76-77_Caroline Gardner.qxp_Grid 30/10/2023 23:40 Page 1
In Conversation With…Caroline Gardner
GARDNER’S WORLD What started as a chance conversation with a neighbour concerning product needs for a shop opening in Japan, has resulted in one of the most enduring, well-loved greeting card and gift brands which, quite rightly, is not missing out on the opportunity to mark its 30th anniversary. PG joined the party and caught up with Caroline Gardner, founder of the eponymous company. Left: Caroline Gardner trained in architecture, but has certainly built a brand in cards and lifestyle products, including pet fashion. Below: While cards still represent 70% of sales, lifestyle and gift products has seen the brand expand. Below right: Caroline (left) and Angus Gardner at the recent anniversary party with agent Fiona Lynchehan who has been involved with the company since it started.
“People make our business, our customers and our staff, they are the true treasures,” exclaimed Caroline Gardner, founder of Caroline Gardner Publishing at a recent drinks party held in its own store in London’s Marylebone High Street attended by several of its many longstanding retailer stockists, including John Lewis & Partners, Waterstones, Oliver Bonas, Between the Lines, Postmark and Gift, to mark its milestone. Caroline Gardner and her husband Angus, who continue to head up the business were full of thanks, not only for the loyalty of their retailer customers, but also their own colleagues, which now includes their son Charlie! Although very much part of the weft and weave of our industry, it is strange to think that the Caroline Gardner brand began unexpectantly in 1993, after a chance meeting between Caroline and a neighbour who was looking for handmade cards for the Conran Shop’s new store opening in Japan. Having been to Chelsea Art College and led by her natural leaning for designing anything and everything, Caroline was well up for the challenge. She experimented with wire to successfully meet the brief, creating six unique greeting card designs from her kitchen table. They proved such a hit, that the reorders quickly followed and from there the rest, as they say, is history, spawning 76 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
many more card ranges, before moving into gifts and then nine years ago opening of its own store to further champion the brand. Greeting cards however remain core to the business, still accounting for 70% of its turnover. Looking back, Caroline freely admits she had no idea that those very first greeting card designs would pave the way for what has become a thriving, well-respected brand. “I just needed a bit of money and was excited by the thought that creating products would be the start of a business. Wire cards were perhaps not the easiest starting point as they were incredibly difficult to make and look consistently good. At one point I was paying 25 au pairs to make them in their homes in their spare time, but invariably they were not
good enough to sell on,” recalls Caroline. The way forward from those early wire creations was sparked by Caroline being mesmerised by a gold die-stamped header on a 100-year-old letter that her father had shown her. “I immediately saw the potential of translating that look onto greeting cards, but with no internet back then, I scoured the Yellow Pages to find a printer who would be willing and able to work with me on creating foiled die-stamped images,” explained Caroline. The resultant first collection launched in 1995, with one of the designs being two silver embossed baby feet, in fact based on the Gardners’ then baby daughter Flora’s tootsies. “The range was not an overnight success as many retailers were just not sure about the look as it was so different to what was on