over 35 million items from more than 1.6 million sellers.

Not On The High Street started in 2006 and brings together more than 5,000 of the UK’s small businesses offering a route to market for designer/makers who perhaps could not gain a foothold in the traditional high street.

Newton and the Apple, Sarah Kate, Cloth Kat, Paper Rifle Company, Awkward Yeti, Hello Lucky, Scissor Monkeys, Noteworthy Paper none of these card makers/publishers have to my knowledge shown at any of the major

trade exhibitions in the UK, yet I found these on NOTHS and I love their cards!

But why don't they exhibit at shows?

Probably lots of reasons. They may be happy doing what they are doing or they may be fearful of getting it wrong, and there will be a million other reasons, but the bottom line is that some great product is not having the light shined on it the way that I think it could.

It may also be that it is simple and the incentive is not there to grow into something where the business becomes a lot more challenging to manage. I think this may be the definition of a lifestyle business.

The same also works in reverse. For the first time Bijou will be retailing online hopefully by Christmas 2016. I hope that this will allow me to stock an even wider more diverse range of cards as I will be able to highlight them on our website and social media to a more diverse customer base.

For example, I love publishers Tache Crafts and Pocket Typewriter, but they don’t really fit the demographic tastes of my bricks and mortar card buyers. Yet I buy their products and persist with them because I love them. There are many other cards that fit this criteria and I want to push them and help be part of their story. I hope that the new multichannel strategy will help me achieve this aim.

Opportunities present themselves daily to us both in business and in life. Etsy and NOTHS present an opportunity for someone to fulfill a dream. Retail has always provided a way of people becoming their own boss and controlling their own destiny. Politics too is the opportunity to change society supposedly for the greater good.

Recently Obama spoke to business students graduating at a New York university and he used the Bruce Springsteen lyrics: “They spend their lives waiting for a moment that just don't come.”

So don’t let that be you... grasp your opportunity!

To contact David email: jppozzi@btconnect.com PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 27

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CARDSHARP

Gender

Agenda Some regular readers of this column will no doubt be expecting Cardsharp to be covering the EU membership referendum results, and their possible effects on UK greeting card industry. It has been exhaustively reported that the shock result was down to a dislocation between London and the Home Counties and the rest of England, (an issue Cardsharp covered several months ago); the old and the young; the rich and the poor; the university educated and the non-university educated; the rural and the urban as well as the Scots and the English! Cardsharp is sure you will agree by now that these discussions have now been done to death! So he now moves onto a new divide - the oldest in history - that of between the male and the female of the species!

Cardsharp this month is going to talk about another change/dislocation/development or whatever you want to call it - the role of women in key positions in politics, economics, business and, more prosaically, in the UK greeting card industry!

Thankfully, as yet no one has highlighted the male and female divide as a contributing factor in the referendum result to leave the EU and let’s hope they don’t, but Cardsharp thinks this is just as relevant to the global political, economic, retail and greeting card environment as

28 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

any of the issues debated in the EU referendum.

Basically, very soon women are going to rule the world - literally, not metaphorically! Forbes magazine’s annual report of the most powerful people on the globe had near the top, Hilary Clinton (surely who is destined to be the first woman US president, Angela Merkel (who has been the German Premier for

Inset: German Chancellor, Angela Merkel.

the last decade), Janet Yellen is head of the US central bank and Christine Lagarde is md of the International Monetary Fund.

Even in the UK, Nicola Sturgeon is Scottish First Minister and people are talking about Theresa May as a unity candidate for Conservative prime minister and Anna Eagle as new leader of the opposition post the Brexit vote! Women are clearly in the ascendancy.

Yet how is retail reacting to this new change in the balance of the sexes?

Well, if you go into a UK shop you have an 85% chance of being served by a woman and 65% of all retail employees are female.

And then if it is greeting cards you are buying there is an 85% chance you are a woman!

And yet in senior positions in retail in the UK, women are poorly represented. Only 20% of major executive retail teams are made up of women and astonishingly only 10% of executive boards. Although females are retail’s biggest buyers there are pitifully few retail CEOs. New Marks and Spencer’s boss Steve Rowe, talks patronisingly that he is out to woo “Mrs M and S”, which implies to Cardsharp a disconnection from the plc and its largely female customer base.

Cardsharp was intrigued to see the comment from Fiona Davies, director of Women in Retail, opining: “Our belief is that having a closer connection with the customer and therefore having more

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CARDSHARP women on retail boards simply makes commercial sense”.

In fact, management consultancy Elixirr goes one step further. It claims that if more women had been on board at BHS and Austin Reed there could have been a better outcome at these former high street favourites. They also think that the male senior executive tends to concentrate too much on the logistical side, while, in today’s challenging retail environment, the female creative touch will be the difference between success and failure.

Even some of the retail ‘Grandees’ are starting to agree. Sir Ian Cheshire, chairman of Debenhams, said recently that leaders in retail need to accept that displaying “Super Hero Behaviour” is no longer what retail needs.

So how is this sexual revolution translating into our world of greeting card sending and retailing, mused Cardsharp?

Well there are some encouraging trends. Although to Cardsharp’s recollection there has never been a female overall supremo at Hallmark or UK Greetings, the UK’s two publishing titans, and many of the retail organisations that dominate the greeting card retail side in the UK, have embraced the female touch.

For instance Kate Swann, who left WHSmith plc after a decade at the helm, a couple of years ago, certainly financially did an amazing job in delivering shareholder value to investors, and although Cardsharp was constantly critical of her ‘slash and burn’ policy to the high street operation, there was no denying her quiet effectiveness and steely determination in the job she did.

Four years ago, after the crash of Clintons and with American Greetings having to pick up the pieces, AG appointed Dominique Schurman from the US to run the embattled chain. Although getting any concrete information about the performance of Clintons subsequently has proved near impossible, Cardsharp does sense that the stores he has visited recently have a more feminine feel.

Now even the masters of prosaic greeting card value retailing, Card Factory have taken the plunge and appointed a female CEO in Karen Hubbard, who cut her teeth most recently at retail value chain B and M. Bit by bit, notices Cardsharp, there has been a

“Our belief is that having a closer connection with the customer and therefore having more women on retail boards simply makes commercial sense”.

Top right: Louise Tighe, owner and founder of Paperlink.

Above right: American Greetings appointed Dominique Schurman to turn Clintons around.

Inset: Hilary Clinton is currently running for US presidency.

‘Feminisation’ of the greeting side publishing side.

In many ways, Louise Tighe, the owner and founder of the mega successful Paperlink, was a trailblazer, rightfully recognised at last year’s Henries when she was awarded the prestigious Honorary Achievement Award.

Louise’s success started in the 1990s and continues to this day. Since her first years there have been many female publisher/designer/entrepreneurs that have contributed to our industry’s vibrancy and sustained good health. There are so many that Cardsharp apologises if he has missed any. But in no particular order there is Paper Salad, Rachel Ellen, Belly Button, Five Dollar Shake, Wendy Jones-Blackett, Caroline Gardner, Cinnamon Aitch, Cherry Orchard, Janie Wilson, Hammond Gower and, most recently, Wrendale. All these companies are at the forefront of greeting card publishing in 2016. These are many of the publishers that are currently striking a chord with the greeting card buying public.

And then, mused Cardsharp, there is the future.

Nearly all of the most promising publishers that exhibited in this year’s Springboard section at PG Live were female entrepreneur designers or drivers of the new breed businesses. The new generation, as typified of the likes of Tache Crafts, Bexy Boo and Megan Claire, are starting to really make waves.

And even among the ranks of middle-sized greeting card publishers, more and more women are taking over the helm. Two of Simon Elvin’s direct to retail greeting card publishers Nigel Quiney and Paper Rose - have (at least until very recently) female managing directors.

And, the big two, Hallmark and UKG, both have female directors, be that on the creative, marketing or commercial sides.

This is all very healthy, concludes Cardsharp. By embracing its feminine side so enthusiastically the UK greeting card publishing and retailing sides seems to have been better able to stay in touch with its customers than so many other retail sectors.

Mrs Greeting card buyer has in the last few years been well and truly wooed!

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VIEWPOINTS

Servings Of The Brexit Divorce Card How will the UK’s exit from the EU affect our industry?

There have been many millions of words already written (and many more spoken) on the EU referendum result already, but how will it affect our greeting card industry?

Like everyone else in the UK, we are going into uncharted waters. Will a lower valued £1 help our greeting card exports? Will consumer spending be curbed by the uncertainty surrounding the surprise result? And if there is a bonfire of red tape will it help greeting card businesses, whether retailer, publisher or supplier?

Publishers, retailers and suppliers share their views on this highly emotive issue.

A UK Printer’s View Jeremy Bacon, ceo of The Sherwood Group: “Like many others, I woke up on Friday June 24 to the shock news. I was stunned as it wasn’t the outcome I had expected.

As an economics graduate (many years ago), this took me back to my text books! Europe works on the basis of a ‘Golden Triangle’ whose centre stretches from Southern Britain at the top to Northern France (including Paris) on one side to the industrial heartland of Germany and the Benelux countries on the other. The further out you go from this triangle the less ‘Europe’ works – it doesn’t work for Spain, the Nordics, Greece and Ireland. That’s the reason there is massive unemployment at the extremities of Europe.

I voted to remain in Europe as I felt it was better to try and make changes from within rather than from the outside.

There is of course the issue of the euro. The UK, along with several other countries (namely Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Sweden) are/were in the EU, but do not use the euro. There doesn’t seem to be a proper mechanism to accommodate countries like us.

In the long run, the UK being out of the EU could be a good thing, but in the

short-term it is likely to create uncertainty which business doesn’t like!

Looking specifically at the greeting card industry, I feel it is a pretty robust sector and will endure. People will still continue to buy and send cards whether we are in the EU or out of it.

The majority of cards are still manufactured in the UK, but those major players who publish outside of the UK, including Hallmark and UKG, will have some new calculations to do. I wonder whether they would have made the same decision to produce their cards in the Far East (which is fixed to the US$) had they thought that instead of it costing $1, it would cost 1$ 32 cents?

However, for most greeting card publishers and retailers the effects will not be that great. There may be a bit of inflation with the falling value of £sterling and it could have an affect on the costs of paper and board being brought in from countries still within the EU. For us as a company who produces mainly in the UK, with a small operation in the Far East, and no debt or big investment commitments we are not that concerned, so although it is a massive shock it is something that as a business we can deal with.”

Above: Boris Johnson campaigned to leave the EU. Above left: A flyer that the Labour Party was posting through doors.

Left: It was a shock when the UK voted to leave the EU, just as it was a shock to see Jeremy Bacon (far left) with full curly locks at the Sherwood Group’s recent celebration for its 40th anniversary. He is seen here with his parents and company founders, Maurice and Barbara Bacon, his brother Richard Bacon (who heads up Loxleys) and sister Sarah Shortt, the group’s management accountant, at the anniversary event that took on a 1970s theme in honour of when it was started.

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 31

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VIEWPOINTS “In the long run, the UK being out of the EU could be a good thing, but in the short-term it is likely to create uncertainty which business doesn’t like!”

An Export Award Winning Publisher’s View Jeremy Corner, managing director of Blue Eyed Sun, which recently was awarded the Queen’s Award for Export: “For those of us manufacturing in Britain and exporting abroad the current weakening of the £pound will result in increased profitability on sales to those countries that wish to continue buying our products. Publishers that are well positioned with strong export distribution will do well internationally in the short to medium term as a result.

The UK still leads the way with cards on the world stage so the demand should remain strong, although it is hard to forecast the insidious damage that Brand Britain may be taking as a result of the referendum and the subsequent divides that are currently surfacing.

Anyone importing or who has a business that relies on goods sourced in other currencies is going to feel the pinch as costs increase and prices may rise as a result.

Having said that, my feeling is that prices will stay flat or be lowered to counter the slowing down in spending as the uncertain economic climate causes people to be more cautious, tighten up and spend less. The uncertainty will

A Gift Company’s View Julian Hunt, md of Lesser and Pavey: "Ronnie Pavey [L&P’s founder], myself, and the majority of staff at Lesser & Pavey were strongly in favour of an exit so we are delighted at the result. We are extremely optimistic about the future and believe it is very much a positive for the company as well as the country. We buy our products in US$ and have good stock all imported at good dollar rates and are well covered with forward dollar contracts that guarantee no price increases for the many hundreds of new products we are now launching for the second half of the year."

also cause house prices to drift lower, business investment to dry up and diversity of product in the card market to shrink as people take less risk and play it safe.

At Blue Eyed Sun we are very disappointed in the result and the uncertainty that will inevitably follow. Our goal right now is to focus on what we can do. Anyone without strong distribution, a good team of agents or reps and a solid offering of excellent different product at the right prices, delivered with outstanding service, is going to find it very challenging over the next few years. These are the areas where we will be working hard. Just when you think you are lean and strong enough there is still more work to be done.

The current key unanswered question is who will be the next Conservative leader? As there is no election called, there is only one way to control this (as long as the leadership is contested) and that is to join the Conservative party and vote for the new leader you would prefer. While to many who are members of other parties this might seem an appalling idea, spare a thought for the alternative. We need a capable leader that people trust. The markets need this and the people need it too.

None of us can know for sure how this will pan out. We just have to stay on our game, watch our numbers and offer our customers an experience that wows them.”

Top left: A flyer from the ‘leave’ campaign.

Above left and above: Jeremy Corner and his wife Jo, co-owners of the business that was recently awarded a Queens Award for its export activities.

Left: Harrogate Home and Gift will be the Launchpad for Blue Eyed Sun’s new Alchemy range.

A Technology And Packaging Supplier’s View Harry Shah, chairman of the SoundTech Group (that supplies many card publishers with sound and light technology, as well as providing packaging solutions):

Above: Julian Hunt.

“When I moved back from Hong Kong to the UK recently after many years of residency overseas, I was ‘on the fence’ and could not initially decide which way to vote.

Talking to many young family members, they all advised me that they were voting to stay in the EU as many of them work in banking. I could understand their dilemma that their jobs were at stake, as many might have to move to headquarters outside the UK. Talking to many business friends, they also said that they would be voting to stay in as they felt their business would be affected, not only from having less access to bigger European markets, but also due

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Left: Harry Shah at the recent PG Live with PG’s Gale Astley.

Below left: Spirito’s Denise Laird (left) spending her £50 Greats voucher with YTR Design at the recent PG Live.

Below right: Tim Rudd-Clarke at the recent Licensing Expo show in Vegas on the DreamWorks stand where its big film launch of Trollz (for which Gemma has the greeting card licence) was being showcased.

Bottom right: There is an emoji for all events, even leaving the EU! This is just one of the cards in Gemma’s licensed emoji card range.

to rises in import costs, as most pay for their goods in USD. (This of course will probably affect our manufacturing base in China, as eventually we will also get pushed on prices).

I then spoke to many of our family members who work in the NHS (GPs and hospitals) and almost all said they were voting ‘out’, giving the reason that there is so much work pressure due to the high number of patients.

I firmly believe that the UK has so many entrepreneurs and innovators (including many within our social expression industry) and that whatever is designed in the UK is far superior compared to anywhere in the world. Our market might be smaller compared to the US, however when it comes to creativity, commercialisation and ‘speed to market’, I believe no one can beat Britain.

I do at least hope that the vote will mean an end to the unfairness suffered by UK publishers and gift companies in the licensing field who commit considerable sums of money to secure a licence, invest in designing a world-class product, but then under a Treaty of Rome (an European agreement) see their sales affected by other companies from outside the UK having the right to bring in, often sub-standard, designed product into UK and selling it here.

I am concerned with the current position we have landed ourselves in and I for one did not fully appreciate that despite the fact that our current government fully expected to win and to stay in the EU, there is no real plan as to what to do following the outcome.”

VIEWPOINTS

A Licensed Publisher’s View Tim Rudd-Clarke, director of Gemma International:

“My thoughts on us leaving the EU... Though I voted out, in my heart I would have liked to have stayed in!

I like the idea of a single trading block, but in my view it has always been a deeper issue accountability of the EU commissioners over regulations, where, here in the UK, we have adopted and enforced them, and in other countries they give a cursory nod to them.

However, for our industry it is going to be a tough few years for publishers, of which I am one! Retailers will also need to take a view on how they are going to support their suppliers who will need to adjust with extreme swings in exchange rates; the stability of price is sure to be shaken.

Looking back to the greeting card Denise Laird, co-owner of Spirito, Glasgow: “Like most people I am unsure exactly what the implications of the decision of the UK to leave the trade some 20 years ago, 90% of Gemma’s EU will be and what, if any, effect it will have on business. With everything happening just a few days productions were ago there seems that there are currently far more questions than answers, but hopefully the dust done in the UK, so will settle and further clarity will emerge.

Brexit, longer-term, The majority of Scottish voters in the referendum voted to could be a good remain as part of the EU, but the implications of the result are thing for the UK likely to be felt exactly the same here as in the rest of the UK. greeting card and As a small business owner I hope that we could avoid an print industry, economic downturn due to the effect of the decision to leave. subject to raw At this early stage there is no indication of any negative materials being change in customer sentiment, with business remaining in line affordable. The with expectations for this time of the year, but it is very difficult good thing about cards and wrap is it is to predict what will happen in the weeks and months ahead. fairly easy to produce here in the UK. Greeting card suppliers whose products are made in the You have also got to question how UK and exported to other countries maybe become more will the new value retailers cope? - The attractive to importers if the fall in value of sterling continues, ones who are buying from the Far East and assuming tariff free access to markets is maintained, and could potentially see growth in the export side of their business. Conversely, the opposite effect on importing whose buying prices are linked to the American dollar. goods with its extra costs due to the fall in the £pound could make greeting cards more expensive to So it’s all up in the air at the moment, produce and would in turn be more expensive for retailers, thereby reducing demand. but for Gemma International we see Ultimately I don’t believe that it is in the interests of either the UK or EU industry to fundamentally change the nature of trading relationships with each other and hopefully any volatility in currency rates opportunity and a change, a chance to will stabilise in the days and weeks ahead. The important thing is that uncertainty is removed as quickly partner up again with the UK print and manufacturing, a time of change.” as possible as this could impact business and customer sentiment to everyone’s detriment.”

An Independent Scottish Retailer’s View

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 35

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In Conversation With... John Lewis

Multiple Choice

Decisions

Walk through the doors of John Lewis’ latest flagship store in Birmingham and you can’t miss it. The prime-sited greeting card and stationery department could not be given a greater prominence in this sparkling new 170,000 sq ft veritable retailing emporium.

And, as PG found out, if any further proof was needed as to JLP’s commitment to greeting cards, a short chat with Lisa Rutherford, the buyer responsible for greeting cards, wrappings, stationery, partyware and seasonal events, would put you straight.

One of the bugbears for greeting card publishers looking to supply multiple accounts is the rapid turnover of buyers. No sooner has a buyer started to get to grips with the machinations of greeting cards that they move on to another product sector and it is back to square one. Arguably, this is not good news for the retailer (who has to tread water for a bit while the new buyer settles in). Invariably this is not good news for existing suppliers (though would-be suppliers do get a fresh shot) and, it

could be argued it is not good news for the sector as a whole as this industry thrives on the consumer’s appetite for greeting cards being sustained by having a superb selection on offer which not only meets their needs, but piques their aesthetic interest.

When that multiple retailer happens to be John Lewis the stakes are raised higher still.

Named time and time again as ‘Britain’s favourite retailer’, it is an accepted bellwether of taste – and the views of its chairman Charlie Mayfield are invariably held above those of leading politicians. (This was illustrated

perfectly recently during the Brexit debate, who, despite saying JLP was not taking sides, JLP’s chairman’s statesmanlike quotes mooting that UK retail prices would increase for five years if the UK left the EU were, not surprisingly, lapped up by the media).

So, when it was announced that John Lewis was to make changes to its greeting card buying team at the start of last year there were a few shrugs of frustration. But Lisa Rutherford, who took on the role of buyer for greeting cards (as well as wrap, stationery, home office, partyware and seasonal events) last January, did not waste any time in getting into her stride – and her form suggests she is here to stay.

“I was a buyer for Christmas products for 10 years for John Lewis and loved it, but when I was returning to work after the birth of my second daughter, I felt I was up for a new opportunity and this post was perfect,” reveals Lisa.“Through my previous role I dealt with several of the major suppliers, but now I am also able to work with smaller artisans too, which is great.”

With 46 stores department stores (32 department stores and

Top: John Lewis’ card buyer Lisa Rutherford (left) in conversation with PG’s Jakki Brown at the JLP head office in London.

Above: The card and stationery department is right at the front of the Birmingham store.

Above right: Among the designs in the new own brand everyday collection.

Inset: The impressive frontage of John Lewis’ new Birmingham store next to the New Street station.

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In Conversation With... John Lewis

additional stores in Leeds and Cheltenham in the pipeline, 12 John Lewis at home stores and shops at Heathrow Terminal 2 and St Pancras station) as well as a growing online business, John Lewis is a sizeable retailer, but it punches above its weight on the status front right across the store, and that includes greeting cards.

With a decade of experience in what is a related field, as well as inheriting an established “and successful” supply chain (in that Woodmansterne category manages the greeting card displays and brokers in other publishers’ designs - see breakout box below), Lisa has hit the ground running. She is pleased with the progress made in her first year, but she has now set her sights higher. She is underway on instigating a series of improvements in a number of areas - the product selection, the relationships with supplying publishers, and the interaction customers have with the products, which should hopefully be reflected of course in increased sales.

“Our card and stationery sales enjoyed a record year last year and this year we are on target to beat that figure,” reveals Lisa. “You only need to stand in the department for a few minutes to see that customers really do enjoy shopping for cards and stationery.

These are very personal buying decisions which consumers prefer to make in an actual store rather than online.”

She confirms that only 3% of John Lewis’ greeting cards are bought online, “a fraction of the 15%-20% that online sales account for in so many of our other departments,” Lisa reveals.

And looking at it from another angle, a John Lewis card and stationery department is a great footfall driver for the rest of the store – part of the reason that greeting cards are positioned pride of place at the front of the brand new Grand Central store in Birmingham.

As Lisa explains, while its Oxford Street store attracts a large number of tourists, this is

From Speed Dating To Up Close “Working with Woodmansterne is fantastic. They understand us and our customers and we understand them. I did though feel that we could do more to improve on the relationship with some of our card suppliers,” says Lisa, explaining the rationale behind the inaugural greeting card supplier seminar, which took place last month at Woodmansterne’s distribution centre in Milton Keynes.

In the past, John Lewis would invite the 40 publishers with whom it deals to a meeting that was something, described by Lisa, as a “speed dating event” whereby each supplier had 20 minutes to present to the buyers.“This was far too rushed and neither parties really benefitted.”

JPL’s recent seminar was attended by 13 suppliers (eight in the morning, five in the afternoon) with the remaining suppliers Above: John Lewis and Woodmansterne invited publishers invited to attend a subsequent seminar later in the summer. to a supplier seminar day that took place last month at As Andy Paterson, sales director of Woodmansterne, explained:“The day Woodmansterne’s distribution centre in Milton Keynes. enabled a number of crucial topics to be discussed, and gave the participating suppliers the opportunity to have a tour of the Distribution Centre to see how the products are handled and how they get it on to John Lewis’ shelves. We were able to demonstrate the technological development that we have incorporated into the supply chain solution, notably, the electronic scanning which means that replenishment, picking and dispatch are very slick and incredibly accurate.”

Above: Amie Scull, seen here at last year’s Henries judging day, has recently returned to the card buying team at John Lewis as assistant buyer for stationery, giftwrap and seasonal events.

the exception rather than the rule, as the vast majority of John Lewis stores rely on a strong regular customer base.

“This means we need to delight and surprise them every time they come into our stores with the products we have on display,” says Lisa, whose current portfolio means she is responsible for ‘surprising and delighting’ across 6,000 skus!

On the greeting card front alone, John Lewis currently buys from 40 different

A Bunch Of Five Lisa Rutherford answers a ‘handful’ of personal questions: l How would your friends sum you up? “Loyal, honest and slightly bonkers.” l What’s your guilty pleasure? “Salt and vinegar crisps.” l If you weren’t a buyer at John Lewis… “I’d be a teacher as I love the sense of achievement of seeing people succeed.” l Which celeb would you most want to have dinner with? “Madonna.” l What is your industry wish? “I wish that stationery was firmly on the map as a trend-driven giftable proposition. We’re on the way, but still have more potential.”

Right: JLP’s Lisa Rutherford (left) with her colleague Charlotte McCarthy, buying assistant, stationery and seasonal events, who was among the official openers for the recent PG Live show.

Left: Lisa’s guilty pleasure is salt and vinegar crisps.

publishers, a number which Lisa feels is about right, though says that she was sorely tempted by some of the suppliers she spotted at the recent PG Live.

“I could have easily ordered from over 90 publishers. There was so much fantastic product at the show!” she said.

In addition to the branded publishers, Lisa has worked with Woodmansterne to develop a collection of 12 own brand everyday cards, which retail at £3.

Rather than being blatantly branded, the cards include a subtle label with the wording ‘Designed exclusively for John Lewis’ with information on the rear about the artist who designed each card.

“These have gone down well with customers and we are going to extend it into Christmas counter cards too,” confirms Lisa.

Another change Lisa has made in conjunction with Woodmansterne is to only undertake one major replan a year (to happen in October), supplemented by more frequent refreshes with new designs being filtered into the display.

“This way is much better for our customers and also less wasteful for our suppliers. It means we can reflect the newness that is out there from publishers and share that more quickly with our customers,” she says.

Far from being under threat, Lisa feels very positive about the greeting card and stationery sector.

“It is almost as though we have all gone full circle, back to a time when we are really enjoying sentiment and the tangibility of these special paper products. Stationery is cool again, and this is something I am very keen to build on, making stationery even more giftable and sending cards even more special.”

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 39

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Retailer Top Picks

Summer Lovin’

With all the Spring Seasons now over, retailers have a clear run to put on a full summer display of great new products.

Following on from last month’s edition, PG shares more retailers’ ‘rays of sunshine’ of products that they felt really stood out at the recent PG Live exhibition.

Lesley Dunn, co-owner of Feathering Your Nest, Raleigh:

Lauren Frearson, buyers’ assistant for Stationery, Christmas and Home accessories, Selfridges: “Just to pick out two of my favourite ‘spots’ at PG Live Eleanor Stuart, for her beautiful wraps and cards, who we are very excited to work with.

Also, ‘Max made me do it’ creates some incredible prints and cards. We are hoping to work on a special project with this publisher.”

“We adored Paper Salad, the stand was so bright and fresh, it really drew you in. The colour palette is bold and playful with rose gold, dots and floral features all being on trend. The lovely artwork and words made it all the more appealing.

Stephanie Dyment has a beautiful offering, very soft, shimmering and tactile. Perfect for females, which is what FYN is all about.

Top: Feathering Your Nest’s Lesley Dunne (left) Hearts Designs’ Mad Dots range and Lisa Dean (right) with PG&H’s Sue Marks. what can we say... they are perfect for our Above: One of the soft, shimmering designs from Stephanie Dyment.

Essex girlie shop as they are embellished with sparkling hearts and bows: Very on trend and tasteful.

A Made Hand had some really trendy new men’s cards with tattoos and hipsters. It's quite difficult to buy men’s cards that aren't cheesy! These are young and fun which appeal to our customers.

Clear Creations has delightful artwork with colours that you get lost in.”

Michelle Ellingham, co owner of Box of Delights, Flitwick:

Top: As the TV series Mr Selfridge reinforces, the department store has always been on the lookout for innovative product.

Above: ‘Max made me do it’ has a quirky take on occasions designs.

Left: Artistic surrealism from Eleanor Stuart.

“There were lots of new and exciting ranges from existing publishers at PG Live and quite a few new companies that caught our eye.

Firstly, we loved the new Joy collection of large cards from Belly Button Designs. And Hearts Designs is onto a winner with its Mad Dots collection, I couldn't wait to place an order!

Below: Box of Delights’ Michelle Ellingham (right) was delighted to spend her £50 Greats’ voucher against an order placed with Two Beans’ Rachel Mulraney.

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 41

Contact us now:

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Retailer Top Picks

I was impressed with the variety and quality of new young businesses exhibiting this year, such as Rosie Made A Thing; I loved the funny and quirky style of humour.

I also really liked Megan Claire's Rose Gold range; the Sara Miller collections from The Art File and Penny Kennedy, as well as the cute range from Pippi & Me. I also got really excited to be a stockist of Two Beans' gorgeous cards for everyday and Christmas.”

Nicky Stephenson and Claire Jarvis, coowners of The Tutbury Present Company, Tutbury:

Right: Belly Button’s large Joy cards went down a treat with Box of Delights’ Michelle Ellingham.

Emma and Pauline Gillett, Special Occasions, Castle Bromwich: “All the publishers stand out in their own way, but one company that really caught our eye was Hearts Designs, notably its Mad Dots range which has such beautiful contemporary designs at a great price point. We already stock the gifts [available under licence from Lesser & Pavey] so seeing the cards was perfect and we placed an order straight away.

Another surprise was from Second Nature. Not only did its stand look fabulous, but there was lots of new product and updated ranges to go with. My favourite range was Tropicana, very bright and eye-catching, while the Notting Hill W10 range was so beautiful. We ordered all the new ranges.”

Above: One of the stunning designs from Hearts Designs.

“There were SO many really fantastic ranges, so it’s hard to chose, but here are our 'hot hits': There were lots of brilliant humour ranges at the show, but the designs by Redback Cards really stood out and had us laughing out loud!

In Springboard, Angie Beal Designs were really quirky and we loved the soft collage effect behind the illustrations. We were drawn to the fun, colourful and artistic designs by Sarah Kelleher, sure to pop out on any display. Bexy Boo also impressed us with her expanded range, and finally, Rush Design caught our eye with its stunning cards which have a sparkle that gives them a special 'showbiz’ touch.”

Top: Colourful and artistic designs from Sarah Kelleher.

Above right: A Rush Design card with a touch of showbiz.

Below: Tutbury Present Company’s Nicky Stephenson (centre) and Claire Jarvis (left) with Bexy Boo’s founder Bex Hassett at the show.

Above: Second Nature’s Tropicana range is hot to trot.

Left: Pauline (left) and Emma Gillett of Special Occasions writing their cards for the Queen at PG Live.

Brent Milburn, director of Rhymes With Orange and New Frames, London: “My highlights were: l Tillovision - I loved its Mungo and Shoddy, Just Help Yourself and Stoll Buzzing ranges of humour cards. l Little Difference - I liked the designs and that they plant a tree for every card sold. l Love Candy Designs for its bright designs that stand out from the crowd. l Oi Doris for its clever concept of typewriter art.

Right: Brent Milburn with Longacres’ Kim Lewis at l Meany-bo-Beany is a great new supplier.

The Retas drinks reception at PG Live. l Pink Pig for its Go Wild designs.

Above: Colour that ‘pops’ from Love Candy Design. l And Tache - I love them, they are so quirky!”

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 43

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Retailer Top Picks

David Robertson, partner of JP Pozzi and Bijou in Buckie and Elgin:

Peter Whiteman, owner of Dzodzo, Woodbridge:

“I thought Proud Couture’s cards/slogans were very feminine and fitted the product that many women of that 20-40 (and beyond) age group are looking for.

The prints were good too.

I really liked several ranges from Megan Claire (including her new Sunshine range, especially the lemon design) and was very impressed with the UKG RHS product - quite simply, the cards are excellent.

Plus, its drop of female birthday that was also showcased is as good as I have seen from the publisher.

I thought Tillovision’s Biscuit range was great.

Second Nature was very unlike Second Nature - with its new ranges being a big step forward for the company and I look forward to getting this product in store in August.”

Above: One of the designs from Megan Claire’s new Sunshine range.

Left: David Robertson thought Tillovision’s Biscuit range was ‘dunking’ good!

Paulene Cattle, partner of Chalk, Southfields: “We placed orders with about 15 companies at PG Live and identified another few who we will contact in the future.

Two new suppliers we liked especially were Oi Doris (great name!) whose cards are all designed on a vintage typewriter, and Anna Wright’s cards with beautiful collaged design combinations of fabrics, feathers and drawing.

As far as new ranges from our existing suppliers go, we especially liked the Face Mat range from

"PG Live was great yet again, so much hard work had been put into the card designs and captions. Every year the show appears to go from strength to strength, and it is always pencilled into the diary for the coming year. Not to be missed. It's a great time to see new designs, new companies and catch up with fellow retailers and network on what is hot and working.

Gems from this years show for us were: Hearts Designs' Mad Dots range both the cards and the books - great on trend designs, finished superbly and at an affordable price; Jelly n Bean's Lets do Lunch range silly clean humour with a new twist that you just want to have a giggle at; Brainbox Candy's Facemats universal fun to be had with these cards for old and young people across the world. Great visual humour and hours of Facebook photos to be had; Wendy Jones-Blackett - as usual great designs, well priced and good for all occasions; and Jonny Javelin's Velvet range - slightly traditional but with a modern style that appeals to many people."

Above: Brainbox Candy's Facemats are 'changing the face' of cards.

those great guys at Brainbox Candy; the lovely new things in the Pippi & Me range (good that a percentage of the profit goes to charity) and we loved the new black and white Calico range from Lucilla Lavender.”

Above: Chalk’s Paulene Cattle (right) and Kay Whiteman.

Left: Striking monochrome from Lucilla Lavender’s new Calico range.

Tina Botterill, co owner of Cool! Cards, Skipton: “I felt there was more innovation at PG Live this year. I placed quite a lot of orders and can't wait for the stock to arrive over the next few months.

Among the product highlights were Ivorymint for its great age cards, while I really loved the humour of Rosie Made a Thing and the beautiful art cards on Wraptious.

Elspeth Thompson also stood out and she has agreed to do a personalisation service for Cool! Cards and Gifts.

Of our existing suppliers who had lovely new ranges were Roisin Cafferty, especially her age cards, Art Press for its lovely new art designs, and stunning simplicity from Lucilla Lavender’s new designs. And on the ‘wordy’ front, Jonny Javelin new Above right: Punchy calligraphy from Ivorymint.

Right: One of the wonderful designs from Rosie designs continue to impress.”

Made a Thing.

If you don’t drink too much, how wilL your friends know you love them at 2am?

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 45

a beautiful new range of cards, gift wraps & gifts

to see our full range

come and see us at Harrogate home and gift festival 17th - 20th July 2016 you will find us at stand DP1-17 www.souluk.com smile@souluk.com 01235 537816

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Innovations

Home & Gift

A selection of products launching at Home and Gift, 17 – 20 July 2016, Harrogate.

Loud And Clear Lola Design is launching Hola!, a new special occasions range comprising eight gorgeously illustrated cards with words and phrases designed by Amanda Mountain with lovely laser foiling. All the cards are sized 150mm square, printed heavy weight board and supplied with a contrasting grey envelope.

Lola Design 01904 675514 www.loladesignltd.com Hall G Stand 71a

Top Of The Pups!

With folks going barking mad over the daft designs in Tony Fernandes’ Doggie range, he’s decided to extend it with 24 new canine designs, all created in his detailed pen, ink and splosh of watercolour style. All the cards are sized 5”x7”, sold wrapped with white envelopes and are also available as gift prints.

Tony Fernandes Design 01142 620899 www.tonyfernandesdesign.com Hall DP5 Stand 66

Robot Style!

Redback’s brand new giftwraps are sure to please kids and adults alike with retro robots, rainbow dinosaurs, vibrant balloons and invading aliens – designed to make any present look spectacular. There are nine designs all printed on tactile matt paper and sold in packs of 25.

Redback Cards 01803 712 793 www.redbackcards.com Hall DP5 Stand 2a

Furry Friends

From The Heart Dandelion is excited to launch the Watergate Bay Collection, a new occasions range lovingly hand-finished with subtle sparkles. There are 28 designs, including eight ‘someone special’ titles suitable for Valentine’s and other loving occasions. All the cards are sized 140mm square, printed on luxury 300gsm matt board and supplied with subtle grey envelopes.

Dandelion Stationery 01332 695359 www.dandelionstationery.co.uk Hall DP5 Stand 3

Award-winning publisher, Wrendale Designs is launching a brand new card range of cards entitled A Dog’s Life. There are 36 150mm square cards featuring Hannah Dale’s characterful images of our best four-legged friends, with a National Trust gift book of the same name to follow in the autumn.

Wrendale Designs 01652 680253 www.wrendaledesigns.co.uk Hall DP1 Stand 4

Festive Gifts New ranges of chinaware are being launched at Home and Gift on the Lesser and Pavey stand.

These include a new illustrated Stag range, Red Robins under license from McNeil and Festive Fun, which bring santa and snowman characters to the table, all marketed under the internationally recognised brand name of The Leonardo Collection Lesser & Pavey 01322 279225 www.leonardo.co.uk Hall M Stand 14

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 47

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Innovations

Home & Gift

A selection of products launching at Home and Gift, 17 – 20 July 2016, Harrogate.

In Wraptures Wraptious is launching a stunning new range of occasions cards by Laura Clamp, the winner of its recent design competition. A recent graduate in a Creative Masters, Laura extracts colours and textures from magazines, creating collages that depict some of Britain's best-loved birds in a way that portrays personality and character.

Wraptious 0161 221 0109 www.trade.wraptious.com Hall DP5 Stand 25a

Luxurious Christmas Ho Ho Ho! The Luvvy Duvvy Doodle Christmas range from Bexy Boo is full of fun and festive cheer! Featuring Bexy’s signature vintage wooden letter tiles, oodles of sparkly genuine crystals, pom-poms and bows, these sumptuous cards are hand-finished in Cheshire and sold wrapped with coordinating red envelopes.

Bexy Boo 01565 830 546 www.bexyboo.co.uk Hall DP5 Stand 56

Historic Icons After a very successful PG Live, Brighton based I Drew This is debuting at Harrogate with the newly expanded Landmarks range of gorgeous and colourful iconic buildings designed by Ilona Drew. The cards are sized 178mm x 130mm, printed on quality board and come branded and wrapped with recycled kraft envelopes.

I Drew This 07813 005707 www.idrewthis.co.uk Hall DP5 Stand 71

Photosynthesis Natural Partners is releasing a new range by York-based artist Fiona Calder, whose beautiful original artworks comprise intricate contemporary floral illustrations set against thoughtfully designed digital art backdrops.

There are 16 vibrant images in the range, all in a 155mm square format and sold wrapped with a white envelope.

Natural Partners 07714 768956 www.naturalpartnersart.co.uk Hall DP5 Stand 25

Dance To The Beat Loud And Proud Lucy Monkman is extending her popular Big Message card range at Home and Gift. There are six new text based card designs for milestone ages from 21 to 70 and six new Christmas card designs. All the cards are sized 144mm square and supplied wrapped with white envelopes.

Lucy Monkman 01904 630043 www.lucymonkman.com Hall DP5 Stand 28

Pink Pig is very excited about launching its new Animazing range - it’s bright, happy, with upbeat text in a vivid colour palette. Groovy!

Comprising 10 birthdays and 10 occasions, the cards are printed on crisp white high quality FSC board, are sized 150mm square and sold wrapped with a lovely soft grey envelope.

Pink Pig 07583 088596 www.pinkpigcards.co.uk Hall DP5 Stand 73b

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 49

An exceptional buying experience for exceptional results An inspiring array of new product launches and retail insight, all set in a uniquely social atmosphere.

Find it all first at Home & Gift. Register now at homeandgift.co.uk/pgh16 Giftware | Jewellery & Fashion | Interiors & Accessories | Greetings & Stationery

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Innovations

Home & Gift

A selection of products launching at Home and Gift, 17 – 20 July 2016, Harrogate.

Shiny Happy Molly Mae is adding 20 fabulous new relations and birthday designs into its Light Fantastic range, featuring beautiful embossed details and fabulous foiled colours. Now with 50 designs, the range includes loving birthday wishes and light-hearted titles such as Gin & Fizz and Wine 0’Clock.

Molly Mae 0844 7362686 www.mollymae.co.uk Hall DP1 Stand 44

Magic Garden

For The Girls

Blooming Jewels is a beautiful floral art collection from Linda Wood new for Harrogate and summer 2016. This 12 card range is sized 150mm square, printed on a fine art board and sold wrapped with lovely hammer effect white envelopes.

Linda Wood 01376 562535 www.lindawood.co.uk Hall G Stand 15b

With fun girly statements inspired by Victorian engravings, the very glamorous Always Fabulous range from Soul is the perfect way to send good wishes to your fabulous friends and family. There are 17 137mm square cards in this range sold wrapped with coordinating envelopes.

Soul UK 01235 537888 www.souluk.com Hall DP1 Stand 17

Start Me Up Rolling Stone is a brand new range of eight love-based designs from Velvet Olive on show at Harrogate. These deceptively simple designs have a luxurious satin gold foil finish, cover occasions such as wedding, engagement and anniversary captions and are sold wrapped with kraft envelopes.

Velvet Olive 01892 838574 www.velvetolive.co.uk Hall DP1 Stand 101

Sunny Day

Hitting The Spot

Megan Claire is adding gorgeous new designs to its popular yellow and black trend-led range, Good Morning Sunshine. The range now has 12 eye-catching designs with quirky phrases on striking yellow patterns (think cactus, lemons, pineapples, stripes, dots and more!). Each card is sized 109mm x 155mm and comes with wrapped with a bright sunny yellow envelope.

Megan Claire 01536 560345 www.meganclaire.co.uk Hall DP5 Stand 59

Caroline Gardner has lots of new ranges launching at Home and Gift! One being this vibrant card range called You Are Here; think sketches, typography and iconic images that remind us of hot spot destinations: London, Paris and New York and beyond!

Caroline Gardner 020 8288 9696 www.carolinegardner.com Hall DP1 Stand 113

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 51

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Innovations

Home & Gift

A selection of products launching at Home and Gift, 17 – 20 July 2016, Harrogate.

Floral Joy Licorice’s Forest Fauna range has now been renamed Floral Fauna. Incorporating the original range, it’s now been extended to 20 designs with new bright fresh colours and a wider range of creatures. All the cards are sized 120mm x 170mm and sold wrapped with coordinating envelopes.

Licorice 0845 224 2609 www.licorice.design Hall G Stand 92

ZZedelicious Christmas

All In A Gift

Returning to Home and Gift with a bang is ZZ Designs with the launch of BaubleZZ - a range of cards with detachable perspex Christmas baubles! There are eight designs comprising Santa, Rudolf, Penguin, Robin, Black and White Sheep, Christmas Pudding, and Snowman – all hand-finished in London with glitter, felt, foil, paint and vinyl.

ZZ Designs 020 8882 2511 www.zzdesigns.com Hall DP5 Stand 1

Design-led giftware venture, Bubble from Belly Button designs, is building on its successful launch to bring you Pretty and Pink, an elegant collection of gift bags, tissue, china mugs and wrap with beautiful minimalist designs of stripes and spots.

Belly Button Bubble 0161 902 0200 www.bellybuttonbubble.com Hall DP2 Stand 60

In The Flow Sweet Birthdays is a brand new modern sentiment birthday range from Caryl Halstead.

Working from her signature palette of white, grey and colour, this range features bright and bold colours all ideal for autumn. The cards are all sized 155mm square wrapped with a grey envelope.

Caryl Halstead 07890 265172 www.carylhalstead.com Hall DP5 Stand 75

The Silvery Moon

Proud To Be Green

In The Bleak Mid-Winter is one of the latest designs to be added to the Winter Magic range from Moongazer Cards. There are now 19 Winter/Christmas designs in this range designed

by Sally Anne Lambert, all with a decorated verse from a well-loved poem printed on the reverse.

All the cards are sized 150mm and supplied wrapped with white envelopes.

Moongazer Cards 077454 81411 www.moongazercards.com Hall DP5 Stand 12

Be Green is a range of 10 lovely new cards and two beautiful luxury giftwraps from Plewsy.

Inspired by the great outdoors and interior trends, designer Fiona Fawcett uses ink and watercolours in fresh greens and blues, adding fun everyday captions. All the cards are printed on recycled board and sold wrapped with a simple grey recycled envelope.

Plewsy 07725 530875 www.plewsy.com Hall G Stand 130 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 53

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Innovations

Home & Gift

A selection of products launching at Home and Gift, 17 – 20 July 2016, Harrogate.

All Spice Two Little Monkeys is launching new designs into its Cinnamon Ginger range of gorgeous contemporary cards.

All the adult milestone ages 18–100 are now covered, as well as friends and relations titles. Printed on a beautiful textured board, the cards are blank inside, sized 155mm square and sold wrapped with a brown kraft envelope.

Two Little Monkeys 0191 488 3333 www.twolittlemonkeysltd.co.uk Hall DP5 Stand 24

Party Parade Doggy Party Cards is a new collection of birthday and Christmas cards from Heather Alstead - that will just make you smile! There are 36 cards and two giftwraps in the range, all sized 150mm square, printed onto beautifully thick board and sold wrapped with a matching coloured envelope. A4 prints are also available.

Heather Alstead Design 07814256674 www.heatherlasteaddesign.com Hall DP5 Stand 51

Capturing Christmas Leonard Smith has extended its beautiful Christmas photographic range to 40 designs for 2016. The collection includes lovely snowy scenes, delicate Christmas berries, nativity scenes, Christmas candles and wreaths not forgetting snowy sheep and popular red robins of course!

There is also a great free counter top display on offer with orders of 30 designs.

Leonard Smith Publishing 01376 562727 www.leonardsmith.co.uk Hall DP1 Stand 28

Equine Fantasy Deckled Edge is launching Prancing Myth, a new range of cards for girls at Home and Gift. There are 17 cards in the range covering ages 1-10 years, general birthdays and occasions, all designed with youthful unicorn and Pegasus lovers in mind! All the cards have foiled stars, hearts and flowers, are sized 150mm square, blank inside and sold wrapped with bright envelopes.

Deckled Edge 0800 771 0771 www.decklededge.co.uk Hall DP5 Stand 63

Motor City Clanna Cards is expanding its successful Richard Partis motoring and transport card range to 48 designs. New designs being launched at Home & Gift include Aston Martins, classic Italian cars, Le Mans 1930, steam engines, vintage flight and emergency vehicles. All the cards are sized 7” x 5" supplied wrapped with coloured envelopes.

Clanna Cards 01242 575 574 www.clannacards.co.uk Hall DP5 Stand 68

You’re Booked!

After a bespoke request from the most famous bookshop in Ireland, My World has ended up developing Wordsmith, a whole new range of 18 cards perfect for bookshops, libraries and book lovers in general! Celebrating some of the great icons of classic literature, this range brings together contemporary design and iconic quotes in a fabulous array of cards for any bookworm!

My World 0191 3055165 www.myworld.co.uk Hall DP5 Stand 53

Party Paws Party Animals by Rachel Ellen Designs is a funky new range of 18 cards designed specifically for boys aged 7 to 13. Featuring both age cards and open birthday, Party Animals have gold foil highlights and are hand-finished with a die-cut badge. The cards measure 149mm x 149mm and come cellowrapped with a neon or kraft envelope.

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JEREMY’S JOURNAL Business blogging by publisher Jeremy Corner of Blue Eyed Sun.

Network

Thinking

Jeremy Corner, owner of greeting card publisher Blue Eyed Sun, explores the shift to ORS.

In 2009 I started experimenting with social media and bought several books on the subject, one of which was by an entrepreneur called Penny Power (called Know Me, Like Me, Follow Me). Penny and her husband Thomas Power founded one of the first social networks for businesses in 1998.

Called Ecademy.com, it built a sizable number of users in the UK and was a forerunner to LinkedIn, which was recently purchased by Microsoft for $28 billion.

Penny’s book led me to a video online of Thomas talking about a concept called ORS or network thinking and the shift that organisations and businesses have to make to achieve success online using social media.

There’s something about ORS that appeals to me and I think that Thomas is onto something recognising the shift from institutional thinking to network thinking online.

I also think that ORS thinking is natural for so many people in the card and gift industries, particularly for newcomers and millennials. If you don’t fit into these categories it’s worth paying attention because it’s these new ways of thinking that are disrupting business models around the world.

After meeting Thomas at the Sage Summit in New Orleans for the first time last year we have become friends and he was gracious enough Top: Network Thinking means adaptability instead of control as a business model.

Above right: One of the benefits of social media is that you can maintain more active relationships and make new ones.

Right: New ways of management are taking over from the traditional closed, selective and controlling way (image by Julian Stodd).

to accept my invitation to speak at the Giftware Association’s Members Day last month, at which I became vice-chairman of the GA. I introduced ORS to the GA two to three years ago and we are currently using it as part of our strategy to modernise the organisation.

What Is ORS? The shift from institutional thinking to network thinking is marked by the shift from Closed, Selective, Controlling thinking (CSC) to Open Random and Supportive thinking (ORS).

Sitting at board level, Thomas noticed that they operated in a closed, selective and controlling way where directors are responsible for corporate governance and to their shareholders.

In institutions you have to operate behind closed doors to protect the organisation, you have to be selective about what you absorb and how you communicate and you have to be

controlling of everything. This is driven by the demands of public policy, shareholders, staff and the law. It’s institutional thinking or CSC. This is very different from how we operate inside of networks where we need to be open, random and supportive (ORS).

You have to be open and accept everything that comes at you, you have to be random and accept the disorder that things come at you and you have to be supportive of everyone around you. That’s networking thinking or ORS. Thomas believes that we are transitioning from institutional thinking to network thinking this century. Having undertaken this journey himself he reckons it takes around ten years to adjust. He’s even devised a tool where you can assess your digital personality type to see how easy or difficult it might be for you to make this change. You can try it for free at: www.imadigital.com

The Benefits Of ORS As social beings we all know the benefits of having a good network of friends.

Interestingly, studies have shown the benefits to be more powerful in the secondary network than those closest to us. That new job offer or business opportunity is more likely to come from a friend of a friend than one of your buddies for example.

In the 1990s British anthropologist, Robin Dunbar, found a correlation between primate brain size and average social group PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 57

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JEREMY’S JOURNAL them in a closed, selective and controlling way. You cannot numb these feelings. If you try to numb pain you numb joy. If vulnerability is the birthplace of joy, creativity and love then you can only really spread this through an ORS approach and it’s practically impossible to do so by being CSC.

The Change

size. Dunbar’s Number proposes that on average most of us can only comfortably maintain 150 stable relationships with our current brain size (the number lies in a range from 100 to 250). This is the average number of people we know on and keep social contact with. It doesn’t include those we have ceased a social relationship with or that we know but lack a persistent social relationship with. The bigger our long-term memory size the higher the number is likely to be. Assuming Dunbar’s Number to be correct and assuming that we appear once in our close friends’ networks then the average maximum number for most of our secondary networks is 22,350 (150x149).

With social media and other media this number can be much higher. In a nutshell with social media you can maintain more active relationships than before and from there more secondary relationships and opportunities open up. In order to do this successfully we have to build trust. To do this quickly and effectively we have to be open, random and supportive (ORS).

Above: Many larger companies are creating more relaxed spaces of work producing a more creative and productive atmosphere.

Below: As a business (and person) being open and vulnerable and holding your hands up to mistakes can be attainable through the ORS approach but is practically impossible to do by the CSC system.

“Vulnerability is our most accurate measure of courage... The difficult thing is that vulnerability is the first thing I look for in you and the last thing I’m willing to show you. In you it’s courage. In me it’s weakness.”

The fear we have of being ORS is that people will confirm the terrible idea which we may have about ourselves that we are somehow not worthy of connecting with. In its darkest manifestation it’s a fear that we are not really loved or loveable.

The Fear Thomas trains board level executives in how to use social media effectively and, as he himself knows from experience, it’s not an easy journey to make. Even though I regularly practice being random and supportive, for me it is a challenging ongoing journey to be more open. That’s because being more open can make us feel more vulnerable. Being vulnerable is often perceived as a weakness (particularly in the board room). Yet it is our vulnerability that is our strength. Through it people can really see us for who we really are and begin to trust us. As TED speaker Brené Brown says:

The one thing that keeps us from connecting with one another is our fear that we are not worthy. It seems easier to protect ourselves by being closed, selective and controlling.

ORS is really about looking within and challenging this fear. We must be courageous enough to tell the story of who we are with our whole heart. We must recognise that we are imperfect and let go of our illusions (or delusions if you prefer) of control.

If you consider your feelings for a moment, we cannot live a full life by treating

We see ORS more and more online these days. The CEO that admits to the failings of their business publically and sets out how they will change to try and prevent these things occurring again is the one we trust over those that try and cover or hide their mistakes. There are business leaders that support new start-ups and the TV personalities that talk to random fans directly on Twitter.

The truth is, in the new world of social media we are already naked and bare before the world whether we like it or not.

Even if you personally aren’t online there are people online talking about you or wanting to engage with you (just take a look on TripAdvisor). We can no longer hide, even if we want to. We have to be courageous and unafraid. We have to step up online and have courage.

The companies that aren’t afraid to make mistakes, ask for feedback, listen to us (no matter how small or seemingly insignificant our questions) are the ones that are thriving and growing. These are the businesses we all want to buy from. These are the companies that millennials are drawn to.

It’s important to qualify that not everything has to be online or open.

We don’t necessarily post all of our trade secrets, accounts or patents online (although this has been happening in some industries - think of open source projects like Linux and Wikipedia).

For my own part, writing this column and my blog where I explore my failures and challenges publically has been a big part of my ongoing ORS journey. Thank you for reading it.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to congratulate Henri Davis on becoming the new chairperson of the Giftware Association and to thank her for asking me to be vicechairperson.

Read more on Jeremy’s blog at www.blueeyedsun.co.uk/blog PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 59

OUR STUNNING RHS RANGE CAlENdARS & dIARIES 2017

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ccastleton@carouselcalendars.co.uk abissell@carouselcalendars.co.uk

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Gardeners’ Question Time

In Full Bloom Chelsea Flower Show is the floral equivalent of Glasto; Monty Don, Pippa Greenwood and Alan Titchmarsh are viewed as demigods by the huge congregation of millions who love gardening with a passion and view Wisley as the horticultural equal of the Vatican.

At the very soul of our greenfingered obsession is the Royal Horticultural Society.

With its ‘first crop’ of RHS cards and wrappings being given pride of place on its stand at the recent PG Live, UKG has joined a bountiful bunch of licensees who are digging deep into the fertile group of this high profile charity’s abundant archives.

PG pulled on its wellies and steered its wheelbarrow down the RHS’ garden path.

Just as butterflies and bees are attracted to a Buddleia in full flower, so retailers visiting PG Live gravitated to UK Greetings’ stand and to its floral centerpiece which celebrated its inaugural collection of RHS licensed greeting cards and giftwrap.

PG columnist and well-respected retailer, David Robertson, co-owner of JP Pozzi and Bijou in Buckie and Elgin, was among those who hand-picked the new collection as one of the product highlights of the entire show, saying he was “very impressed” with the very first UKG collection based on the RHS Lindley Library images. “Quite simply, the cards are excellent,” he summed up.

For UK Greetings, this is a significant launch, underpinned by a three-year commitment to the horticultural charity. RHS has opened up its vast archives to greeting card publishers in the past through licensing Above: One of the many wonderful garden scenes within RHS’ archives.

Above right: A Carlton (top) and Gibson (middle) design using the RHS imagery in different ways.

Right: UKG gave the trade a sneak peek of its RHS range on its stand at the recent PG Live.

agreements, but this is a multifaceted approach. UKG has created a collection that straddles three of its card brands - Carlton, Gibson and Camden Graphics - as well as involving its giftwrap brand Collage - meaning UKG has scattered its ‘seeds’ for stocking right across a broad retail base of customers.

And, just to ensure that it doesn’t miss a trick on what could be its ‘hanging fruit’, UKG is, for the first time, to exhibit at GLEE, the gardening trade show (this September) to fanfare this succulent collection.

While a keen gardener herself, as director of marketing at UKG, Ceri Stirland put her personal tastes to one side when she travelled to London with her colleague Frances Billington to meet up with Cathy Snow, RHS’ licensing manager, to consider whether this was a route worthy pursuing, though she admits it didn’t take long for the potential to be recognised, for several good reasons.

First there is the growing interest in gardening. “The UK garden market is worth £5 billion a year,” says Ceri. “There are over 2,300 garden centres now in the UK and garden sales have grown 8% year on year to March 2016. Then there is the increase in horticulture coverage in the media. There is the TV coverage on RHS flower shows such as Chelsea or Hampton Court. BBC’s Gardeners’ World attracts almost 2.5m viewers, ITV has its Love Your Garden programme, while Channel 4 is currently commissioning a new series on amazing gardens around the world.”

Then there is the following and huge respect for the RHS brand, which now has over 445,000 members, more than 1.5 million annual visitors to its four gardens and 1.7 million unique monthly visits to its website.

But for all this to really work on greeting cards, they have to rely on great and appropriate imagery – and on this score RHS’ Lindley Library archive is a veritable aesthetic treasure trove that contains over 25,000 stunning images.

For Frances Billington, creative director for UKG’s core ranges, it has been a real labour of love for herself and the UKG team of designers PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 61

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Gardeners’ Question Time Licensing with the RHS

who have been involved in creating the greeting card and giftwrap collection.

“I went to the Lindley Library in London’s Westminister with no preconceived ideas, and was overwhelmed by what we saw. There were A2 books dating back to the 1600s full of wonderful paintings of horticulturalists who painted exotic species, in many cases introducing them to the rest of the world,” revealed Frances. “The calibre and diversity of the collection was outstanding.”

Handling the treasures, wearing protective cotton gloves, Frances saw possibilities of using the images, not just of plants and flowers, but also birds and insects.

“We had already tracked the bright floral trends that are evident within fashion and homewares, and here I was spoilt for choice for stunning imagery which fitted this contemporary trend exactly, despite being hundreds of years old.”

Left The licensing programme for RHS is continuing to expand, providing both funds and awareness building for the charity.

Below middle: Stunning photography features within the Camden RHS range.

Below right: One of the designs in Camden’s Botannical collection.

Bottom left: Frances Billington (third left) and Ceri Stirland (third right) with some of the UKG creative team at the RHS’ recent Chelsea Flower Show.

While this more ‘fashion forward’ artwork lent itself to be published under the Carlton brand, what Frances describes as “pure botanical illustration” was ideal for the Gibson designs.

In addition to the illustrative and painterly, Frances also sees massive opportunities to delve even deeper into RHS’ photographic archive. “We are featuring some beautiful photographs under Camden, but some of the historic gardening images are crying out to be used for humour cards,” says Frances, adding: “We have a three year licensing agreement, so this collection is just our first crop!”

ϭ

Gardening Tips Nicola Bowerbank, editor of Carousel Calendars: What are your favourite plants?“I especially enjoy growing vegetables as it gives a real sense of accomplishment when you pick and eat your own homegrown food. I've been really successful with peas, onions and cucumbers! I also have a huge Peace Lily that I've been growing for many years now, which has had to be repotted into increasingly larger vases and is my pride and joy.”

Left: Carousel Calendars’ Nicola Bowerbank.

62 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

Gardening Tips “Gardening provides a great reason to get away from technology and back to nature... and the beauty is anyone can do it,” says Ceri Stirland, marketing director of UK Greetings, who is a huge fan of gardening and also a longtime member of the RHS. Her own garden was designed by a Chelsea gold medal winner.

“I love flowers and colour. I spend hours in my garden and most weekends at RHS Harlow Carr in Harrogate,” confesses Ceri, explaining her personal penchant for gardening.

What is your favourite flower or plant?

“Ooooooh, where to start? A bit old fashioned I know, but I love a dahlia for their bright colours and for being shocking, daring and showy,” confessed Ceri.

If you were a plant, what would you be and why?“As per my previous answer – I’d have to be a dahlia. They are happy in most garden locations just as I am happy in most situations, while their late summer to autumn bloom time make them a valuable garden plant, just as I hope I am a valuable member of UKG, the GCA and the industry!” she reveals.

Above: Some of the lovely planting in Ceri Stirland’s own garden.

The UKG Bouquet The main focus of UKG’s RHS collection which launches this month (July) is the standalone collection of 29 designs.

Some Spring Seasons designs (for Easter and Father’s Day) as well as everyday captioned designs also form part of the initial portfolio.

Frances Billington, UKG’s creative director for core products, explains how the design styles vary from brand to brand: “The Gibson designs focus on beautiful, classic floral artwork that is enhanced with foils, glitters and embosses.

The Carlton collection is the fashion statement (with a more inventive use of floral imagery, bolder colour palettes and the tropical theme that is the hot clothing trend this summer).

Camden plays on the beautiful photographic imagery within the archive, combining the beautiful idyllic gardens and more natural garden themes, such as the bee, and picking up on RHS's support for community gardens.

The Camden black, white and grey collection is a simpler, more refined and elegant use of the archive pieces.

The Botanical collection uses a diverse range of archive pieces in their purest form.”

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Gardeners’ Question Time

A Bumper Harvest Cathy Snow, licensing manager for RHS really can say that the charity’s licensing activity is reaching new heights!

At the end of last month, high up on London’s skyline, on the roof of the respected Ermine Hotel, an unusual event was staged around an unexpectedly placed greenhouse where the food is grown for the establishment – and honey is produced from its own beehive.

“UKG has joined what has become a successful licensing programme for the RHS so we thought it was the right time to organise a press event - and where better than in a garden?!” said Cathy rhetorically, who together with two colleagues has been

It’s Snow Time

driving the licensing activities since she joined the team at the start of last year.

“Our job, through licensing, is to generate income to support the work of the charity as well as exposing the RHS brand to more people,” explains Cathy. She feels the tie–up with UKG is especially worthwhile.“Just think how many people we can reach through these greeting cards. Greeting cards have a unique and powerful role to connect two people with something tangible and we at the RHS benefit from this. UKG is helping to really put RHS on the high street.”

Last year alone, the RHS licensing programme generated over £800,000 to support the work of the charity, and this year, with the likes of UKG and Carousel Calendars now on board, even more

Making A Date Testament to the popularity of RHS, Carousel Calendars has quadrupled the range of calendars it is offering for 2017, compared to its 2016 collection. Anchoring its gardening collection are eight RHS titles which feature intricate historical botanical illustrations and eye-catching, colourful photography from RHS’ famous picture library. The calendars come in various formats, including wall, easel, CD, slim and ‘week to view’ organiser.

Of special note is a 2017 slim calendar that is dedicated to the Chelsea Flower Show, featuring photos from previous years, as well as fascinating facts about the show.

Nicola Bowerbank, editor of Carousel Calendars, proposes that the popularity of the sustained interest in gardening “is because it tends to be an all-encompassing hobby that becomes a part of people's lives. It's also very broad, in that its involvement ranges from people who simply have a little window box, up to full garden landscapers and professional horticulturalists, resulting in a wide target audience.”

Nicola feels that the RHS products have an appeal that goes far wider than the greenfingered “as the imagery is attractive, often bright and full of wonderful natural scenes.”

Above and right: Just two of the RHS products from Carousel Calendars.

A key reason Cathy Snow was so keen to take on the role with the RHS is because she is passionate on the benefits gardening, and plants in general, bring to people’s lives.

“I am lucky enough to have an office within RHS Wisley. I watch people arriving in their coachloads all clean and tidy and then I watch them leave rather dirtier, but very happy. Gardens are so good for the soul!”

What is your favourite plant? “Aliums. I really love them and have planted them everywhere. They look so great standing tall above other plants.

On the vegetable front, I am a self-confessed chilli fanatic. I can’t get enough of them!”

What would you be if you were a plant?“I think that as I am quite portly I would probably have to be an aubergine or a pear!”

Above: RHS’ Cathy Snow (right) with colleague Shereen Llewellin (centre) and UKG’s Ceri Stirland at the Brand & Lifestyle Licensing Awards event (organised by PG’s parent company Max Publishing) at which RHS was in the finals for its licensing programme.

Left: Some of the products in MeldHome’s RHS collection.

Below: Some of Burgon & Ball’s licensed RHS Chrysanthemum products.

significant sums can be raised. This money is currently being redirected into three RHS campaigns: ● Greening Grey Britain - which tackles the growing number of grey spaces and turn them into beautiful green places. ● RHS Britain in Bloom - A community gardening campaign to transform cities, towns and villages. ● It’s Your Neighbourhood - A grassroots community gardening campaign.

UKG joins a strong roster of RHS licensees, which includes Apta (planters); Bronnley (toiletries); Burgon & Ball (gifts for gardeners); Carousel Calendars (calendars and diaries); Caspari (paper tableware, napkins, tissues); Churchill (bone china mugs); Frances Lincoln (note books); Meld Home (gift home range); Michael O’Mara (colouring diary, Notes and Quotes and postcard book); Moorcroft (vases); Moorland Rugs (silk bespoke rugs and Axminster collection); Padblocks (notebooks and stationery); Turtle Mats (door mats and runners); Ulster Weavers (home textiles); Wax Lyrical (room fragrances and candles); We Love Cushions (cushions, deckchairs, and coming soon doorstops and draught excluders); Whichford Pottery (pottery) and Jenny Worrall (lamp bases).

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 63

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Spring Seasons Trends 2017

ASpring Garden

In preparation for the card design ‘blooms’ in next year’s Spring Seasons ‘garden’ PG has taken its trowel out of the shed and unearthed some of the design trends that are cultivating for 2017.

The Importance Of Being Earnest Valentine’s Day - 14 February 2017 Bears, bees, birds and the occasional bloom, Valentine’s card designs for 2017 seem to have moved away from the traditional crimson red roses and brimming emotional sentiment. Instead, shooting an arrow straight to the heart are honest and warm hand-written style fonts and simple typefaces delivering succinct and sweet messages of adoration in the first Spring Season of the year. ‘Hugs’, ‘Love you to the moon and back’ and ‘I was looking for you’ are fresh and intimate sentiments that shine with gentle and caring significance on card designs, complemented by doe-eyed cute animals and innocent characters as loveable messengers of admiration.

Pretty, well thought simple embellishments, such as buttons and bows, adorn a plethora of next year’s designs, however the ‘element’ that glows principally is opulent rose gold foiling, creating a luxurious effect and an extra special touch.

The cheeky and naughty Valentine’s cards will still flirt on the card racks offering lighter funny captions, but for those incurable romantics next year’s sentiments are sent in earnest.

Above: James Ellis’ new Shakies Valentine’s designs have holographic stars and red heart confetti encapsulated within the cards.

Below: Pretty rose and peach hues enhanced with rose gold foiling on a design by Katherine Hartley from CardMix.

Above: Laura Darrington’s Pigment Collection covering Mother’s Day, Valentine’s and Easter.

Below: Cheeky Valentine’s cards will still rule the ‘roost’ a design from Pigment’s Boom Shaka Laka range.

Top: A doe-eyed dog delivering a message of love on a design by The Great British Card Company.

Above left: Cinnamon Aitch’s Valentine’s range for 2017 offers designs all hand-finished with a combination of message tags, wooden details and sparkly gems.

Above right: Belly Button’s Malarkey range places a central focus on unusual icons.

Left: Blue Eyed Sun’s Vintage Too Valentine range from original embroideries by Jo Corner is handfinished with jewels.

Above: For 2017 Laura Sherratt Designs have added to both the Ditsy Daisy and Male Mail handmade card collections.

Left: ‘Hugs’ are scribed on this Words ‘n’ Wishes design.

Below left: Innocent bear Otto on an Otto’s dream’s card from Noel Tatt.

Below: A romantic film still from The Lady and the Tramp movie by Disney on a Hallmark card.

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 65

Christmas 2016 .

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Spring Seasons Trends 2017

Pots Of Love Mother’s Day - 26 March 2017 The cup runneth over for mums on Mother’s Day cards next year. Beautiful, ornately decorated teacups and saucers hint at the British ritual and centuries’ old tradition of afternoon tea served in the elegant English tearoom. For mums this would be a treat and indulgence, and 2017 Mother’s Day cards are pouring a heady brew of love and appreciation with ‘pots’ of modest, warm and heart-felt sentiments.

Signifying beauty, inside and out, floral posies and bouquets are presented to mums on card designs in bold bunched blooms and tiny vintage style rose buds and berries in pretty blush pink and peach shades with soft touches of fresh aqua and pale green set against a creamy backdrop. And delicate watercolour washes and paired down illustrations are enhanced with flitter, sweet little buttons and touches of radiant gold foiling.

Mums will glow with pleasure with these Mother’s Day designs showing gestures of thanks for her protective, caring, nurturing nature and for all those lovely hugs!

Top left: Panda bear hugs on a CardMix Tigertales design.

Above: Vintage teacups enhanced with flitter on a Hallmark design.

Right: Paper Rose’s Sew Happy is a beautiful range featuring images of detailed hand embroidery by talented artist Eleri Fowler.

Left: There’s ‘pots’ of love for Mum on this Noel Tatt design.

Below: Gold foiling highlights the script on this Pigment Love Unlimited design.

Left: Watercolour blooms with coloured foil centres on a Rosanna Rossi card.

Right: Wendy Jones Blackett’s Paper Diamonds Deluxe range are large cards with lots of hand finishing.

Spiritual Spring Easter - 16 April 2017 Emerging green shoots and new born bouncing lambs, Spring and Easter is the time of year to celebrate the emergence of new life from winter’s hibernation. Blankets of golden daffodils, pale yellow primroses and pale pink blossom on next year’s Easter cards reflect this regeneration of nature and signify potential, growth and the circle of life.

The effervescent new life energy of frisky leaping hares, freshly hatched chicks and adorable bunnies have become traditional iconography on Easter cards, and religious symbols from Christianity of pretty steepled churches and crosses adorned in flowers also remember the Easter story of Jesus and his Resurrection.

The baskets and bundles of vibrantly coloured and deliciously adorned Easter eggs, which customarily signifies the end of Lent, burst onto next year’s Easter designs in a uplifting rainbow of sunshine yellow, sky blue, Below left: A leaping hare and a pretty church, Noel Tatt soft pink and of course bud green. combine the religious and seasonal elements of Easter.

Below right: Nigel Quiney has 37 designs to complete its Easter selection, including this basket of Easter eggs design.

Above left: Abacus’ Easter offering contains both illustrated and photographic images, available as single cards, packs of five cards and money wallets.

Above middle: For Spring 2017 IC&G are launching all new designs, including brushed cards with a pops of playful spring colours.

Above right: Eastertime is the season for gorgeous bouncing lambs as seen on a card from Ling.

Below: Spring flowers and a huge colourful chocolate egg, what’s not to like about this Laura Darrington design?

Above: Good enough to eat - ‘Cookie Club’ from The Art Group.

Above right: Classic religious offering from UKG for those wishing to celebrate the true meaning of Easter.

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 67

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Spring Seasons Trends 2017

The Bear Necessities Father’s Day - 18 June 2017

Wandering the (parenting?) wilderness and ‘bear-like’, dads on a number of Father’s Day cards for 2017 are portrayed with a hint of Bear Grylls; Dad is seen as a survivor, a protector and provider for his family. Even outside of the forest boundaries, pater is acknowledged as a champion, with medals and trophies featuring on Father’s Day designs, a hero, with superhero comic book iconography and astronaut references, and the title-holder of chauffeur or cab driver for his kids.

Within his ‘cave’ Dad is reminded on Father’s Day to relax and enjoy his hobbies, especially photography and cycling, but created in retro styled illustrations to produce an old-school cool to the images. In fact, retro rules on 2017 designs for Dad. Strong but muted masculine colours of slate grey, deep blues and kraft board create a background to make bright orange, yellow and green pop for Pop, and are paired with retro icons. And poking gentle fun at dear old dad still raises a chuckle but even these designs have a hint of nostalgia, harking back to Dad’s days as a bear cub.

Above left: Superhero comic book iconography on an Abacus design.

Above: Brainbox Candy’s Grin & Tonic Father’s Day is a brand new range for 2017 featuring emboss, UV varnish and finished with a die-cut. The old boy's worth it!

Left: ‘Cab of Dad’ on a Clare Maddicott design.

Below: Ling’s Colourwash range will send Dad to the stars.

Left: Nostalgic styling on an IC&G design.

Below: Telling Dad straight – a Pigment Alice Scott card.

Above: Dad is in the champions’ league with this Hotchpotch So Macho card.

Right: A cheeky design from Paperlink’s Froot Loop range.

Below: A trophy icon for Granddad too from K2 Greetings.

Above: A hint of Bear Grylls and Dad as provider for his family feature in this Father’s Day UKG card.

Left: This Nigel Quiney card encourages dads to relax and unwind on their special day.

Right: A retro bow-tie for a stylish dad on a YTR card.

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 69

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ARTSOURCE

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ARTSOURCE SECTION OF PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS CONTACT TRACEY ARNAUD ON

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ART SOURCE

PG helps to paint a pretty picture of freelance artists, designers, verse writers and photographers’ worlds in order to promote their talents to publishers and, conversely, make it easier for publishers seeking artists.

ARTIST IN FOCUS

Simon Kay I am an illustrator currently living in Surbiton, London, UK. I began studying at Surrey Institute of Art and Design for two years. I then went on to study a foundation diploma at Kent institute of Art and Design for two years. After that I went to Sweden to study design in the new media school called Hyper Island.

I lived and worked abroad for nine years. On my return I began working on various landmarks, inspired

by Stanley Spencer, L.S Lowry and Health Robinson. I taught students as a part-time art teacher.

I conducted a class every Monday to around eight students who all have learning and physical disabilities.

I designed a basic course for a vocational subject such as arts and crafts.

I have always been fascinated with architecture and the look of old abandoned buildings. I enjoy mixing the old with the new and all things British.

I grew up in East Sheen, Richmond, West London and enjoy drawing local things that people can recognise and cherish. As a child I was interested in line details. I don’t see a time when I ‘became an artist’ but I see that it is something I am good at and I have enjoyed from a young age.

I like to experiment with new ideas and exciting fantasies into my drawings. London is a huge inspiration for me, I love exploring new places and exhibitions of other artists.

My long-term goal would be to develop my artwork by focusing on major cities all around the world. I would like to create a series of prints with a retro feel. I also plan to produce a children’s book in the future. ● Email: supersimon@rocketmail.com

WANT TO BE FEATURED?

If you are an artist, photographer or verse writer and would like to be considered to appear in Art Source, please contact PG’s Emma Cain on emmac@max-publishing.co.uk. This is an editorial feature and as such is free of charge.

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ART SOURCE Boyd Livingston

I have always loved photography as a visual art, especially the work of Ansel Adams and Sebastião Salgado. It wasn't until I left behind a corporate career in London that I took up a camera with any real intent. Volunteering in conservation made me realise that there is nothing more powerful than a picture when aiming to change the behaviour of people for the benefit of wildlife. My work is always positive in nature, portraying something to attract the viewer, creating a bond between them and the subject, often to inspire concern.

My photographs have been selected by conservation organisations including Panthera in the USA, Amigos de Sian Ka'an in Mexico and Mulberry Mongoose in Zambia, as well as The Scottish Seabird Centre where I am an artist-in-residence.

I grew up watching 'Animal Magic' with Johnny Morris on television and anthropomorphism always seemed to me an effective way of generating sympathy and empathy for the animal world.

In my new collection of designs, as yet unpublished, I’ve added humorous captions to high-quality colour photography to grab the viewer's attention.

There are currently 22 designs in the Shared Planet series with many more to be added soon. ● Email: ian@iblfoto.com

Sarah Capper 'Doodleicious' is a word to describe the utter joy I feel when I put ink to paper and the patterns start to immerge. I’ve drawn since a small child and have always had a very detailed, patterned style seeing pattern and shapes in almost everything, and not being able to wait to convey it to paper in my doodle style. Depth and scale are also portrayed by altering the size of my patterns, and fineness of pen.

I studied for my degree in Textiles Design and graduated after specialising in couture embroidery in 1995 and my love for very fine, intricate detail was translated from pen and ink to threads and beads to form pattern in 3D. My inspiration comes from nature mainly. Tiny flowers form the base for most of my designs and there is a lot of detail forming the main image. I love artwork that you have to look really closely at and keep seeing different things. I hope that my own artwork has this extra depth to it too.

I'm working full time in the textiles Industry currently, but my desire is to follow my heart and illustrate full-time.

I self published a colouring calendar this year and sold all 200 copies in three days, and I now have around 9000 followers on my facebook page www.facebook.com/Doodleiciousart and I’m just starting out on Twitter and Instagram. I also have a website under construction.

I'd love my work to go on pottery, textiles as well as greeting cards. ● Email: doodleiciousdoodles@gmail.com

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 73

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Debbie Wigglesworth’s Paper Journeys

Subtle Hints

By paper passionista Debbie Wigglesworth, founder of The Paper Collaborative and cofounder of The Paper Library.

At this time of year I spend a fair amount of time feasting my eyes on the latest wonderful creations from students at their end of year shows, but the last month has also linked me with another of students’ faves – beer!

Seat Of Learning I'm often asked to help source paper for specific creative solutions - and it's always rewarding when your recommendations help to inspire the outcome, especially when the outcome isn't expected to be paper!

In what is one of the most unusual creative projects I have ever helped to advise and source has been with Meantime Brewery. It has defied Above: Liam Hopkins on the two seater stool that he moulded from paper. expectation and catapulted paper to centre stage in the least suspecting circumstances.

The contemporary brewery recently challenged six talented craftsmen of different disciplines in six cities - Manchester, Glasgow, Leeds, Bristol, Brighton and London - to each create an element for a pop-up bar in just six weeks - the same amount of time it takes Meantime to brew its beer - in turn they have brewed each craftsmen their own unique beer. I helped designer maker Liam Hopkins of Lazerian source the material for his item - a bar stool!

To make the one of a kind two seater bar stool Liam laminated many sheets of Gmund Bier (a paper made from brewing waste) and Colorplan boards together to create robust strength and then moulded it into its incredible form.

The Meantime Brewery is delighted that 'the inventive use of key brewing ingredients elevating a seemingly humble bar stool into a true work of art’, and it is exactly the type of solution it had hoped for.

Each city is now to host its own special event showcasing the local designers’ piece and a series of campaign films showing each of the six craftsmen at work will be shown at independent cinemas throughout the six cities. All will culminate and be revealed together in the Meantime Pop-Up bar 'Make time for it', open to the public at the London Bridge City Summer Festival - London Riviera in October.

For years I have longed to attend a Takeo Paper show. Each year this unique paper company showcases designers’ work in Japan, based on a specific theme which culminates in a beautifully produced book. This year I was beside myself when I heard that Takeo was bringing its show to Milan Design Week, especially as I was there to launch HAND01, the product I cofounded with designer Liam Hopkins. It Above: Just one of the wonderful paper exhibits at the Subtle show. didn't take a moments thought for me to arrange time out from our own exhibition to lose myself at the Takeo Paper show (which was staged at La Triennial in the centre of Milan) for a couple of hours. I was totally absorbed in the tranquility amid the delicate exhibits in the 'Subtle' themed event, which had paper as a key medium.

Takeo has engaged with designers in its annual shows since 1965.

This year it invited 15 creators who in Takeo’s opinion have insight and eloquence capable of expressing the sensory perceptions championed by the ‘subtle’ theme.

Foiled Again

I recently visited the HQ of a rather special family-owned business - FoilCo - whose passion for contemporary design solutions is of paramount importance to its growing business. Established over 25 years ago, FoilCo works with designers, printers and leading luxury packaging designers throughout the UK, Europe and beyond. The company’s appreciation for the creative sector has recently been celebrated in a local, yet high profile, creative event in Glasgow that was supported by paper company Fedrigoni. Themed 'Multiplicity', the Drygate Brewery (the UK's first experimental craft brewery, restaurant and event space of its kind) set the scene for an inspirational event packed with local creatives keen to hear from the guest speakers Astrid Stavro and Pablo Martin of Atlas (renowned practitioners of the design of iconic visual identities for many consumer brands and cultural institutions), Adrian Carroll of D8 and Tony Dunworth of Graphical House.

Guests were treated to a one off beer that had been specially brewed for the occasion with the beer labels designed by each of the three speakers.

From hot foil to cold die-less foils, from metallic to satin and from A Special Screening holographic to special effects, FoilCo Clerkenwell Design Week is now in its 8th year, attracting 35,000 visitors over the is a key supplier and innovator of three day festival that showcases 300 brands. This creative hub claims to be the most contemporary foils servicing the densely populated creative community in the world, being the HQ for hundreds of greeting card, graphics and luxury designers, architects and creative businesses, including paper company Fedrigoni. packaging industries.

This year the company’s Imagination Studios creative space based on London’s Above: Cheers! The three beer labels that were created by Clerkenwell Road was transformed into a screen-printing workshop. I dropped in to the speakers at the recent Multiplicity event, instigated by FoilCo and supported by Fedrigoni at the Drygate Brewery. say 'Hi' to Pari, Natana and Paneet who were hosting the event for groups of creatives, courtesy of Supermundane's Rob Lowe and South East Print Studio.

Right: Just a few of the prints that were created as the recent screenprinting workshop held at Feddrigoni’s Clerkenwell studio.

If you are interested in any of the features in Paper Journeys contact Debbie Wigglesworth email debbie@thepaperlibrary.com or call Debbie on 07718619521.

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 75

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PG asked a selection of card retailers for their ‘hot’ card sellers.

Debbie Davis, owner of Cherry Cards, Upminster, London A medium shop in a city suburb with a loyal locals and passing visitors customer base.

Category

Name of Publisher

Product/Name Range

Comments

Everyday

Nigel Quiney

Pizazz

Cute

Cherry Orchard

Lola

Humour

Paper House (GBCC)

The Humour Factory

Traditional

Jonny Javelin

Secret Garden

Children’s Handmade/ Hand-Finished

Second Nature Talking Pictures

Jack And Jill Stardust

This everyday range literally sells every day! My customers love it. I always order more than I can put out to keep me stocked until the rep next comes in!

This range is so pretty with pastel colours and cute animals: it’s suitable for all ages.

This is such a strong seller for me, with the humour appealing to a wide range of customers - male, female, young and old.

Another popular range that flies out! Amazing artwork and bold striking colours. So pretty.

A simple range and a fantastic price point so that it sells itself.

These large square handmade cards have my customers travelling to my shop for these alone! A fantastic range.

Above: Cherry Orchard’s Lola range is adorable.

Jemma Guilmard, owner of Just Delights, Penryn, Cornwall A large shop in a historic market town with a loyal locals and tourists customer base.

Category

Name of Publisher

Product/Name Range

Comments

Everyday

Hammond Gower

Privee

Cute

Alex Clark

Sparkles

Humour Contemporary

Noi Publishing Belly Button Designs

Toy Stories Copperfield

Molly Mae

Carried On The Breeze

Art Marketing

Across The Board

Museums & Galleries

Mezzanine

Cinnamon Aitch

Piccadilly

Lovely sentiment within the designs (but not too sentimental) and there is a wide choice to find the right words for the card’s receiver.

Delightful doodles of different breeds of dogs are within the range: Alex’s illustrations sell the cards.

Funny and quirky and very different.

Stunning designs with copper foiling and teal envelopes to set them off beautifully.

Within this range there are some lovely sympathy cards with just the right amount of words and gentle imagery.

A wide range of classic and refined artwork on uncaptioned cards.

The art cards in this range feature a nice white border, perfect for those who like to frame their cards.

Beautiful cards topped off with a sparkly gem.

Stripey Cats Cards Artebene

General General

Above right: Delicate designs with beautiful words on a Privee card from Hammond Gower.

Right: Unusual captions for Sympathy sends feature in Molly Mae’s Carried On The Breeze range.

Traditional

Handmade/ Hand-Finished Children’s Giftwrap

76 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

Colourful and fresh wobbley-eyed characters that are good fun!

The company has some lovely designs for the wedding season and matching ribbons to go with them.

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Katy Shipley, owner of Supersales, Belvedere, London A large shop in an urban village with a loyal locals and passing visitors customer base.

Category

Name of Publisher

Product/Name Range

Comments

Humour

Pigment

Murray

Emotional Rescue (distributed by Is It Art)

Norbert & Val

Contemporary cartoon drawings with good deadpan humour.

The jokes highlight growing old disgracefully.

Funny animal cards that are an old favourite.

Beautiful images of the British countryside, and considering we are in an urban location these sell very well!

Eye-catching photographic shots with broad appeal.

The refreshed new designs are more girlie looking with glitter and different colours.

Funny uplifting sentiments, but in a subtle way.

Without a doubt one of our best sellers - it just keeps going and going!

A traditional feminine range with girlie themed designs and glitter – but in a slightly more contemporary style.

Every time the cards come in they just fly out! I’m always reordering. The designs appeal to nearly everybody.

Those buying the cards recognise the characters that are the kids’ current favourites.

Great value and great designs.

Photography

Contemporary

Traditional

Above right: A new feminine range called Ribbons & Bows from Jonny Javelin.

Right: A design from Pigment’s Murray range.

Children’s

Abacus

Virtual Safari Countryfile

Abacus

Rapture

Pigment

Happy Jackson

Clare Maddicott

Harold’s Planet

Jonny Javelin

Velvet

Jonny Javelin

Ribbons & Bows

IC&G

Across The Board

Danilo

PAW Patrol and Minions Kaleidoscope

Cherry Orchard

Leaf Collister, owner of Joy!,Heswall, Wirral A medium shop in a historic town with a loyal locals customer base.

Category

Name of Publisher

Product/Name Range

Comments

Cute

Carlton (UKG)

Boofle

Carlton (UKG)

Studio Pets

Carte Blanche

Me To You

Emotional Rescue (distributed by Is It Art) Paper House (GBCC)

General

Photography

Abacus

Countryfile

Traditional

Gibson (UKG)

Simply Traditional

Children’s

Nigel Quiney Abacus Words ’n’ Wishes

Giftwrap

Xpressions

Pizazz 100% Kids Personalised Caption Cards Pots Of Dreams

Boofle is a generic puppy that’s not too cute so he has broad appeal – to both male and female… and the envelopes are lovely too.

Snappy captions and the bright eyecatching colours give the designs a modern look.

Customers want Tatty, especially on cards, and the new stronger colours work well.

Humour cards go particularly well in our shop.

People ask for specific designs in the range, sometimes buying six at a time.

Really good images of the British countryside and wildlife.

Customers want some sentiments on their card but not too much and this range hits that middle point.

Our fastest open card seller. They’re very pretty and at a good price.

Age cards on a lovely textured board and at a decent price.

The cards come with a variety of relations and occasions caption choices to press out and attach to the card.

It is amazing how much you can save and it’s good to know you have the ceremony of smashing it to retrieve the money/dream.

Great baby age ranges (and wedding). We’ve found people really want specific gifts for specific occasions.

Beautiful, well-priced scarf designs presented in a giftbag and made in the UK.

Right: UKG has brought out a lovely new Boofle collection.

Below right: Abacus’ Countryfile range is attracting attention!

Humour

Widdop & Co Powder

Eric The Penguin

Bambino, Juliana and Amore Scarves

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 77

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LYNN S LINES

L

L

On the ball comments by retailer and publisher Lynn Tait of The Lynn Tait Gallery.

Card Heaven When you visit or exhibit at PG Live you are very aware that you are part of an incredible industry: part of something very warm and welcoming.

This unique trade fair encapsulates everything that is so special about the greeting card industry- belonging, comradeship, vibrancy, creativity and excitement... and I'm so proud to be part of it all.

So why does PG Live tick all the boxes and more?

Firstly it is run by people who are passionate about greeting cards and who understand the needs of buyers and exhibitors. They are first and foremost card lovers and secondly exhibition organisers.

It is the fair which hand-holds and nurtures new card publishing talent and understands how daunting it is to do your first trade fair and all the anxieties of being a

first timer. The organisers have identified areas where they can give help to up and coming card publishers.

There were 52 members of The Ladder Club (newbie publishers who have attended The Ladder Club seminars) exhibiting at PG Live in May, a record number. I had been mentoring them on The Ladder Club Facebook page for six weeks before the show and lots of these new publishers had achieved a high profile in the press and trade magazines. They also uploaded new card designs, offers, news stories, competitions, free carriage paid orders etc on the Facebook page.

However, I make no apology by banging on again for the second month running about low carriage paid orders as it definitely has fallen on deaf ears.

Very sadly and heartbreakingly I can say that categorically a large number of new publishers lost out at PG Live of taking new orders at the fair because their carriage paid orders were much too high. This caused interested retailers to ‘walk on by’, so here is another attempt to explain why it is a very bad business mistake to expect retailers to spend a lot of money on your cards that currently do not have a track record.

Retailers are taking a punt on you as a new card publisher, they are trying you on for size and they believe in you.

Don't put any barriers up.

I also know that new publishers do not order their print run of cards before they exhibit at a fair as they don't want to risk investing money in their cards in case they don't sell. So why would they expect a card retailer to spend a lot of money with them until they know how they sell in their shop?

Also by having a low carriage paid order it allows the retailer to buy from several card publishers, giving more people a chance.

It is psychologically better for retailers if there is a low

Above: Lynn spent her Great Awards voucher with Lola Design at PG Live, worth £50 of card orders.

Below left: Visitors to PG Live were invited to send a card to The Queen for her 90th birthday.

Bottom: Andy, Lynn's husband, takes a little snooze at the show after a day of excitement and chat.

minimum order amount. Retailers don't like to be dictated to how much they spend, but once they get going on the ordering front, it very often exceeds the carriage paid amount.

If the minimum order value is high I tend to make sure I don't go a penny over it. If there is no carriage to pay I just buy what I need.

Additionally, the trend now with larger suppliers is low carriage paid so little publishers should also follow suit.

So excuse me for repeating myself but I am speaking for a number of retailers who felt this hampered their buying at PG Live due to this. It’s such a terrible shame. Honestly, why would anyone turn down an order that would just cost an extra £6!

Point made, now back to my lovely experiences at the show. I started to plan my trip to PG Live two weeks before the show. I had a good idea who I was going to PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 79

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LYNN’S LINES Left and below: Some of the entries created by local school children for Lynn’s cards for The Queen competition that have now been displayed in her shop.

Bottom: The Ladder Club card creatives and kind suppliers who all contributed to the charity Christmas cards for Action Medical Research that were launched at PG Live.

spend my Retas Silver ticket (worth £50) and Greats voucher (also worth £50), that I received as I was a finalist in these respective retailer awards programmes. I wanted to give them to publishers who had been wooing me with postcards, catalogues and in some cases writing me a lovely card.

As per usual with trade fairs there are still a couple of companies who I regularly order from but haven't heard from. Strangely, this always happens.

Exhibitors now have to work hard at procuring orders. It is not enough nowadays to just leave it to the organisers to provide a platform for publishers to sell their wares.

Suppliers need to do their bit. It is important to keep the momentum going. Just designing new cards isn't enough. Publishers have to market themselves and their product.

Some of the cards that stood out for me at PG Live was the delightful return of A Made Hand, one of my favourite publishers. Two of my favourite people, Wendy and Steve of Wendy Jones-Blackett, displayed their new Paper Diamonds Deluxe large cards range.

They are gorgeous! I was the first retailer to place an order from them, I love that!

The apprehension for publishers when they launch a new range that they have been planning for months is as nerve wracking for large companies as it is for smaller ones. They invest a lot of your time and themselves in a new range.

I also loved Pippi & Me’s cards, a company I have admired for a while.

Something else which gave me a lovely warm feeling at PG Live was the wonderful display of cards to mark The Queen’s 90th Birthday that had been submitted to PG and the GCA from so many very creative people in our industry.

I loved the article in last month’s PG, about PG’s Jakki Brown and the GCA’s Sharon Little’s visit to Buckingham Palace to meet Christopher Sandamas, Chief Clerk in the Private Secretary’s Office and the team who are responsible for sending the congratulatory cards with personal messages from The Queen as well as 80 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

replying to the public who have sent cards and presents to HRH. A year ago I started to plan my fourth card competition, this time to design a card for The Queen. With the shenanigans of the last three months of hell, due to my health, I had the put the competition on hold. But when the medical professor who has been looking after me and my condition gave me a chink of hope a month ago that was it, I lit the blue touch paper and we were off!

GF Smith donated shed loads of blank cards at a moments notice. I invited Leigh-On Sea’s four local schools to enter, and in two weeks 1,500 card designs for The Queen came flooding in.

When you have a track record, a formula and have built up contacts, with a good plan, things can work out, even doing it at the eleventh hour.

Three days after the celebrations on The Mall, all the cards were hanging from the rafters of my shop, yes every one of them. It was a dream come true and allowed me to reclaim a part of my life that has been lost since I have been ill. Exhibitions, competitions, charity projects and grottos, they all define me. They bring normality into my currently surreal life, and when my staff hung these wonderful creative designs

created by under 11's school children, I was very emotional.

I am now organising an awards evening for the competition winners and my happiness will be complete.

I've also been up to some other tricks.

Three generations of my family - me, my daughter, my daughter-in-law and my grandchildren have designed a new range of cards called ‘Team Granny’! This is my idea of streamlining my card business!

We also launched the charity Christmas cards for Action Medical Research at PG Live. The artwork was donated by Ladder Club members and the envelopes and printing was donated by G F Smith, Enveco, The Imaging Centre and The Sherwood Group. This means that the entire money made from the sale of the cards is donated to the charity.

So life is back to the same manic, interesting and rewarding times.

I ordered from 14 card companies at PG Live and spent a pretty penny - but then this show is my ‘card buying time’.

On the whole I think everyone was pleased with how they did at the show.

Exhibitors do not have their expectations on the ceiling now. The whole culture has changed with trade fairs and publishers know that they need to review it some time down the line but not on the second day of the show.

I had such a brilliant time and I had been looking forward to it all year. It was great to catch up with all my friends in the industry and to see so many Ladder Club members... that made my heart sing.

Thank you to everyone who was so kind.

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info@vincentmcevoy.com

+44 (0)7779 578340

Cloudesley House • Shire Hill Saffron Walden • CB11 3FB T: 01799 520200 F: 01799 520100 www.nigelquiney.com

originalposter.com

All our cards are supplied on consignment, so you only pay for what you sell.

We also supply card fixtures and spinners free-on-loan.

We replace slow sellers and damaged stock free of charge.

We merchandise regularly, so you don’t have to.

THAT’S WHY WE’RE ORIGINAL!

01932 267 300

Three great publishers, all under one roof, contemporary, graphic, humour, cute and photographic ranges with a fantastic range of occasions and relations cards.

Key brands: V&A, Portobello, Spirit, Daisy Patch, Sugar Pips, Marzipan Toybox, Born to Stitch, Idols, Life, Sweet Tooth, Brights.

Method of sale: Direct to retail, Export and Licensing.

www.louisemulgrew.com t: 07810 304 414

Riverside House, Centurion Way, Riverside Business Park, Nottingham NG2 1RW Tel: 0115 986 0115 Fax: 0115 986 0116 Email: sales@paperrose.co.uk Web: www.paperrose.co.uk www.artgroupcards.co.uk

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paperlink... the home of fabulous cards!

356 56 Kennington Rd L London SE11 4LD T 0 020 7582 8244

TM

The Playful Indian cards are a unique fusion of the east and west. Simple and quirky, they have made many people smile...so what are you waiting forr,, put a smile on someone’s face today!

info@pa @paperlink.co.uk www.paperlink.co.uk ww

Suppliers of humorous & Sup contemporary Birthday, Christmas, Spring Seasons, Occasions & Relations cards Brands include: Bottomline, Bestie, Wrinklies, Hat Trick, Route 69, Bangers & Flash, Humdingers, Lacie, Sassy, Stay Wonky, Patisserie, Tinklers, Made With Love, and many many more!

holy y cow! it’ss your birthd it ay

Method of Sale: Direct

rosierobins.com 01992 536461

Paperlinkcards @paperlinkcards

Uk publisher of Greetings Cards with an extensive range of quality Birthday, Relations, Occasions and Seasonal product... available from L I N G

DESIGN

Mr Figgis, when we say parents invited, we usually mean to sit and watch!

Our Brands: The Crazy Side of Life, Laughter with Animals, Sporting Fun The Funny Side of Life, Twiddly Winks.

Dad - I thought you said I could be the, one to tell him you re out

Me th od of sa le : Direct to Retail 14-20 Eldon Way, Paddock Wood, Kent TN12 6BE Tel: 01892 838574 Fax: 01892 838676 Email: enquiries@lingdesign.co.uk Website: www.lingdesign.co.uk

Design-led Stationery, Gifts, Calendars, Diaries and Cards Brands Laura Ashley, Roald Dahl, Lily & Val, Vintage Ladybird, Caroline Gardner, Monsoon, Born to Shop, Flash Gordon, Boofle and many more.

Our In-house design studio and established supply chain enables us to offer bespoke services.

86 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

Greeting Cards that are unique & special with creative wit.

Looking for top-notch agents to join our expanding team.

tel: +44 (0) 1225 329494 email: sales@porticodesigns.com website: www.porticodesigns.com

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red

DIRECT TO RETAIL & EXPORT

Sensations International Ltd

striking contemporary cards designed by nicole

Unit 6, Quad Road,East Lane Business Park,East lane, Wembley,MIDDLESEX HA9 7NE Tel. 0208 3854470 Fax: 0208 385 4471 Email: sales@sensationsinternational.com PRODUCTS: World’s leading publisher of high quality plastic greeting cards. Also an extensive range of quality greeting cards covering Everyday, Occasions, Christmas and Spring seasons.

BRANDS: Cherished Thoughts, Sweet Sentiments, Buddies Always, Symphony, Thinking of You, Style, Special Wishes, Special Times, Young Editions, Groove Sensations, Forever Blessed, Grey Skies, Classics.

METHOD OF SALE: Direct to retail.

0781 5811158 info@redberrycards.co.uk

www.redberrycards.co.uk

TEL: 01480 435562 FAX: 01480 450599 www.tracksltd.com UNIT 2, 12 BLACKSTONE RD, STUKELEY MEADOWS IND EST, HUNTINGDON, CAMBS, PE29 6EF

The UK’s leading publishers of highest quality handmade Greetings Cards.

Products: Greetings cards for all occasions, Christmas and Spring Seasons. Spinners and other retail displays available.

Talking Pictures Cards 14-20 Eldon Way, Paddock Wood, Kent, TN12 6BE

Tel: 0845 450 1815 Fax: 0845 450 1816 Email: enquiries@talkingpics.co.uk Website: www.talking-pictures.co.uk

Products: Greetings Cards, Gift Wrap, Social Stationery, Gift Bags, Keepsakes, Partyware.

Brands: Designer Collection, Feelings, Impressions, Inspirations, In Touch, Isabel’s Garden, Paper Wishes, Planet Happy.

Method of sale: Wholesale Distributors

&DUGV &D &DOHQGDUV &D &R & RDVWHHUUV 1RWHERRNV

Simon Elvin Limited Wooburn Industrial Park, Wooburn Green, Bucks HP10 0PE Tel: 01628 526711 Fax: 01628 531483 www.simonelvin.com mail@simonelvin.com

To appear in the Product Directory please contact Warren Lomax on

w: www.tomcatcards.co.uk e: tomcat@tomcatcards.co.uk t: 01243 837300

020 7700 6740

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● PRODUCT DIRECTORY

Market Leaders in

Verse &

entimen

01923 200600 | www.woodmansterne.co.uk

● PRODUCT DIRECTORY

Top-notch British Greeting Cards for Thoughts that Count

PRODUCT DIRECTORY

To appear in the Product Directories simply contact

Warren Lomax on:

an extensive range of superior quality,

020 7700 6740

for all occasions, Spring Seasons & Christmas.

Tracey Arnaud

design-led Greeting Cards

or email on warren@max-publishing.co.uk or contact on:

07957 212 062 Method of Sale: Direct to Retail Orders can be placed on our trader site

www.cbgtrader.co.uk or call our customer services team on

+44(0)1243 792600

88 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

or email on tarnaud@btinternet.com

93_PG_July 2016.qxp_whole sale dirSeptember 2004 29/06/2016 08:28 Page 93

Directory of wholesalers Directory of wholesalers DIRECTORY OF WHOLESALERS ●

LONDON & THE SOUTH

MERSEYSIDE

WALES

Merseyside Greeting Cards Ltd

Jbopbvpfab$pI^odbpq Dobbqfkd@^oa Afpqof_rqlo Due to our massive buyer power, we are able to offer you the best prices and also take a pride in our friendly service.

SCOTLAND

DORSET

Clapperton Agencies 30 McDonald Place Edinburgh EH7 4NH Tel: 01315 579009

Sunrise Business Park Higher Shaftsbury Road Blandford, Dorset DT11 8ST Tel: 01258 452125 Fax: 01258 486109

Greeting cards * Gift ranges * Pocket money toys * Balloons * Badges * Banners * Soft toys * Stationery * Collectables , including dolls * Photo frames Always something different Check us out now!!!

NATIONWIDE

Jlk*Cof6+0-ql2+0Prka^v.-ql.

I^qbkfdeqQeropa^vqfii5mj Cobbmelkb-5---/46-4/44C^u7-.2./-4.231

To appear in the Wholesale Directory simply call Warren Lomax on

HERTS & LONDON

SUMAN BROS Stationery and greeting card wholesaler

020 7700 6740

Crown House Otterspool Way Watford WD25 8HL

magnus RUPERT

T: 01923 200 900 F: 01923 200 909

TRADING

LONDON’S NO 1

Great deals Great location Plentiful parking Just off the M1 Junction 5

WEST MIDLANDS

GREETING CARDS STATIONERY PARTY AND BALLOON CASH & CARRY

Trading Hours Our Opening Hours are: MON, TUES,WED & FRI 9.00 - 5.30pm THURSDAY 9.00 - 8.30pm SAT CLOSED SUN 10.00 - 4.00pm UNIT 4, THE ARGENT CENTRE, SILVERDALE ROAD, HAYES, MIDDLESEX, UB3 3BS TEL: 020 8573 2975 / 1768 FAX: 020 8561 2349 Email: info@abbeycards.com

Crown House Otterspool Way Watford WD25 8HL Tel: 020 8993 2231 www.rupertmagnus.co.uk Wholesale and direct-to-retail greeting cards, gift wrap, gift bags, social stationery, partyware and gifts.

Great range, competitive prices, excellent service.

EUR RO OPE’S LEADING GREETINGS CARDS, PAR PA RT TY PRODUCTS, GIFTS, CANDLES, TO OY YS, STATI TA ATIO ONER RY Y AND FLORIST SUNDRIES DISTRIBUTION CENTRE 75000 SQ FT BESCOT CRESCENT T,, WALSALL, WEST MIDLANDS. WS1 4NG 01922-646666 www.greetingshouse.co.uk info@greetingshouse.co.uk MON,WED,FRI 8.00am-4.45pm TUES,THURS 8.00am-7.45pm SAT AT T,,SUN 8.00am-1.45pm

NORTH WEST

C A P S 574 Manchester Road, Bury, BL9 9SW Card & Party Store Ltd

0161 796 7353

The North West s Largest Supplier to the Independent Specialist Card & Gift Shop

Massive range of Cards, Partyware, Gifts, Gift Bags, Gift Boxes & Gift Dressings Mon / Wed / Fri: 8.00 - 5.00 Tues / Thurs: 8.00 - 7.30 Sat: Closed Sun: 8.00 - 1.00

Order online at www.card-party.co.uk

To appear in the Wholesale Directory simply call Warren Lomax on 020 7700 6740 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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BAGS

BAGS Polypropylene & biodegradable bag specialists

GREETING CARD

Over 40 years quality service to the trade Hotfoiling also available

T 01206 396209 E sales@badgerconverters.co.uk www.badgerconverters.co.uk

GIVE E YOUR

V VIP

TREA AT A TMENT HIGH CLARITY L TY Y BA AGS FOR RG GREETING ET T NG CARD DS, CALEND EN N ARS ARS A AND ND D ARTW TWORK WORK ŏ ŏđŏ ŏ

FOIL LB BLOCKING NG G EXTE XTENSIVE NSIV VE RANG V R RA ANGE OF S ST TOCK S SIZES IZ ZES AND BES AND BE ESPO OKE KE MANUF KE MANU UF FACTU TUR TURE T U E AT TED D WRAPPING SERVICE NEW AUTOMA

ENVELOPES

FOR ALL YOUR ENVELOPE NEEDS! Largest range of in-stock colours Over 400 Bespoke Envelope Sizes 8 Sizes Permanently in Stock

CALL CA CAL C LL US ST TO ODAY OD

100% Recycled Paper Av Available

www.fful ulcr ulcrumfilms. rumfil m lm mss co.uk uk

Bespoke Service on Request

0122 1228 228 2 28 8 56 5605 60 052 26 6

RECYCLED

Stock & Bespoke Cello Bags Peel & Stick Envelopes p

ORDER ON LINE AT: www.regentenvelopes.com 01274 583000 sales@regentenvelopes.com

We’ve been producing p bags of high clarity and high quality q for over 30 years.

01274 220 220 www w.wrapid.co.uk sales@wrapid.co.uk

90 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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Quality Bespoke Envelopes!

From 5,000 quantity to many millions we can produce excellent quality envelopes for you.

Plain, printed, coloured & textured finish.

100% recycled & FSC available.

Please call us on 0843 5066684 with your enquiry or visit our website

www.ukenvelopecentre.co.uk

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PRINTERS

O F F S E T PRODUCTIONS

Op

• Litho printing • Digital printing • Embossing • Die-cutting

We will be delighted to help!

• Flittering • Foiling FLITTERING

• Folding • Packing

FOR ALL YOUR FLITTER REQUIREMENTS

ABL Foil Ltd Unit 1, Industrial Estate East Hanningfield Chelmsford Essex, CM3 8AB

Contact DAVID JIGGINS Tel: 01245 400104 Email: david@abl-ltd.co.uk

PRODUCTIONS

Producing greeting cards for over 30 years 188 Forstal Road, Aylesford, Kent ME20 7DB

t 01622 710 759

www.offsetproductions.co.uk

PRINTERS

PJ Print (London) The Capitals only Greetings card printer You name it what ?

We can do it.

With probably the most comprehensive range of card finishing in the

LITHO OR DIGIT GIT TAL, TA L WINDLES GR RO OUP ALWAY LW WA AY YS SM MAKES THE RIGHT HT PRINT IMPRE RE RESSION.

UK card market PJ Print The answer to all your card production needs

PJ - PRINT E-mail: sales@pj-print.co.uk The Print Works Colville Road, Acton London W3 8BL tel 020 8993 5160 www.pj-print.co.uk

WWW. W..W WINDLESGROUP P..CO.UK PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 91

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Specialist UK and Global manufacturer for the greeting card industry

Di ittall Pri Digi P int Speciali S i list for the greeting card industry What we offer: • Greeting cards • Artworking and design • Short-run print • Pick, pack and distribution • Promotional items • Bespoke gifts

To discuss how we could work with you contact Simon King Tel: 0115 928 7766 Email: sales@sherwoodgroupuk.com

www.sherwoodgroupuk.com

• Marketing literature • Exhibition graphics • Stationery • Brochures • and more...

To discuss ho we could P

07974 133735 paul.watson@sherwood dgroupuk.com Hadden Court, Glaisdale Parkway, Glaisdale Drive West, Nottingham, NG8 4GP

The home of greeting cards nd e nt g indepe r in d a le The UK’s rd manufacture ca greeting kY j_ed

heZ ] YWhZ f ]h[[j_d \eYki ed b _W i Y [ [ f _Y I eki[ i[hl ][ e\ _d#^ <kbb hWd [Z ]kWhWdj[ GkWb_jo Y[ i j_j_l[ fh_ 9ecf[ Z h[b_WXb[ _edWb Wd Fhe\[ii Wbb [h jee ic kY j_ed$ De ehZ Wij fheZ dZ <Wh ; W A K j^ 8e services, ur unique ation on o 250 1150 rm 14 fo in 01 n re o For mo sales team e th ct ta n please co eys.co.uk sales@loxl or email:

YOUR MANUFACTURING PARTNER FOR VALUE ADDED PRODUCTS English speaking production team, prices quoted in sterling... and only 3 days delivery to THE UK...

Really... and there s no VAT to pay or customs procedures either...that's a great deal!

• Hand made and hand finished greeting cards • Boxed sets and acetate packs of cards / envelopes • Giftwrap and tag packs • Individually open and closed wrapped cards • 'Pop up' and cardboard engineered products • Notelets and social stationery • Specialised printing on plastics & lenticular For production enquiries, estimates etc., please contact our UK Agent:

Rob Pearson 07710 132 232 rob@solutions-polska.com

Benb[oi" A_bd Ijh[[j" I^[\Å[bZ I. &OI

92 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

FSC accredited (BV-COC-002485). Audited member of SMETA. Printing to ISO12674-2 standard.

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WAREHOUSING & DISTRIBUTION

The Professional and Caring Approach..

• LITHO PRINT • DIGITAL PRINT • FOILING

• DIE-CUTTING • FLITTERING • PACKING

• EMBOSSING • DISTRIBUTION • FLOWRAPPING • INSERTING

Tel: 01274 531828 Contact Chris Sharman. Email: chriss@herbertwalkers.co.uk

www.herbertwalkers.co.uk

... to 3rd Party Warehouse, Distribution and Hand Finishing needs.

With over 25 years experience in the Greeting Card and Gift Industry, we specialise in providing a very fast yet efficient and friendly service to all of our customers.

Our close links to the port of Felixstowe allowing excellent access for both UK and overseas business.

We would be happy to talk to you and provide further information please contact either: James Smithies on 01449 778360 e: james@setinhand.com Tracy Davies on 01449 778363 e: tracy@setinhand.com Please visit our website at www.setinhand.com for further information.

Your Success Is Our Success

LB Warehousing (Women in Transport & Logistics Finalist)

S AME DAY order turnaround A CCURATE fulfilment and same day turn round V ALUE ADDED only as you sell the product E XCLUSIVELY Greeting Cards D EDICATED Account Managers With an excellent reputation we work as an integral part of your TEAM bringing much more than fulfilment.

Our costing structure is SIMPLE and TRANSPARENT.

We specialise in providing high quality print for short to medium runs, incorporating multiple images. Go to our website for prices, alternatively call or email us for a bespoke quote.

T

01274 305832

E

info@hellocards.co.uk

W

www.hellocards.co.uk

We carry out ALL aspects of hand finishing and assembly and provide whatever ADDITIONAL services YOU need Our select team of outworkers carefully hand wrap any size or format of cards urgently, OVERNIGHT! We CARE about your product as much as you do. Attention to detail, QC Issues and IT supported by a comprehensive paper trail for all stock movements are our hallmarks.

Our CAN DO approach means that WE solve your problems.

Outsourcing your warehousing operation releases your time to CREATE/MARKET/SELL/ MANAGE/GROW THE BUSINESS YOUR BUSINESS IS OUR BUSINESS, please visit our web site and see what OUR customers say, then to find out more call Lynda Raymond and perhaps we can arrange to meet and discuss your needs I am sure that we can help.

LB Warehousing, Units 1, 2 &3 Wayside Warehouses, Toseland, Near St. Neots, Cambridgeshire. PE19 6RX Tel 01480 880800 Fax 01480880900 Mobile 07889 399341 lynda@lb-warehousing.co.uk

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APPOINTMENTS

UNIVERSAL

SHOP EQUIPMENT GREETING CARD DISPLAYS

• Manufacturers of

quality Display Units for over 25 years

• PVC Interlocking Tiers • High Impact 2mm Edging

• Vast range of colours available

• From one unit through to full shop refits

INNOVATIVE DISPLAYS TO MEET YOUR NEEDS www.universalshopequipment.co.uk Tel: 0151 546 4525 (Showroom) Tel: 01929 550085 Email: sales@westminsterwire.com Web: www.westminsterwire.com

Home of the Wire Spinner Stand

The Wire Spinner is proven to be the most cost effective method to display and enhance products.

We also offer sheet metal, wood, acrylic and cardboard solutions or a combination of materials.

WANTED

CALLING ALL GREETING CARD PUBLISHERS We could buy your old images even if they are several years old. Turn your used and discontinued greeting card image concepts into cash.

Fair price paid immediately.

CUTTERS COLLECTIONS LTD 92 STATION ROAD, WILLINGHAM, CAMBRIDGE, CB24 5HG e: denniswoodruff@btconnect.com 94 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

FORFURTHER INFORMATION REGARDING THISMUST SEEEVENT PLEASECONTACT TRACEYON 01234740051