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In Conversation With... Rachel Hare
A SignatureTouch What started with a dragonfly was clinched by a jellyfish - and so, CoCo by Rachel Hare, a new subbrand of Belly Button Designs was born. The Belly Button Designs’ founder is widely acknowledged as one of the leading creative forces in the UK greeting card industry, yet until now, her name has never featured on any of the products the company has produced. Having debuted at Top Drawer, the ‘hero wall’ of the publisher’s stand at Spring Fair will fanfare the new upmarket sub-brand which Rachel Hare has very much given the personal sign-off. PG followed the mermaids, unicorns and peacocks to meet Rachel and find out more about the company’s anewed creative flourish. Over the last 25 years since she started the company, Rachel Hare has created many Henries award-winning and revered card ranges under the Belly Button brand. Though modest about her talents, she is rightfully proud of what heights the likes of the publisher’s Paloma and Platinum collections have achieved, and continue to achieve through their sustained development. However, it was when she was putting the finishing touches to a dragonfly design joining the Paloma line-up that Rachel had a eureka moment and one that led a shimmering path to the CoCo by Rachel Hare new brand.
Above: Rachel Hare in the studio, surrounded by her current inspirations and design influences. Left: The handwritten aspect of the new brand is in keeping with the styling of the Belly Button Designs branding. Below: The Dragonfly design for Henries-award winning brand Paloma that the creation of which sparked the idea for creating a new sub-brand. Bottom: The beautiful jellyfish design in the CoCo by Rachel Hare collection was partly inspired by a piece of glassware from Danish company Hubsch.
“I felt a strong urge to create a ‘space’ in our portfolio where I could go wild and explore; push design with the current trends for flamboyance and escapism, without having to fit in with any existing brand,” Rachel recalls. And so the idea for CoCo was born. Adding to a very personal touch, for the first time ever, her own name anchors the brand, the hand-scripted branding acting as a personal sign-off to the work in much the same way as an artist would sign their masterpieces. The inaugural CoCo collection, which debuted at Top Drawer earlier this month, includes lavish designs featuring on-trend jellyfish, unicorns, mermaids, peacocks, feathers, in many rich jewel tones, enhanced by hand-scripted captions, embossed foiling, printed on thick textured board and topped off by being accompanied by an on-trend teal envelope (in Marrs Green, the colour GF Smith pronounced as the world’s favourite colour). CoCo by Rachel Hare is very much the embodiment of a creative flourish that has been rippling throughout the company of late, most notably since Rachel divested herself of the bulk of the inevitable admin responsibilities of her business, that can absorb an inordinate amount of time and sap energy in order to concentrate on her passion - designing. PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
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