86-88.qxp_Grid 30/10/2019 15:23 Page 2
Focus On Animal Cards
The Prowl Of The Big Cats Currently prowling all over cards, giftwrap, and anything else they can lay their big untamed paws on, are big cat illustrations and prints of their beautiful fur markings. Part of the tropical trend and the Frida Kahlo influence, these majestic, powerful and dangerous predators featured on the BBC’s Big Cats TV series last autumn, which highlighted some species depletion, with footage of Mountain lions, Iberian lynx, Spanish tigers, larger versions of our own furry felines at home, rarely seen in the wild. And their beauty and fierceness have made the big cats the go to symbol of female empowerment. A ‘clowder’ of card publishers purr their thoughts on this big cats trend.
Emma Pearce, designer for Hotchpotch: Roar of the wild: “We LOVE the big cat trend! We’ve seen the trend rise through fashion - we’ll all be wearing leopard and animal prints well into autumn. Lions, tigers and leopards regularly appear on our cards as the big cats capture tropical vibes, the heat of the summer and represent a fierce feminism. We’re also working on lots of animal prints and big cat designs for our new launches in January!” Above: A design from Hotchpotch’s Sticky Toffee kids range, with foam stickers.
86
PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
Clare Twigger, head of design for Ling Design: “There are big, important discussions about wildlife, nature and the environment taking place on a global scale at the moment, so we’re bound to see that reverberate through to greeting card design.” Roar of the wild: “We love celebrating animals and nature through our designs and big cats are beautiful in structure and shape and their inquisitive and exploratory nature through their habitats. We have integrated these features into our handmade Talking Pictures range Havana. They also tie into the jungle trend: vibrant big cat colours and bold tropical leaves can create a really strong and appealing visual combination, which you can see across our collaborative range between Penny Kennedy and Creative Lab Amsterdam.” Big cat purrfection: “For us there’s a huge appeal around what big cats represent - strength, power, beauty, being wild and freedom. We can’t help but feel there’s a link between their symbolism and the trends surrounding female empowerment too, which are also very current and resonate strongly with the team here.” Above: Bold tropical leaves and wild beautiful big cats on a collaborative range between Penny Kennedy and Creative Lab Amsterdam.
Left: Bold and beautiful, a tiger on a design from 1790 Cards. Right: This Paper Salad ‘Wife’ design features an appreciative leopard.
Frank Nicholls, co-director of Tache: Roar of the wild: “We create a LOT of cat designs, mainly because we just love cats, big or small (our brand is even named after our pet cat, Tache)! Big cats though are awe-inspiring in themselves, which is why we keep coming back to them time and time again. They are likely trending because of the whole tropical trend, but for us they will never go out of fashion!” Right: A design from Tache’s Henries award-winning Modern Missy range.