Progressive Greetings September 2022

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The People Have Spoken

Come and join the pack Stand 6A10, Autumn Fair

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Licensing Awards 2022

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From The Editor

ON THE CARDS I am writing this on an incredibly emotionally-charged day, as teenagers find out their A-level results. While of course there will be those who are overjoyed - a massive shout out to my friend Sam Hyder who with his three A*s and an A in Further Maths is now heading for Southampton Uni!, but… there are so many others who will be bitterly disappointed, their awarded grades not matching the requirements of their chosen university. The last couple of years have really taken their toll on this bunch of youngsters, with the pandemic meaning they had very little experience of taking exams before turning over their A level papers this year.

So, there will be lots of soul searching going on, with dreams shattered and alternative pathways needing to be found with many not knowing where to start.

Which brings me onto the greeting card industry and Open Call, a wonderful initiative being driven by the amazing Geoff Sanderson for the GCA which should not only help to safeguard the creative lifeforce of greeting card design, but also highlight career opportunities they may never have considered for graduates when they leave their respective seats of learning.

“I feel the industry could visibly do more to open its doors and provide a pathway to graduates of illustration and graphic design in particular. Many graduates don’t know the industry exists and, if they do, they don’t know how to tap into it,” says Geoff. “This is a wonderful industry for creative people to join. Tell any senior lecturer about the scale and size of the industry and the opportunities that exist, and they’ll marvel at its potential for graduates, especially in the scary post-Covid world where opportunity is scarce. There are thousands of willing entrants but no main doorway, often leading to missed opportunity, misunderstanding, and frustration.”

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In the first phase, Geoff has made contact with Birmingham City, Manchester Metropolitan and Nottingham Trent universities which will see some of their talented students hopefully being able to get up close to the greeting card industry, either through placements or even full time jobs with publishers.

Any publisher who is interested in helping Geoff and the GCA with this great initiative should get in touch via hello@gca.cards Geoff and some of the Above: Sam Hyder and his mum Jen (who is PG’s students involved will be subscription manager) with his A-level results. explaining more at the GCA Left: PG’s Jakki Brown with Card Factory’s chief commercial officer, Adam Dury in one of his fave AGM and Conference on indie shops. (see pages 83-85) September 29 in Nottingham, Below left: At The Henries live judging event. so if you haven’t booked your tickets yet, you should!

It was when he was working at Hallmark that Geoff started supporting the New Designers show, a relationship which the publisher has maintained to this day. (See news page 19 for this year’s winners).

I fondly remember the On the Cards design competition which was instigated by GF Smith, Reggie Pugh (then of Paper Rose), Sherwood and Paperchase and ran for a number of years, which saw undergraduates submit their card ideas, with the winning designs being produced and sold in Paperchase. I loved their fresh creative thinking, however bonkers some of them were.

There was certainly masses of fresh thinking and abundant talent entered into The Lynn Tait Most Promising Young Designer or Artist category in The Henries greeting card awards this year, which made for a very tough job for the judging panel. It felt so good to hold a live judging event for The Henries which, as well as judging all the submissions in the Young Designer category, also saw the shortlisted ranges go under the scrutiny of 35 passionate and committed retail buyers to arrive at the finalists which are featured in all their glory in this issue. (See pages 38-81).

To my mind, they all deserve an A*!

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Eco Nature is a sustainable brand of IG Design Group UK Ltd, with our mission being to make a difference through producing carbon neutral, recycled, sustainable and ethical products in the UK. Eco Nature is a brand that will never use plastic in its creation, committed to using only recycled materials, and a brand that ensures all products & packaging are fully recyclable.

Founded in 2019, Eco Nature was a vision, brought to life by passion and commitment. As a Global Manufacturer and Producer of Commercial Celebrations products, we understood it was our duty to launch a Brand, which steps away from Far-East Manufacture and transportation, in favour of supporting and celebrating UK Manufacture and UK employment.

Eco Nature is the only UK celebrations brand that offers the below credentials for its entire product range.

Proudly made in the UK Always plastic free Made from recycled materials Fully recyclable product & packaging Working towards being carbon neutral in collaboration with the Woodland Trust

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2022 is an exciting year for Eco Nature, we have launched a new range of 33 everyday single cards! As well as new Everyday and Christmas collections.

Design Group UK is one of the country’s largest greetings manufacturers.

We have the ability, capability and network to positively influence environmental change and make a difference to retail on a global scale.

Customers now align themselves with brands that are compatible with their values and priorities. With environmental stability as a high priority for many people, we are reacting quickly with on-site UK production & rapid response times. As Eco Nature continues to grow & innovate, the sustainability imperative is being driven by consumer demand.

Eco Nature is available in Tesco, Ocado, TK Maxx, Card Factory, Dobbies Garden Centres and many other retailers.

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33 Designs inspired by our brand identity with p o s i ti v e s e n ti m e n ts .

We wanted to celebrate a n d p r o te c t th e Natural World, creating greetings cards with the environment in mind.

Our Eco Nature collections are commercially and trend inspired, covering a wide range of genres suitable for all retail channels. We offer a full retail solution for both our single cards and greetings products.

We are investing in the Woodland Trust’s Woodland Carbon scheme to mitigate all emissions resulting from the production of all Eco Nature products, which will work towards helping make the Eco Nature Range carbon neutral.

We are devoted to offering our customers the opportunity to shop more consciously. Join us in our commitment, and together we can make a difference.

All products are available for immediate delivery.

Please contact us for more information at info@igdesigngroup.uk.com or visit us at www.econature.uk econature.uk

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What’s Inside?

CONTENTS 37

85

95

13-21 News

83-85

All the latest happenings and developments in the trade.

Judge and Dury

24-25

Talking shop with Adam Dury, Card Factory’s chief commercial officer.

Retailer Face to Face

Over The Counter

Aaaand It’s Live…

David Robertson, co-owner of JP Pozzi gets his brain in training for the return of the Premiership.

87-91 Innovations Publishers’ new ranges and designs.

26-27

92-95

Cardsharp

Licensing Focus

Topsy Turvy

The Property Ladder

PG columnist considers some of the unusual happenings in greeting card retail right now.

In the run-up to the fast approaching Brand Licensing Europe show, PG looks at some of the licensed properties that feature from this year’s Henries finalists.

29-35 Viewpoints

97

Rocking n Rolling

Art Source

Retail buyers who formed The Henries’ live judging panel share what they feel are the best things about the trade as well as areas for improvement.

Pan-oply of Creativity

37

98-99 What’s Hot?

The Henries’ Judging Process

The Path To Glory

Greeting card designer Pan Georgiou shares his creative life story.

A quad of retailers lift the lid on their best-selling ranges.

How the finalists and winners for The Henries 2022 product categories are arrived at.

100-111 Sources of Supply

38-81 The Henries 2022 Finalists See which ranges, designers and companies have made it into The Henries 2022 finals.

Withi n this iss THE H ue: ENR 2022 IES FINA LISTS

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Jakki Brown

Warren Lomax

Tracey Arnaud

Tracey Bearton

Editor/Joint Owner

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Copyright© 2022. 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.

Ian Hyder

PG is the official magazine for the Greeting Card Association GCA: Amanda Fergusson 020 7619 9266 Email: hello@gca.cards www.greetingcardassociation.org.uk

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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NEWS Buyer Bytes

TOP STORY

The Henries Hurrahs Publishers celebrate reaching the finals With an unprecedent level of engagement from both publishers entering and retailers judging, the muchanticipated finalists list for The Henries 2022 was unveiled recently, resulting in whoops of joy from card companies of all shapes and sizes.

In what was the first live judging event for The Henries since 2019, a group of over 35 leading retail buyers from right across the retail spectrum scrutinised all the shortlisted ranges (arrived at from the first round of online voting) with their collective votes deciding the finalists in product categories.

In addition to the product categories, the judging panel also had the treat of considering all the entries in The Lynn Tait Most Promising Young Designer or Artist award.

“The UK greeting card industry has really done itself proud in The Henries this year. The Judging Panels certainly had their work cut out in deciding who to vote for, but their experience and passion shone through,” commented Warren Lomax, joint owner of Progressive Greetings, which owns and organises The Henries.

Meanwhile, indies voted in their droves for 2022’s top publishers on the service front to arrive at the finalists for the hotly contested Henries’ Best Service to The Independent Retailer Award 2022.

The nomination process involved asking 1,750 independent greeting card retailers to submit their votes in a confidential online survey for the three card publishers they feel provided them with the best service over the past 12 months.

To see which ranges and companies are in the running turn to pages 38-79.

Above: A scene from the live judging day.

Whoops of joy “Hands down, this is the BEST news ever!!!! Hooray! I am absolutely buzzing!” exclaimed Arnelle Woker, the founder of the eponymous publisher, one of the many very happy publishers and young designers who have made it into the finals of this year’s Henries greeting card awards.

Fellow newbies, Dan and Yvette Clarkson, co-owners of Heyyy Cards “can’t quite believe” that their cards have made it into the finals in what is their very first year of trading. “We are both extremely humbled and mega excited in equal measure!”

“It’s flippin’ brilliant to be a finalist for Most Promising Young Designer! I’m absolutely tickled pink (unless it’s just a rash),” exclaimed Iain Hamilton, founder of Bewilderbeest.

“There’s no end of fantastic designers in the industry, so it’s great to be ‘up there’ with some of them. I knew that I’d learn to colour inside the lines eventually, and clearly, it’s paid off!”

“I am SO blooming happy. Fingers and toes are all crossed and will remain so until 6 Oct we are up against some stiff competition. Thank you to everyone who voted for us, it genuinely means the world to us,” said Jo Wilson, head honcho of Dandelion Stationery.

Not surprisingly, Paper Salad’s co-founders Karen Wilson and Claire Williams are overjoyed with their seven finalist places, including their collaborative creations with Emotional Rescue and Glick.

“Wow, we are absolutely blown away with being finalists for seven Henries award nominations! On behalf of our fantastic team, we would like to thank everyone who voted for us,” said Karen and Claire.

Above: Dan and Yvette Clarkson, co-owners of Heyyy Cards.

Above: Rush’s Ian and Lorraine Bradley are all smiles about reaching the finals.

“What a great way to christen my return to the industry after my maternity leave,” exclaimed Hazel Walker, senior buyer of Waterstones at the end of The Henries Live Judging Day. “It was wonderful to see how much the industry has moved on, just in the time I have been away from it. There was certainly a lot to choose from, each exuding creativity.”

Hazel was joined by 34 other top retail buyers from leading multiples, small groups and indies to make up the judging panel for the final round of judging.

“Being a Henries judge at a live event was an absolutely lovely experience,” commented Steph Burrows, card buyer of Tesco. “Not only have I got so much out of seeing and holding the products from so many different publishers, including those I did not know existed, but also to spend the day with such a mixture of retailers, who all share such a passion for greeting Above: Anne Barber cards was just great.” at the judging event.

Hayley Bastable, owner of HBB Cards, Newport Pagnell was also full of praise for the judging day.

“What a very lovely way to spend a day. I loved meeting so many fab new people in this industry that I feel I’m really starting to be a part of. This year is one I will remember always - a Retas win and now being a Henries’ judge!”

As Anne Barber, In Heaven at Home, Market Harborough added: “It was wonderful to be able to get together. The whole day brought back completely to front of mind the importance of being able to hold a card (rather than see it online) and all the feelings and emotions that that brings.”

(See page 37 and pages 29-35.)

Fantastic sponsor line-up “The Henries awards just would not exist without the incredible support of the sponsors, a fabulous roster of trade suppliers and retailers who are fully behind celebrating and rewarding publishing excellence,” remarked Warren Lomax, chairman of Max Publishing. “Joining the leading names who have loyally sponsored The Henries , we are delighted to welcome some new sponsors this year, notably Card Factory, Scribbler, FujiFilm and Duplo International,” Warren added.

The full line-up of award category sponsors for The Henries 2022 are; Alpha Colour, Card Factory, Duplo International, EBB, Fedrigoni, GCA, GF Smith, Graphite Creative, Gould International, Herbert Walkers, The Imaging Centre, LB Warehousing, Loxleys, PG Live, Postmark, Scribbler, Sherwood Group, Skeet Print, Skylight Media, Spring Fair/Autumn Fair, UK Envelope Centre and Windles.

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NEWS TOP STORY

Age-friendly Card Campaign Better Birthdays! calls for fewer ageist designs A call for kinder cards has come from a group looking to reduce the ageism that features on some greeting designs on the grounds that they cause upset and dampen confidence with their negative connotations.

The Better Birthdays! international collaborative campaign and website (www.betterbirthdays.org) is being driven by the British not-for-profit organisation Canopy along with US groups Changing The Narrative and Age Friendly Vibes with the aim of changing attitudes to ageing and challenging ageism.

Canopy director Dr Hannah McDowall and Dave Martin, from the Centre For Policy On Ageing have brought their concerns to the attention of the UK’s greeting card industry having held meetings with the GCA ceo Amanda Fergusson, Emotional Rescue’s David Greaves and Brett Smith, Progressive Greetings’ Jakki Brown, and Nicola Miller, buyer for Clintons to discuss the matter.

Linked to the World Health Organisation’s 2021 Global Report On Ageism, which calls for “a movement to change the narrative around age and ageing”, Dave said: “Greeting cards serve as a way to boost wellbeing, to connect across generations, and to celebrate age through the giving of great birthday cards - so what better way to highlight the issues and attitudes towards ageing than birthdays and birthday cards?”

Hannah added: “The campaign is not about shaming designers and makers as we know that the ageist cards are popular” but through publishers having a better understanding that some cards “express the social agreement that ageing is bad and all about loss” they can hopefully play their part in putting across a more positive message.

As Hannah accepts: “It’s a massive job to unpick the cultural narrative that getting old is bad because we start believing it so early – as young as four years old. We learn, as small children, to

Above: Some Emotional Rescue designs that show how age humour can be positive.

Below: Dave Martin has been involved in the age space since 1996.

become ageist about ourselves, let alone other people, from family and friends, and are constantly told through advertising, culture and politics that to be young is good and to get old is not, that to age is to decline, is to lose youth, vigour and opportunity.”

During the meetings held with those in the industry over the past few months, Hannah and Dave explained that the discussions have focused on how the Better Birthdays! campaign and the greetings industry might work together to inform people to be aware and understand the impact and implications of ageism. They also want to assist in the creation of cards that are more in tune with what they see as the emerging tastes and interests of the UK’s ageing population, and highlight the nuances and subtleties of creating more age-friendly cards which embrace and celebrate ageing.

Amanda Fergusson, ceo of the GCA said: “I welcomed the meetings with Dave and Hannah as by talking we are able to gain greater understanding. I highlighted that there are lots of age-positive cards on the market, also we cannot tell publishers what to do with their designs, but it was interesting when they pointed out that, on a card that says Still Fabulous At 70, by including the word ’still’ made it a bit negative, whereas Fabulous At 70 is very positive.”

Amanda acknowledged that not a lot was known in the industry about ageism and its effect on health and mental wellbeing. As a result of the contact made and issues raised, ageism has been added to the agenda for the GCA’s Diversity and Inclusion committee.

Scribbler’s customers can feel good and stay abreast They’re feeling good at Scribbler as the retail chain’s efforts with CoppaFeel! charity have raised over £28,000 for the breast cancer awareness charity.

“Although much of what we do is humorously tongue-in-cheek,” Scribbler head of design Aisling Crosland said, “our work with CoppaFeel! allows us to deliver an important message but in a lighthearted way that’s definitely no joke.”

Having partnered with the charity for the past few years, staff from the humorous greeting card specialist recently visited the CoppaFeel! offices to celebrate racking up a whopping £28,586.02 since autumn 2021 by donating 12.5% of every sale on selected seasonal products.

Founded by in 2009 by Kris Hallenga and her twin sister Maren, after Kris was diagnosed with secondary breast cancer at just 23, the charity's mission is to give everyone, no matter their age, race or gender, the best possible chance of surviving the disease.

Below: Chest good fun - enjoying the visit to the charity’s offices.

Starting the Christmas rush The Christmas rush is already on with many retailers wanting their festive card deliveries at the start of September. And at Ling Design and the Great British Card Company (GBCC), the warehouse teams have already been busily working to get everything ready.

David Byk, ceo of parent company Swan Mill Group, explained: “Our fantastic warehouse teams are focused on Christmas, we have unloaded loads of containers, put away thousands of boxes and have hundreds of pallets in store ready for dispatch - only a few more containers over the next couple of weeks and we are ready to go, go, go!

“Most customers want their deliveries at the beginning of September and we know Christmas trading is even more important than ever this year.”

Above: Packed racks and busy warehouse staff at Ling and GBCC.

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NEWS Posties call strike action

TOP STORY

Marathon Efforts

Below: Best feet forward - marathon runners Rachel, Paul, and Mark.

Mark Janson-Smith, Rachel Church and Paul Roberts put in the footwork Having your name on a shirt is one way to get publicity in the London Marathon but Rachel Ellen Designs’ commercial director Paul Roberts wants to get names under his iron as he runs the UK capital’s biggest race for a good cause.

“I’m looking to take Extreme Ironing to new levels of stupidity by attempting to literally pretend to iron throughout the entire 26.2-mile course!” laughed Paul.

While Paul will be ironing his way round while company co-founder Rachel Church and independent retailer Mark Janson-Smith, founder of Postmark will be in the running at the 2022 event on 2 October.

Paul is still working out exactly how to add wheels to his trusty ironing board, the same one the extreme ironing nut has carried through numerous challenges including Brecon Ultra Marathon, the World Bog Snorkelling Championships and the infamous six-day Marathon Des Sables across the Sahara Desert, but he also needs something to iron.

“For any business owners who wants some cheap publicity and great marketing photos,” Paul said, “imagine a tea towel with your business name and logo positioned prominently for the world to see - get in touch!” he urges.

While both Rachel and Mark are running novices, taking up the sport to raise money for Pancreatic Cancer UK and Shooting Stars Children’s Hospices respectively, Paul has plenty of form, having twice completed the world-famous London Marathon. He entered this year to show solidarity and support for Rachel after her father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and to raise as much money as he can alongside her for the charity.

Rachel took up running just four years ago and credits the sport and her local running group with keeping her sane during the lockdowns as she’s progressed from park runs to 10k and a few half-marathons.

“I definitely had no ambition or intention to run a full marathon,” she told PG, “but, the day after my dad was diagnosed with this awful illness, pancreatic cancer, in August last year, I

logged on and entered as a means to try and do something positive.”

Meanwhile, Postmark’s Mark admitted he used to get out of breath running for a bus so did the Couch to 5k programme with his son last year but didn’t properly take up running until January.

“My mates have always said there was no way I could run a marathon due to my lifestyle so part of this is to prove them wrong, though I don't think I realised quite how far 26 miles was!” admitted Mark.

As for his USP, Mark said: “I’m absolutely not going to be doing anything daft like Paul - he is a complete madman, or superman, I’m not quite sure! My one and only goal is to finish.”

Mark will be running to raise money for Shooting Stars, a leading children’s hospice charity providing nursing, practical, emotional and medical care for babies, children and young people with life-limiting conditions, and their families across Surrey and London from diagnosis to end of life and throughout bereavement.

All three runners would be grateful for any support.

Posties have called four days of strike action in late August and early September as the Communication Workers’ Union rejected a proposed 5.5% pay rise from Royal Mail.

As PG went to press around 115,000 workers were expected to walk out for 24 hours each time, on 26 and 31 August, and 8 and 9 September, following a recent ballot in which 97.6% of CWU members voted to take industrial action.

With inflation currently at 10.1%, a 40year high that’s expected to rise further this year, CWU general secretary Dave Ward said: “Nobody takes the decision to strike lightly, but postal workers are being pushed to the brink.

The CWU’s message to Royal Mail’s leadership is simple - there will be serious disruption until you get real on pay.”

Ensuring the greeting card industry’s concerns are heard, the GCA meets regularly with Royal Mail and is also in contact with Ofcom, which monitors the business closely as it’s the universal service provider so subject to more regulation than other postal operators.

Just last month Ofcom reiterated the requirement for Royal Mail to offer a six-day-a-week letter delivery service to every address in the UK. GCA ceo Amanda Fergusson said this is something the GCA requested from both the Royal Mail and Ofcom at one of the regular meetings.

Top: Four days of strikes will see no postal deliveries.

Above: MP Nigel Huddlestone next to one of five special postboxes to mark the Commonwealth Games.

BLE promotes sustainability A packed programme at Brand Licensing Europe will shine the spotlight on sustainability, diversity, equality and inclusion, with its first keynote session focused on brands with purpose.

“Through partnerships with Products Of Change (POC), Licensing International, Black Lives Matter Licensing as well as Junk Kouture and many more brands, all aspects of the day three programme will aim to educate, inspire and invite action within the brand licensing community,” said Anna Knight, senior vice-president of licencing for show organiser Informa Markets.

BLE, the leading European event for licensing and brand extension, takes place this year in an earlier dateline of 20-22 September 2022 at ExCeL London, plus online follow-up on September 26-28, with online registration now open, and more than 180 exhibiting companies will be attending.

Right: The licensing community is (see pages 92-95) counting down to BLE.

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A pack of 18 cards showcasing the latest readily available foil colours from the Windles Group.

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NEWS TOP STORY

Roaring Into Action

Below: The Lionesses’ win was inspiring, historic and a consumer connector for Danilo and Moonpig.

Danilo and Moonpig respond to Lionesses triumph Moonpig and Danilo roared into action to celebrate the Lionesses’ inspirational and historic victory over Germany with a range of greeting cards and a calendar marking the UK’s women’s football Euro 2022 win.

The first time any England football team has won a major international trophy since Bobby Moore led the famous 1966 World Cup triumph, the online greetings specialist Moonpig proved it has its finger on the country’s pulse by turning around the 10+ card designs (licensed from Danilo) within hours, offering standard, large and giant sizes.

The collection honours the historymaking women’s team with a series of new cards featuring the likes of goalscorer Ella Toone, Alessia Russo, Leah Williamson and substitute turned matchwinner Chloe Kelly.

It fell to sub Chloe to poke home from close-range in the 110th minute for the decisive goal that earned the ladies congratulations from the Queen. As the celebratory party carried on into the night, Moonpig’s and Danilo’s team swung into action themselves to get the card designs completed.

As soon as the whistle blew official licensee Danilo ran with the ball to get

all its latest products approved by the English FA. The Danilo team immediately went into sporting action sifting through the celebration photos to pick the best for its 2023 calendar, having been working with the FA as the official licensee for calendars and cards for the past three years.

And only a few days later Danilo received official FA approval for the product that allows everyone to make a date with the Lionesses with the 2023 calendar.

Dan Grant, licensing director at Danilo, told PG “Being the official publisher of calendars and cards for both the men’s and women’s England teams is a real honour for us over the last three years. We have been keen to support the England Women’s team during this time, and have launched a calendar each year, as well as a range of greeting cards. The awareness and appeal for women’s football continues to grow each year and that’s now set to continue with the Lionesses’ success at the Euros.”

Hallmark’s designs on new designers Two new designers are getting ready for their first taste of life at the greeting card industry coalface as they take up paid internships at Hallmark. Sandra Junele and Reuben Loftus were chosen by the publisher as the winners of its two awards at the recent New Designers show where the work of 2,500 UK graduates was presented at London’s Business Design Centre.

Split across two weeks, Hallmark sponsored the Connection Award for both events, with a definite emphasis on sustainability and looking for “ideas and concepts within and beyond the perceived expectations of greetings-associated design disciplines”.

With its brand vision described as “we will be the company that creates a more emotionallyconnected world by making a genuine difference in every life, every day” Hallmark was looking for a pair of graduates who can “bring innovative, future-thinking, and sustainable ideas to our greetings category”, and added: “They will be highly creative in their concept development, demonstrating inventive and clever ways to explore emotional connection through their work.”

Both Sandra, from the University of Dundee, and Kingston University’s Reuben earned a £1,000 paid four-week internship at Hallmark’s creative studio, either in its Bradford HQ or virtual, where they will work as part of the futurethinking ideation squad.

Left: The Hallmark judges loved Sandra’s and Reuben’s creativity.

Retail Revitalised at Top Drawer AW22 Leading design-led lifestyle and interiors trade show Top Drawer is returning to London’s Olympia from 11-13 September. The show’s new season message - Retail Revitalised - will highlight how the world of retail is beginning a fresh chapter, with a positive outlook.

The September show will feature over 1,500 brands, which include greeting card companies such as 2ToTango, Alljoy, Archivist, ArtPress, Coulson Macleod, James Ellis and Ohh Deer.

Top Drawer’s Launchpad sector, will put new faces in the spotlight while

there will also be the return of the show’s partnership with the University of Arts London, as well as a selection of Young Furniture Makers, hand-selected to showcase their products. Other highlights at Top Drawer include exclusive trends, curated seminar sessions and expert advice. Visit www.topdrawer.co.uk Above: Head to Olympia for Top Drawer.

Imaging Centre invests in industry Making sure card publishers achieve better turnaround times as well as providing help for newbies is the aim at The Imaging Centre, and the printer’s latest technology should prove a good investment.

Managing director Adam Short and the team have just taken delivery of a Caslon NSF Elite Mark 2 block finishing machine, which is now sitting alongside its existing Caslon finishing equipment.

“It will increase our capacity for special finishing,” Adam told PG, “and help our ongoing quest to reduce turnaround times.”

And Adam is aiming to put the NSF Elite foiling machine through its paces in front of a live audience at the first of the company’s free InPress seminars for new publishers on 15 September. He added: “Our first one is fully booked and we only have a couple of spaces left now for the second session in October - I’m now working on session three!”

Above: The NSF Elite is the latest investment at The Imaging Centre.

FOR THE LATEST NEWS VISIT PGBUZZ.net PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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NEWS TOP STORY

More noise about TOYW

Open Call For Graduates Geoff Sanderson and GCA aim to engage fresh creative talent Greetings to graduates is the aim of the GCA’s new Open Call programme with Geoff Sanderson, the former Hallmark, Moonpig and Tigerprint/M&S creative director leading the bid to show just how brilliant the industry can be for students.

And Geoff’s blog on how graduates and the greetings industry can be good for each other is now live on the GCA website, while he’ll also be expounding on the subject at the association’s AGM and annual conference at Nottingham Trent University on Thursday 29 September.

“We are delighted that Geoff has agreed to lead this project for the GCA,” ceo Amanda Fergusson told PG,

“bringing his skills, knowledge and many years of experience. Attracting new design talent into the greeting card industry is vital for the future of our industry. We want to bring the industry with us on this so are keen to offer those publishers who are interested and able to get involved the opportunity to help us develop this initiative. Also, we want to hear from publishers who are keen to offer work experience etc, so that we can start looking to help build connections.”

Geoff, who has 35 years’ experience in the world of cards, gifts and licensing, has begun the process of reaching out to universities and graduates already, by selecting students from Birmingham City, Manchester Metropolitan and Nottingham Trent universities, several of whom will also be attending the GCA conference.

Geoff said: “This curated sample is a taster of the talent available.

Having the right creative recruitment in place, from a graduate level

upwards is essential for design innovation. The development and nurturing of fresh graduate talent straight from degree shows, through offering placements, work experience, and freelance commission, can then organically lead to contracts and full-time jobs. I feel the industry could visibly do more to open its doors and provide a pathway to graduates of illustration and graphic design in particular. Many graduates don’t know the industry exists and, if they do, they don’t know how to tap into it.”

“This is a wonderful industry for creative people to join. Tell any senior lecturer about the scale and size of the industry and the opportunities that exist, and they’ll marvel at its potential for graduates, especially in the scary post-Covid world where opportunity is scarce.

There are thousands of willing entrants but no main doorway, often leading to missed opportunity, misunderstanding, and frustration.”

With the GCA, Geoff is set on building Open Call into an industry-wide programme with placements, like those already run by Hallmark, with the GCA seen as a credible point of contact for information about the industry, graduate work-placement opportunities, jobs etc.

Anyone keen get involved should contact Geoff or Amanda via the GCA on hello@gca.cards Top: Geoff Sanderson is sourcing new talent.

Above: Geoff with (left) MMU Illustration graduates Georgina, Poppy, Eve and lecturer Maisy LewinSanderson; BCU illustration graduates Bethany, Erin and Katie and course leader Helen Wheeler; and NTU MA Illustration graduate Anna Below: The GCA’s AGM and annual conference.

Clintons, Card Factory and Scribbler are among the latest multiple retailers to have pledged their support for the GCA’s Thinking of You Week (which runs 1925 September this year). Clintons, for example, is all set to run a window campaign for the week in all its 231 stores with 4 for 3 on all general birthday cards.

Royal Mail has also confirmed that it will be implementing a Thinking of You Week stamp cancelation message during the designated week on millions of items of post being graced with the TOYW tagline, ‘Send a card, deliver a smile’.

Products Of Change partners with Autumn Fair Products Of Change, the sustainability membership organisation which includes several card publishers among its members, has forged a strategic partnership with Autumn Fair (4-7 September, NEC) to deliver and drive sustainability educational sessions and practice guides at the show this year.

As the conversation surrounding sustainability in the retail and consumer products sectors deepen, including in the greeting card sector, so too has Autumn Fair’s own journey with the subject, and partnering with POC is the team’s latest bold step in fuelling its Power Of One initiative.

Power Of One was launched back in 2018 to raise awareness of sustainability in the retail industry, igniting a forum for retail customers to talk about the steps needed to change the future and how the sector can empower customers to be more sustainable.

A membership network, educational platform, and content hub, curated by experts across multiple disciplines within sustainability and the consumer products industries, POC sets out to educate as well as inform change across business. Belly Button Designs, Carousel Calendars, Cath Tate Cards, Danilo, Hallmark, Into the Green Publishing, Amscan and Talking Tables are among POC’s committed members.

“With a breadth of partners across multiple categories including brand owners, manufacturers and retailers, Products Of Change is extremely proud to partner with Autumn Fair this year to offer cross-category expertise in implementing better sustainability and driving positive change across business,” said POC founder and ceo Helena Mansell-Stopher.

Products of Change will be on stand in 6H40. POC is offering all Autumn Fair exhibitors and attendees a 10% discount on memberships.

(See pages 87 and 89) Above: The Products Of Change line-up includes (from left) Helen Mansell-Stopher, June Kirkwood, Mike Swain, and James George.

FOR THE LATEST NEWS VISIT PGBUZZ.net PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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OVER THE

COUNTER

BY DAVID ROBERTSON OF JP POZZI, ELGIN AND BUCKIE.

Aaaand

It’s Live...

As I write this, “Aaaand it’s live” is the catchphrase from Martin Tyler the Sky Sports’ commentator will be echoing this weekend. The Premiership is back and brings to an end a long 11 weeks since we last had football!

That said, like so many others, I really enjoyed the women’s Euros. The atmosphere, the games and the spirit were to be celebrated and the quality of the football played was excellent. And you know that things are changing when Danilo signs up the Lionesses for an official calendar and the Chelsea ladies will be on lots of walls come January 2023.

The Premiership of course is made up of the top 20 teams in England and promises to be full of ups and downs, especially if you are a Man United fan like me!

My anticipation of the Premiership gave me an idea for this month’s column in which I would list the top 20 card companies as I saw it right now. I thought I would look at who ‘the big boys’ are, who the relegation strugglers were likely to be and how the newbies that had fought their way into that list would fare.

I had started plotting it out, linking names, companies and teams with taglines such as: l A fallen giant (Man U) struggling with a lack of identity. l A revitalised favourite refreshed with new money (Newcastle).

Then I had second thoughts. Which companies would I offend by leaving them out? Who would perhaps not make the list?

And of those who did may take offence at the quirky descriptions.

I remember writing a piece along these lines 10 years ago and those thoughts never entered my head. I reckon I was trying to be some sort of a light version of Piers Morgan.

I was trying to do my copy of his approach as opposed to being my own original self!

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PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

That ‘football league’ article 10 years ago did create a fair bit of controversy at the time but in truth these days I have no desire to cause any issues or indeed cause anyone to lose any business.

Changing my mind and evaluating things is something that I am definitely much better at now than I was in my youth. I used to think that changing my mind showed a degree of weakness. It showed I had been swayed, yet in reality changing your mind says more good than bad. It shows that you have a sense of awareness and curiosity.

I know I have to change this business. I have to keep it current and run it in a different way. I have to manage costs and situations that my parents didn’t when they took on the business all those years ago. I also need to make sure that it survives and succeeds. I can’t be the one responsible for it not being a success and that is the fire which is still burning in me.

When my parents bought the business in June

Above: Football commentator Martin Tyler is a well known voice of the Premiership.

Left: Danilo’s official licensed calendar for The Lionesses to mark the team’s success as well as the progress made in women’s football.

Below: Edwina Curry was a Junior Health Minister for two years, resigning in 1988 during the salmonella-ineggs controversy. She is now offering herself as a motivational speaker.

1988 the interest rate was hovering around 10% before it would rise further in the future years. 1988 was interesting. People’s disposable income was squeezed, unemployment was low, Comic Relief launched as there was a real need to support local issues, Edwina Curry had ‘egg on her face’ having made certain comments, British Rail increased costs by 21%, Postal workers walked out on strike because of pay, Nigel Lawson the Chancellor slashed income tax. In fact, everything was very similar to now except the nurses received a 15% increase in their wage. No-one would mind that today.

And the point of this list? Simply to illustrate that life goes on and is often cyclical. We may be thinking that these are the most difficult trading circumstances any of us have faced, but there have been difficult times before.

Of course now we have the Internet, the Covid tail, energy price rises and many other things to overcome but indie retailers are and always have been resilient and innovative.

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OVER THE COUNTER Left: A very happy David Robertson (right) with his 2018 Greats (gift retailer trophy) with fellow Scottish indies, Constance and Hamish Wemyss of The Gift in Beauly and their trophy.

Below left: Einstein starring on a Cath Tate card.

Below right: David Robertson is looking to get past the goalie and put more balls in the back of the net for his business.

Bottom: Just like the lion in Wizard of Oz, we all need courage.

Last month we announced a further 50p hourly increase for all staff in October.

This is to help with the cost-of-living crisis that is incoming and also to try and retain the excellent team we have right now.

Interesting to see that despite this being tight for us to fund, Amazon with all its £billions has only offered a 35p an hour increase and their staff wanted to strike.

Sometimes we indies are just too hard on ourselves. Sometimes we don’t see what we have built or done because we are too close to it. We are living it so much that we can’t see the wood or at least the cards for the trees!

With a number of my recent projects stalling and business still challenging because of footfall and lack of disposable income, I have started to almost accept things as they are. I know from speaking to many PG readers that you too feel a little swamped and a unsure as to where to go next.

I mentioned last month that I have been listening to high performance podcasts to try and get my mojo back.

Immersing myself in positive stories and positive people is perhaps the first starting point. Sharing in their troubles and how they overcame their obstacles is such a positive thing. Being able to see where it can go rather than where it will fail is also a key to success. The power of positive thinking has become a cliché, but those who always try to be positive are more confident and successful, plus it also has been proven have better health, avoiding things like high blood pressure, depression and stress.

Another thing I have learnt is about growth and a fixed mindsets. Those with

fixed mindset obsess on results, battle over setbacks and can lose interest if difficulties arise. Compare that to those with a growth mindset who are much more flexible.

They tend to bounce back better and use that to grow from each challenge.

The other thing we will all need to get through these coming months is determination. I believe that this is one of the most important traits for any business person and without it you will be unlikely to achieve your goals. A determined person will trust themselves to make the decisions needed and will actually follow through. This is where I have been giving myself a real talking to as I feel in some ways I have been paralysed with fear over what I am trying to do right now.

I felt I needed to lead by implementing free lunches and a further wage rise to secure staff in order to make them feel valued. I also feel in these difficult times that honesty with suppliers, customers and staff will be paramount. These relationships must be cultivated and nurtured to get the most out of them for all involved. Being a leader doesn’t mean giving orders, it means showing the way.

Being open to change will also be crucial as we move forward.

Being proactive and willing to learn from all sources will be crucial for growth. Whether that be sharing the best energy pricing which may save many businesses around

you, to constantly listening, learning, analysing, reading. You can never get enough knowledge.

Einstein said, “The more I learn, the less I know.” This sentiment will keep you humble and keep you searching for those answers.

Finally, you need to be one thing above all else - courageous. Being able to block the naysayers, to keep going when you are told no, to re-route your plans constantly and to find a way to success is not easy. I have often spoken about my unshakeable self-belief. Well, it has been tested more than ever in these last few months, but I still totally believe in my concept and what I would like to do even if simply can’t do it at this stage.

I believe that I will get through these next few months and while the longterm

future of the business may be quite different to where it has been or even is now, I believe fully there is a future.

Giving up is always the easiest thing to do. You can be 1-0 down but the great Alex Ferguson sides in football never knew they were beaten. Fergie time was never a real thing. Man U didn’t really get extra time played until they scored. What happened is those teams never knew they were beaten and would never stop until the whistle went. They simply wanted to win more than their opponents.

For me these last few months have been difficult. I have been in survival mode, protecting rather than being brave and moving forward. I have questioned myself, my status and my career and what has been built, but the bottom line is we are where we are.

I have ideas for all my buildings and I have belief that I can carry these thoughts through, I just need to find a way to stick that ball in the back of the net and win again. Can’t be that difficult, watching more of the beautiful game will maybe hold the answers!

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

25

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cardsharp

Topsy Turvy The heatwave isn’t the only thing to have caused a feeling of discombobulation of late, feels Cardsharp, mopping his sweaty brow.

There are some unusual topsy turvy happenings going on at greeting card retail right now.

Cardsharp adopts a cool head to think it all through.

Back in the early 1990s, when Progressive Greetings was in its infancy, Clintons was just one of a number of specialist greeting card multiple chains on the high street.

Believe it or not, Hallmark and American Greetings (UK Greetings’ parent), and Fine Art Developments, another major publishing group, all had their own retail empires. Cardsharp recalls Hallmark’s was called Hall of Cards, American Greetings’ one was called Someone Somewhere and Fine Art’s one was called Papertree.

This was a bit of an odd state of affairs. These major players’ strength was in publishing, not retailing, and it also sat very

uncomfortably with these players’ multiple and independent customers, who felt they were buying from their competitors.

Cardsharp remembers one retailer saying that “buying from your competitors who were also you key suppliers, was like shooting yourself in the foot!”

Arguably this state of affairs enabled Gibson Greetings International, another American publishing force to emerge and prosper rapidly in the UK. Gibson’s very successful sales pitch was that it offered customers exceptional service, but more importantly they did not own any shops, and so did not compete with their customers.

The big publishers in the 1990s became all too aware of their contradictory

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PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

position and made a big effort to divest themselves of their retail interests over the 1990s, with the majority of their respective retail portfolios ending up being owned by Clintons.

After that, the industry fell into the familiar pattern of publishers behaving as publishers, supplying the retailers, and staying out of the coalface of bricks and mortar. The exception of course being the Card Factory model developed in the early noughties, where the Wakefield-based chain developed its vertical integration model of designing, printing and retailing the vast majority of its own greeting cards.

Which meant the company could retail cards at previously unimaginably low prices.

And that is the way it has largely stayed until relatively recently.

It seems to Cardsharp though that we are going through one of those periods of great change in the structure of the greeting card industry at retail level. Certain new trends are emerging that bear some similarities to the late eighties and early nineties, but there are distinct differences.

In fact, it all seems to be going in random different topsy turvy directions.

For example, Card Factory has finally expanded into Central London with its first store in Zone One of the city, after over 20

Above: Some of the recent developments are turning historic conventions on their head.

Left: Back in the days of Clintons’ orange fascia, the retail chain acquired lots of hitherto publisher-owned shops.

Bottom: Scribbler has made no secret of its intention to move more into ‘wholesale’ and provide a design service alongside its own retailing presence.

years of trading. But on perusing the new outlet in Tottenham Court Road, Cardsharp observed that a reasonable percentage of the cards on sale had not emanated from the company’s own studios, but were clearly designs sourced from other designled publishers. While Card Factory has been stocking some cards from other publishers in its other stores, invariably in specialist genres such as licensed and humour, this latest move signals more of an intention to expand on the upmarket front.

Card Factory’s vertical integration model, where it designs, prints and then sells all their own cards is obviously going through some modification, as the PLC perhaps realises what works in towns like Wakefield might not cut it so well in central London or in more affluent areas. This is certainly an interesting shift in direction.

Cardsharp also wonders whether it will lead to a significant increase in the average price of the cards it sells?

Then there is the increasing development of major retailers selling or attempting to sell their design services to other retailers. Card Factory, for instance, has for the last couple of years been supplying half of Aldi’s estate in the UK (the other half of stores being supplied by IG Design Group), plus has a trial underway in a handful of Matalan

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stores as well as a supply agreement in place with The Reject Shop chain in Australia. To Cardsharp’s mind this is unlikely to be the end of it, having bolstered the CF team whose responsibility is to identify and nurture relationships with other retailers, stating its goal that 20% of turnover in a few years time will be through retailer collaborations and online.

Cardsharp has also heard through the grapevine that Clintons has been offering its studio design facility to other major retailers.

And then there is the curious case of Marks and Spencer. Ever since Hallmark acquired Tigerprint over 20 years ago (the company which was M&S’ own brand supplier for cards), the ‘Big H’ has been the sole card supplier to the quintessential British chain.

So, Cardsharp was surprised to see a sizeable display of cards in his local new look M&S store that certainly did not have a Hallmark look about them. Upon investigation the general consensus is that they emanated from the Scribbler studio, the specialist greeting city centre retail group. Cardsharp delved further and discovered that even in M&S’ main estate its greeting card offer (that Cardsharp can only assume is being supplied by Hallmark) had also undergone a enormous revamp, not only in the design styles on offer (the Percy Pig design being one of the most inspired creations, to Cardsharp’s eye), but in presentation too.

M&S has ditched the cello to take all its cards naked except for a card clasp. Not having seen much being made about this significant change at M&S, Cardsharp can only assume that the retailer is waiting to see how customers react to the change before going public on its sustainable shift and progressive design approach.

While this creative fightback from Hallmark is likely to secure its tenure as M&S’ long serving partner, for Scribbler it gives the edgy retailer an opportunity to share the financial benefits from the Percy Pig trough. Cardsharp recalled this is not a first for Scribbler of this ilk. Having made

Above: One of the new look M&S card displays.

Left: A naked Percy Pig card from M&S. Far left: Card Factory’s distribution in Aldi expands the brand’s footprint in another 400 stores.

no secret of its willingness to supply other retailers, a couple of years it made its debut in some Sainsbury’s stores, with a Scribbler branded display.

And of course Paperchase has over the years enjoyed a presence by piggybacking in other retailers, such as in House of Fraser, Selfridges, Fenwick and Next, but this has been on a concession basis rather than as a supplier.

So, it would appear, a new dynamic is emerging in the UK greeting card industry - retailers are turning into suppliers for other retailers.

Is this just a temporary aberration or a trend? mused Cardsharp. All’s fair in love, war and greeting card business, thinks Cardsharp.

More than a penny for your thorts As regular readers of PG Buzz, PG’s thrice weekly e-newsletter know, thanks to the wonders of algorithms, there is a constantly updated list of the most popular stories shown on the site. Normally the ‘top scorers’ are the most recent announcements that appeal widely, such as The Henries finalists or any sizeable company or personnel developments.

Well, a couple of weeks ago Cardsharp was astonished and intrigued to see that a story dating back to 2018 appeared well up the ranking in the ‘popularity list’, having been Googled and read by a multitude of readers.

What was this ancient story and why was it so popular? It was the historic appearance of Andy Pearce, founder of greeting card online print Above: Thortful’s Andy Pearce making his on demand platform Thortful on the Boxing Day addition of the BBC’s Dragons’ Den TV show. pitch on Dragons’ Den in 2018, though it was only really done for PR purposes.

Why such a renewed burst of interest now? Well Cardsharp has a hunch…

Having done an amazing job in taking Thortful up to a £multi- million turnover in only four years, Andy is either looking for further investment or a sale. There is history there, with him have already built and sold three diverse businesses during his incredible career.

And could the rush of clicks to this old story come from a horde of bankers, analysists, City types and prospective investors or purchasers all doing their research on the company.

Cardsharp wonders if Moonpig, at the receiving end of Cardsharp’s criticism last month, may be looking at Thortful. With a share price that’s languishing and its greeting card sales struggling to grow, what better way to boost investor sentiment and add customers than such an acquisition?

Of course, concluded Cardsharp this might all well be ‘hogwash’. But remember if it happens you read it here first!

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

27

Whilst we may not exhibiting at Top Drawer this September, we are excited to be releasing five fantastic new card ranges, additions to bestselling ranges and fabulous new wrap. Contact your agent to be one of the first to shop October cards now.

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VIEWPOINTS

Rocking n Rolling The 1950s was a decade of some great things - Elvis Presley was the cool hound dog, the computer modem was invented, the contraceptive pill was made available and Super Glue came on the market, for starters - but it was also a decade of austerity, racial discrimination was rife, The Cold War intensified and 80% of men aged 35-59 smoked which was the cause of death for half middle-aged males.

In keeping with the 1950s theme of The Henries, retail members of the live judging panel were put on the spot and asked… l What are the best things about our greeting card industry today? l What are the things that you would to see improving in the industry? l Rationing was still in place until 1954. If that was today, what would you really not want to see on the ration list?

Nigel Williamson partner of House of Cards, seven stores in the Home Counties Best things: “Innovation. Just look at all the Covid-related products that came out during the pandemic. l The way everyone in the industry pulled together during the pandemic. l Winning two Retas awards in July felt really good!”

Room for improvement: “Just the one…to have a reliable and cheaper postal service.”

Ration exemptions: “Top of my list would be greeting cards and golf.”

Shar Grothier buyer for Sainsbury’s (1,408 stores) Best things: “The ease of buying cards as both a trade buyer and consumer. l The diversity of designs available. l The greeting card community.

Everyone is so friendly, welcoming and helpful.”

Room for improvement: “More UK production, removal of cellowrap and non-recyclable embellishments.”

Ration exemptions: “Chocolate, socialising with friends/family and water.”

Above: Shar Grothier of Sainsbury’s loves the greeting card community.

Celia Leeson-Cox creative lead and visual merchandising manager of Yarnton Home & Garden, Yarnton Best things: “The constant feelgood factor…cards are always affordable and always appreciated. l I love it that cards are such a great indicator of where we are as a society. l It is good that there is a consistent progression within the profession with new people and companies joining every year.”

Room for improvement: “While good progress has been made on the sustainable front, there is still a potential for less plastic to be used and for increased use of sustainable glitter etc.”

Ration exemptions: “Greeting cards obviously, but also lipstick and music, especially James Morrison.”

Above and right: Celia and James Morrison.

Above: House of Cards’ Nigel Williamson (left) with PG’s Warren Lomax.

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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VIEWPOINTS Tabi Marsh director of Papilio at Heritage, Thornbury Best things: “That we are an industry that wields the power of ensuring millions of people receive a handwritten card every week and the benefits that brings. l Whatever your tastes or needs, there is a card out there for everyone. l Another strength is there are always new publishers for us as retailers to discover and try.”

Room for improvement: “We need more inclusive cards, especially those for sending to children.” l There is still a need for more barcoding.”

Ration exemptions: “Wi-fi, the phone and books.”

Above: Tabi all smiles at The Henries judging.

Michael Laybourn buyer for Henry & Co, 11 stores in the Midlands and the North Best things: “The wealth of designs and diversity of ranges on offer from publishers. l The drive for and achievements in sustainability improvements puts other industries to shame.”

Room for improvement: “Be good to have more support to facilitate the growth of independent retailers as well as initiatives to stop the decline of the high street. l It would massively benefit the industry if there was a reduction in postal charges in the run up to peak Christmas.”

Ration exemptions: “Being able to shop in Woolworth’s again, seeing Elvis in concert and free parking for all.”

Below: Michael Laybourn with Nest’s Samantha Gibbs (left) and agent Rosie Trow who was a helper on the day.

Stephanie Burrows buyer for Tesco Best things: “The family feel. Everyone is so friendly in the industry that no one wants to leave. l On the publisher front, Wishing Well is working really well in the new trad/contemporary genre we are moving in to while Bewilderbeest cards are such a great example of how humour can be beautiful too!”

Room for improvement: “There should be more diversity and inclusive greeting card options and creating greater awareness to consumers that these are available in bricks and mortar stores and not just online. l More independent publishers/designers need to be mindful of sustainability - there are still a lot of plastic gems and glitter. l There could be more regular networking events, like The Henries Judging, as they are so lovely.”

Ration exemptions: “Chocolate, pastries, wine and spending time with friends all have to remain freely available!”

Above: Steph Burrows loves the friendliness of the industry.

Jo Barber managing director of No.14 Ampthill, Ampthill Best things: “The talent and inclusion. This is the friendliest industry I have ever worked in. l A product the costs £3.00 can be worth a £million if the words are right!”

Room for improvement: “Less packaging - not just on the cards themselves, but when orders arrive and the brochures too. l There could be more gender-neutral baby and children’s cards.”

Ration exemptions: “Wi-fi, phone and IPad.” Right: Retail buddies, Jo Barber and Sean Austin swopping notes at the judging.

Sean Austin

Below left: Sean Austin would protect Twiglets from appearing on the rations list.

owner of Austin & Co, Malvern

Samantha Gibbs proprietor of Nest, Broughton Astley, Stoneygate, Thurlaston Garden Centre and Tearoom Best things: “Diversity is on the increase with humour and good spirit. l The creativity and imagination are staggeringly good. l The continuity of amazing ideas.”

Room for improvement: “Fewer non-recyclable embellishments, fewer cellos and more apprenticeships.”

Ration exemptions: “Chocolate, chocolate and chocolate.”

Left: Samantha would need to save chocolate from the rations list.

Best things: “The talent of designers. The industry is like one big family, from designer through publisher to retailer.”

Room for improvement: “To further break down stereotypes on card designs. Eg pink/blue for boys/girls, beer for Dad designs, Prosecco for Mum. l There could also be greater diversity of product to better mirror society.”

Ration exemptions: “International travel, dogs and Twiglets.”

Continued on page 33 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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DLE CUD E M

Swizzels and Love Hearts are registered trade marks of Swizzels Matlow Limited.

+44 (0) 1268 567317

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sales@poshpawsinternational.co.uk

Gloucester House Basildon Essex SS14 3BX UK

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VIEWPOINTS Anne Barber owner of In Heaven at Home, Market Harborough Best things: “The fun and humour; creativity in the designs and being an industry which facilitates the joy of sending and receiving a handwritten card.”

Room for improvement: “To have special low cost stamps for cards, especially at Christmas as well as having more innovative choices for male cards.”

Ration exemptions: “Cuddles from my darling rescue sausage dog Henry, Aperol Spritz and stamps as I send so many cards.”

Sarah Laker

Above: Anne with Henry doing the online judging round which resulted in the shortlisted ranges that were judged at the live judging event.

owner of Stationery Supplies, Marple and Wilmslow Best things: “The choice available! l This is such a supportive industry with a real feelgood factor with a product that spreads joy and happiness. l I love its adaptability and how it’s always bang up to date on trends.”

Room for improvement: “To streamline and regularise way cards are supplied. There are too many choices that don’t all work. l It would be great if VAT on stationery and cards could be scrapped or the rate reduced. l Get business rates sorted!”

Ration exemptions: “Beer, stationery and books.”

Priya Aurora-Crowe director of Lark London, 13 stores in London

Above: Lark’s Priya Aurora-Crowe.

Right: Polly Pocket would be kept off the ration list by Priya.

Best things: “The variety of suppliers, the ever changing newness and the fantastic support network.”

Room for improvement: “For good B2B websites across all brands and to get rid of cellowrap.”

Ration exemptions: “Alcohol (any kind), TV and Polly Pocket (for my daughters).”

Above: Sarah Laker (right) with Ruth Young, who was a buyer for Clintons for many years before retiring.

Evelyn O’Flaherty co-owner of Mooch London, four stores in Ealing and Fulham Best things: “The ever-evolving ranges and designs.

The fab new young designers coming through. l I also love that sending a card is such a simple way to bring a smile.”

Room for improvement: “To make it easier for young designers to break into the industry.”

Ration exemptions: “Gin.” Right: Evelyn O’Flaherty is a big fan of all the new designers coming into the industry.

Sally Matson owner of Red Card, Petworth Best things: “The people. I am still, after 15 years of buying, always enthusiastic about industry events. l The quality of product. The UK greeting card industry is the best in the world. l The choice. There is something for everyone.”

Room for improvement: “For everyone get rid of cellos so that we are a completely green industry. l Scrap or reduce VAT on stationery and cards. l Free replacement stock, for damaged non-cello cards.”

Ration exemptions: “Champagne, books and greeting cards.”

Above: Sally in judging mode.

Debbie Brown co-owner of First Class Greetings and Plum Green, Hadleigh Best things: “PG Live. Buying and selling lovely things and making someone’s day with the ‘right’ card.”

Room for improvement: “Better same sex wedding cards.”

Ration exemptions: “Champagne, cosmetics and shoes.”

Left: Debbie and Jerry Brown judging the Best Giftwrappiings category.

Continued on page 35 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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VIEWPOINTS Jo Sorrell

Liz Killick

owner of Cardies, Stevenage Best things: “The happiness, innovation and inclusivity.”

Room for improvement: “For younger generations to engage in actually posting cards. l For there to be less cellowrap used. l For more choice in male and female Above: One of Jo Sorrell’s Labradors (aka Ponks) in Cardies. designs that are not stereotypical pink/blue.”

Ration exemptions: “Cake, Labradors and cards in equal measure!”

owner of Calladoodles, Carshalton Best things: “The constant innovation, the young designers and the camaraderie.”

Ration exemptions: Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate.”

Below: Liz Killick (right) with Scribbler’s Andrew Webb and PG’s Tracey Bearton.

John Barratt director of The Card Centre, Felixstowe Best things: “That there is so much talent from designers and publishers. l The friendliness. The industry feels like a family. l The diversity and inclusiveness.”

Room for improvement: “More traditional relations and occasions cards and more modern male designs, especially for teenagers.”

Ration exemptions: “Fruit, coffee and cheese.”

Above: John Barrett and Andrea Pinder giving serious consideration to some Henries entries.

Andrea Pinder managing director/owner of Presentation Cards & Gifts and Bistrot 7, Barrowford

Andrew Webb head of cards at Scribbler (35 stores) Best things: “The high level of innovative designers. l The large number of passionate people from designers,

retailer and press who are involved.”

Room for improvement: “Move towards the whole industry becoming carbon neutral, using more recycled board and seed paper. l There should be more of a focus on sourcing UK-made products. l More deliveries direct to retailer would bypass expensive and carbon negative use of warehousing.”

Ration exemptions: “Electricity…my son would go mad without his Xbox!”

Best things: “Publishers. Without them there would be no choice. l Retailers. All ready at the start line. l Consumers. Ready to send a smile.”

Room for improvement: “To get youngsters to send more cards. l For the cost of postage to be reduced. l Improvements in some publishers’ turnaround time.”

Ration exemptions: “Wine, cheese and dog biscuits.”

Above right: Andrea is not alone in not wanting wine to be on a rationed list.

Megan Douglas buyer for Waterstones (300 stores) Best things: “The sense of community, the innovation and the encouragement of new designers and newbie publishers.”

Room for improvement: “We could still do better on the diversity and eco fronts, plus there is further potential for new innovations to move designs forward.”

Ration exemptions: “Chocolate, cheese and wine.”

Right: Waterstones’ Megan Douglas and Hazel Walker in judging action.

Caroline Ranwell director of Hugs & Kisses, Tettenhall Best things: “It is never boring, there are always new designers and new ranges coming out. l It’s such a friendly industry to be in, like one big family! l There’s so much choice.”

Room for improvement: “Reduction in the price of stamps; some publishers’ distribution policies and some publishers’ delivery speed.”

Ration exemptions: “Chocolate, wine and clothes.”

Above: Caroline Ranwell (centre) with Card Factory’s Cheryl Sandbach (second right), Presentation’s Andrea Pinder (third right) GCA’s Amanda Fergusson (front right) and Mooch’s Evelyn O’Flaherty (front left) just before the judging got underway.

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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The Henries 2022 Judging Process

The Path To Glory The UK leads the world in greeting cards design and The Henries awards were introduced by Progressive Greetings back in 1996 as annual awards to shine the spotlight on greeting card ranges and celebrate this pre-eminence.

Just as the design styles have evolved over the 26 years of The Henries, so too has the judging process that ensures the awards’ integrity and credibility.

PG explains how the finalists and winners for The Henries 2022 product categories have been arrived at.

“Publishers’ engagement with The Henries 2022 has been at an unprecedented level this year, with 284 greeting card publishers having entered, from established leading brands to brand new startups, collectively showcasing our industry’s incredible creative prowess,” commented Jakki Brown, managing director of Max Publishing, which owns and organises The Henries. “Likewise, the two-stage judging process we adopted this year has involved more retail buyers than ever, casting their votes, both online and in person to arrive at the finalists and winners,” she added.

As ever, The Henries were free to enter, making them accessible to all publishers, from teeny-tinies through to the giants.

For the first time this year, there was a twostage judging process for The Henries product award categories. The first round took place entirely online, which saw a judging panel of 57 retailers invited to cast their votes to arrive at a shortlist. There were 15 shortlisted ranges in the vast majority of the product categories. These shortlisted ranges as well as all of the submissions for The Lynn Tait Most Promising Young Designer or Artist category featured at a physical judging event (which was held on August 2 at London’s Business Design Centre) with a judging panel comprising 36 retail buyers, considering the actual greeting cards and giftwrappings and casting their votes to arrive at the finalists and winners for The Henries 2022.

Top: The judging panel and PG team at The Henries’ physical judging event.

Above: The judging in action, with the shortlisted ranges displayed in their categories.

The Henries 2022 Live Judging Panel l Priya Aurora-Crowe, director of Lark London. (13 stores) l Sean Austin, owner of Austin & Co, Malvern. l Anne Barber, owner of In Heaven at Home, Market Harborough. l Jo Barber, managing director of No.14 Ampthill, Ampthill. l John Barratt, director of The Card Centre, Felixstowe. l Hayley Bastable, owner of HBB Cards, Newport Pagnell. l Debbie and Jerry Brown, co-owners of First Class Greetings

and Plum Green, Hadleigh. l Stephanie Burrows, buyer for Tesco (c3,000 stores) l Laura Clarke, junior buyer for Paperchase. (115 stores) l Megan Douglas, buyer for Waterstones. (300 stores) l Samantha Gibbs, proprietor of Nest, Broughton Astley,

Stoneygate, Thurlaston Garden Centre and Tearoom. l Shar Grothier, buyers for Sainsbury’s. (1,408 stores) l Emma Hawkins, buyer for Fortnum & Mason. (4 stores) l Tori Heath-Smith, buyer for Paperchase. (115 stores) l Steve Howe, director of Petworth Bookshop, Petworth. l Mark Janson-Smith, director of Postmark. (6 stores) l Liz Killick, owner of Calladoodles, Carshalton. l Sarah Laker, owner of Stationery Supplies, Marple and Wilmslow. l Michael Laybourne, buyer for Henry & Co. (11 stores) l Celia Leeson-Cox, creative lead and visual merchandising

manager of Yarnton Home & Garden, Yarnton. l Tabi Marsh, director of Papilio at Heritage, Thornbury. l Sally Matson, owner of Red Card, Petworth. l Evelyn O’Flaherty, co-owner of Mooch London (4 stores) l Andrea Pinder, managing director/owner of Presentation Cards &

Gifts and Bistrot 7, Barrowford. l Caroline Ranwell, director of Hugs & Kisses, Tettenhall. l Andrew Reid, senior buyer for The Card Centre, Felixstowe l Tim Reynolds, manager of The Medici Gallery, Kensington. l Cheryl Sandbach, new formats card specialist for Card Factory.

(1,500 stores/concessions) l Jo Sorrell, owner of Cardies, Stevenage. l Hazel Walker, senior buyer for Waterstones. (300 stores) l Nigel Williamson, partner of House of Cards. (7 stores) l Andrew Webb, head of cards at Scribbler. (35 stores) l Ruth Young, retired card buyer of Clintons. l Soula Zavacopoulos, independent consultant for Funky Pigeon.

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The Lynn Tait Most Promising

Young Designer Or Artist Award Open to: This special award category recognises and rewards the wealth of young creative talent that we have in the UK. This award is open to all designers and artists (employed by a publisher or freelance) aged 35 years or under on 1 July 2022.

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PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

2022 Finalists

in alphabetical order

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WOODSTONE

FEEL THE LOVE

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BEST

Diversity and inclusion range Open to: All greeting card ranges (humorous and nonhumorous) that have been launched into UK retail (bricks and mortar and/or online) between 15 June 2021 and 15 June 2022 that reflect diversity and inclusivity. In the case of an ongoing range, only designs that have been launched during the aforementioned dates should be entered.

2022 Finalists

in alphabetical order

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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Christmas Cards!!

NEW* Animal Madness

birthday with a fashion twist, available now info@weewishes.co.uk

www.weewishes.co.uk

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BEST

Humorous RANGE Open to: All humorous greeting card ranges that have been launched into UK retail (bricks and mortar and/or online) between 15 June 2021 and 15 June 2022. In the case of an ongoing range, only designs which have been launched during the aforementioned dates should be entered.

2022 Finalists

in alphabetical order

l

Forest Fr 1ends from Whale & Bird Jeffrey &Janice – Romance from Bold and Bright

l

Mine’s A Pint from Emotional Rescue in

l

collaboration with Paper Salad l l l

l

l

They Can Talk from Woodmansterne Publications Words of Wisdom from Dandelion Stationery Zeppelinmoon from Redback Cards

Jeffrey &Janice – Romance

Forest Fr 1ends

l

l

l

Mine’s A Pint

Words of Wisdom

They Can Talk Category Sponsor

l

Zeppelinmoon PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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BEST

Licensed RANGE Open to: All greeting card ranges that are published under licence (eg entertainment properties, brands or named artists) that have been launched into UK retail (bricks and mortar and/or online) between 15 June 2021 and 15 June 2022. In the case of an ongoing range, only designs which have been launched during the aforementioned dates should be entered.

l

l

2022 Finalists in alphabetical order l Cath Kidston from Ohh Deer l Famous Foods from Tache l Life In Pencil from Pigment Productions l Morris & Co from Ling Design l Peter Rabbit from UK Greetings l Snowtap from The Art File

Famous Foods

Cath Kidston

l

l

l

Life In Pencil

Peter Rabbit

Morris & Co Category Sponsor

l

Snowtap PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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BEST

Christmas Counter RANGE Open to: All single Christmas card ranges that have been launched into UK retail (bricks and mortar and/or online) between 15 June 2021 and 15 June 2022. In the case of an ongoing range, only designs which have been launched during the aforementioned dates should be entered.

2022 Finalists

in alphabetical order

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B R A N D N E W A U T U M N / W I N T E R G I F T PA C K A G I N G FROM THE ART FILE S e e t h e e n t i r e c o l l e c t i o n a t Au t u m n Fa i r Hall 6 | Stand C30-E31 | 4-7th September | NEC

8 Henries Finalist Nominations, including top 10 for Customer Service!

W W W.T H E A R T F I L E . C O M T H E A RT F I L E

T. 0115 850 7490

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@T H E A RT F I L E

F. 0115 941 3411

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E . sales@theartf ile.com

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BEST

Christmas Box Or Pack Collection Open to: All Christmas boxes or packs that have been launched to UK retail (bricks and mortar and/or online) between 15 June 2021 and 15 June 2022. These can be branded, own brand or charity products.

2022 Finalists

in alphabetical order

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BEST

Cute RANGE Open to: All cute greeting card ranges that have been launched into UK retail (bricks and mortar and/or online) between 15 June 2021 and 15 June 2022.In the case of an ongoing range, only designs which have been launched during the aforementioned dates should be entered.

2022 Finalists l l l

in alphabetical order

Animal Blanks from Louise Mulgrew Bear from The Art File The Bear, the Hare and the Mouse from Paper Shed Design

l l l l

l

Owl’s Nest from Ginger Betty Pawsome from Raspberry Blossom Zoo Friends from Hannah Marchant

Bear

Animal Blanks

The Bear, the Hare and the Mouse l

l

l

Pawsome

Owl’s Nest

Category Sponsor

l

Zoo Friends PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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BEXY BOO www.bexyboo.co.uk enquiries@bexyboo.co.uk

we are going to the ‘Henries’

by

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BEST

Contemporary Words and Sentiments RANGE Open to: All contemporary ‘words and sentiments’ greeting card ranges that have been launched into UK retail (bricks and mortar and/or online) between 15 June 2021 and 15 June 2022. In the case of an ongoing range, only designs that have been launched during the aforementioned dates should be entered.

l

Cherished

2022 Finalists

l

Cherished from Lagom Design Cloud Nine from Redback Cards Say What? from Raspberry Blossom

l

This Card Is For You Because

l l

from Bexy Boo l l

l

in alphabetical order

Too Wordy from Lucy Maggie Designs Words of Wisdom from Dandelion Stationery

Cloud Nine

This Card Is For You Because

l

l

Too Wordy

l

Say What

Category Sponsor

l

Words of Wisdom PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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Right time, On trend, In stock.

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Organised by

Find out more at autumnfair.com

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BEST

Traditional Words and Sentiments RANGE Open to: All traditional ‘words and sentiments’ greeting card ranges that have been launched into UK retail (bricks and mortar and/or online) between 15 June 2021 and 15 June 2022. In the case of an ongoing range, only designs that have been launched during the aforementioned dates should be entered.

2022 Finalists l l l

in alphabetical order

Blooming Fabulous from Emotional Rescue Indigo Blush from Ling Design Lottie Loves Month You Were Born from International Cards & Gifts

l l l l

l

Moments In Time from Words ‘n’ Wishes Whimsical Wishes from Wishing Well (CBG) Woodstone from Hallmark

Indigo Blush

Blooming Fabulous Lottie Loves Month You Were Born l

l

l

Woodstone

Moments In Time

Category Sponsor l

Whimsical Wishes PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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13

F I N A L I ST ‘T HE BES T A R T RANGE’ HENRIES 2022

6B

PENGUININK.CO.UK | 07525 497 122

D

AN ST

L U X U RY, S U S TA I N A B L E , L E T T E R P R E S S G R E E T I N G S , S TAT I O N E RY & H O M E WA R E

FINDING QUALITY TEAM MEMBERS Looking for Artists, Sales Agents, Sales Representatives, Marketing Managers, Designers or Product managers?

Talk to us about our Integrated Recruitment Package.

An advert in PG magazine’s Appointment Section and a month’s worth of adverts on our digital news feed, PG BUZZ. For more details contact Warren Lomax on warren@max-publishing.co.uk or Tracey Arnaud on Traceya@max-publishing.co.uk

A U T U M N FAIR 6 B1 3

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BEST

Art RANGE Open to: All art (fine art, contemporary and illustrative, but not photographic) greeting card ranges that have been launched into UK retail (bricks and mortar and/or online) between 15 June 2021 and 15 June 2022. In the case of an ongoing range, only designs that have been launched during the aforementioned dates should be entered.

2022 Finalists

in alphabetical order

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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Cards

Occasion for every

Introducing

95

NEW

designs spanning various ranges

www.abacuscards.co.uk |

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Tel: 01638 569050 |

Email: info@abacuscards.co.uk

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BEST

Photographic RANGE Open to: All photographic greeting card ranges that have been launched into UK retail (bricks and mortar and/or online) between 15 June 2021 and 15 June 2022.

In the case of an ongoing range, only designs that have been launched during the aforementioned dates should be entered.

2022 Finalists

in alphabetical order

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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DO YOUR DISPLAYS GENERATE SALES?

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Contact Jonathan Waterson on 07854 776 307 www.plan-it.cards

Let's talk envelopes...

Please contact us to discuss your requirements further.

T: 01274 581327 E: sales@ukenvelopecentre.co.uk W: www.ukenvelopecentre.co.uk

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BEST

Children’s RANGE Open to: All greeting card ranges aimed at children that have been launched into UK retail (bricks and mortar and/or online) between 15 June 2021 and 15 June 2022.

In the case of an ongoing range, only designs that have been launched during the aforementioned dates should be entered.

2022 Finalists

in alphabetical order

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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BEST CONTEMPORARY TREND

BLOOM SEEDSTICK ® CARDS

BEST CHRISTMAS COUNTER RANGE

BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED GREETING CARDS WITH BIODEGRADABLE SEEDSTICKS INSIDE

stormyknight.orderspace.com | hello@stormyknight.co.uk | 0117 909 8684 | PG Mag_Full page ad_Henries.indd 1 00_PG_September 2022.indd 1

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BEST

Contemporary Trend RANGE Open to: All greeting card ranges which demonstrate a current trend, be it in subject matter, terminology or production technique, that have been launched into UK retail (bricks and mortar and/or online) between 15 June 2021 and 15 June 2022. In the case of an ongoing range, only designs that have been launched during the aforementioned dates should be entered.

2022 Finalists

in alphabetical order

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jamesellis H E N R IE S FIN AL IS TS 2 0 2 2

Best Children’s Range & Best Handmade or Hand-finished Range

We’re planting four trees for every order placed at Top Drawer. Stand W10. trade.jamesellis.com | info@jamesellis.com | 0117 927 7667

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BEST

Handmade or Hand-finished RANGE Open to: All greeting card ranges which are either completely handmade or include a hand-finished element, that have been launched into UK retail (bricks and mortar and/or online) between 15 June 2021 and 15 June 2022. In the case of an ongoing range, only designs that have been launched during the aforementioned dates should be entered.

2022 Finalists

in alphabetical order

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BEST

Male RANGE Open to: All non-humorous greeting card ranges aimed at male recipients that have been launched into UK retail (bricks and mortar and/or online) between 15 June 2021 and 15 June 2022. In the case of an ongoing range, only designs that have been launched during the aforementioned dates should be entered.

2022 Finalists l l l l l l

l

Graphic Form from Rocket68 Hunky Dory from Paper Salad Mambo from Woodmansterne Publications Metropolis from Paper Rose Odyssey from Rosanna Rossi You The Man from The Art File

Graphic Form

l l

l

in alphabetical order

Mambo

Hunky Dory

Metropolis Category Sponsor l l

You The Man

Odyssey PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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dandelion A huge thank you to everyone who voted for us!

Best Spring Seasons Range

Best Contemporary Words and Sentiments

Best Relations And / Or Occasions Range

Best Humorous Range

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Relations and/or Occasions RANGE Open to: All relations and/or occasions greeting card ranges that have been launched into UK retail (bricks and mortar and/or online) between 15 June 2021 and 15 June 2022. In the case of an ongoing range, only designs that have been launched during the aforementioned dates should be entered.

2022 Finalists l l l l l l

l

l

Elle from Belly Button Designs Gin & Frolics Ages from Rosie Made a Thing Midsummer’s Dream from Hammond Gower Occasions Relations from The Art File Ooh La La from Stop the Clock Design Words of Wisdom from Dandelion Stationery

Gin & Frolics Ages

Elle

l

l

l

in alphabetical order

Midsummer’s Dream

Ooh La La

Occasions Relations Category Sponsor

l

Words of Wisdom PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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BEST

Spring Seasons RANGE Open to: For this year only, and just in this category, due to the knock on effects of the pandemic, all Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Easter and Father’s Day greeting card ranges that have been launched into UK retail (bricks and mortar and/or online) between 15 June 2020 and 15 June 2022 could be entered. This two year window accommodates those publishers who carried forward Spring Seasons ranges. Entries had to be event-specific, ie Publishers submitted a separate entry for Valentine’s Day, a separate entry for Mother’s Day etc.

2022 Finalists l l l l

in alphabetical order

Elle Valentine’s Day from Belly Button Designs Gin & Frolics Father’s Day from Rosie Made a Thing ProperJob from West Country Designs Rainbow Drops Mother’s Day from Wendy Jones-Blackett

l l l

Relatable Father’s Day from Brainbox Candy Vista Mother’s Day from Paper Salad Words of Wisdom Valentine’s Day from Dandelion Stationery

l

Elle Valentine’s Day

l

Gin & Frolics Father’s Day l

l

ProperJob

Vista Mother’s Day

Relatable Father’s Day l

Rainbow Drops Mother’s Day l

Category Sponsor

Words of Wisdom Valentine’s Day

l

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BEST

Wholesale RANGE Open to: All greeting card ranges sold via the wholesale distributor/cash & carry channel that have been launched into UK retail (bricks and mortar and/or online) between 15 June 2021 and 15 June 2022. In the case of an ongoing range, only designs that have been launched during the aforementioned dates should be entered.

2022 Finalists

in alphabetical order

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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We are so excited to be a Henries Award finalist for Best Gift Wrappings Range with these 3 stunning collections from Louise Mulgrew, Stephanie Dyment and Paper Salad.

Thank you to everyone that voted for us!

All of our products are available to order online. Go to trade.glick.co.uk to register.

01274 655980 sales@glick.co.uk www.glick.co.uk Glick Gift Packaging, Allenby House, European Ind. Park, Knowles Lane, Bradford BD4 9AB

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@glickgiftwrap

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BEST

Giftwrappings RANGE Open to: All giftwrapping ranges (either ranges of sheet wrap or collections of co-ordinated wrappings such as boxes, bags, ribbons etc) that have been launched into UK retail (bricks and mortar and/or online) between 15 June 2021 and 15 June 2022. In the case of an ongoing range, only designs that have been launched during the aforementioned dates should be entered.

2022 Finalists

in alphabetical order

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The Henry Cole Classic Award Open to: All greeting card ranges that have stood the test of time, having been published for at least the last eight years. The range must currently be on sale in some shape or form. Ranges can only win a Henry Cole Classic award once and then will be added to the Henry Cole Classic ‘Hall of Fame’.

Previous winners include: Bestie from Paperlink, The Bright Side from Really Good; The Country Set from Wrendale Designs; Eric the Penguin from GBCC; Forever Friends from Hallmark; Giggles from UKG; Ink Press from The Art File; Me to You from Carte Blanche; Medici Cards Blue Label from GBCC; On The Ceiling from Emotional Rescue; Pizazz from Nigel Quiney Publications; Pop-Ups from Second Nature; Quentin Blake from Woodmansterne Publications, Rainbow from Ling Design and Virtual Safari from Emotional Rescue.

Alice Scott from Pigment Productions Launched: 2013 “Alice Scott is a classic premium range with all the right words to say (and occasionally a neon twist!). The range is suitable for both male and female sends and always looks good on the mantelpiece.

This British brand continues to prove to be a success for Pigment. The superior design alongside its wit and wisdom evolves through time while continuing to be a staple and statement range.

It is printed on uncoated board with embossing, debossing, fluted foil, fluro and comes clasped with a printed envelope.” There are now 64 designs in the collection.

Boofle from UK Greetings Launched: 2008 “It has been 15 years since Boofle was first created (from Grandad’s woolly cardi no less!) launching at retail in 2008. The sustainability message behind his original creation is even more relevant today as we all focus more on reducing, re-using and recycling. Boofle has continued to deliver impressive year on growth and 2023 is forecast to be his biggest and best year yet. To date he has sold more than 100 million cards in the UK alone and he consistently features in retailer best seller listings.

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2022 Finalists l l l l l l l l

in alphabetical order

Alice Scott from Pigment Productions Boofle from UK Greetings Camilla & Rose from Peartree Heybridge Champagne from Second Nature One Lump or Two from Holy Mackerel Only Fools and Horses from Danilo Promotions Quicksilver from Wendy Jones-Blackett Swing Cards from Santoro The brand’s success is driven from investment in product development through new patterning and colour palettes as well as new props and poses. Boofle has maintained relevance as a cute character by incorporating fun contemporary references; over the years we’ve seen Boofle picking up on the nation’s love for Bake Off and Strictly as well as tapping into the tipple of choice of the moment be it Prosecco or Gin! However, arguably, Boofle’s greatest strength is his continued ability to express emotion and connection which is after all the essence of a great greeting card. In 15 years of design and patterning changes, he has retained what is most important - making people feel loved.”

Camilla & Rose from Peartree Heybridge Launched: 2010 “The ‘girls’ first entered the market in 2006 and joined forces with Peartree Heybridge in 2010.

The cards are consistently good sellers and reasonably priced.

New images are released on a regular basis and keep pace with the times. During Covid the creator Sarah [Boddy] created cards to keep us smiling, hugging and in stitches. Our customers tell us that a spinner of Camilla & Rose cards means laughter and giggles on the shop floor. What better advertisement!

The girls have been around for many years but still feel fresh and vibrant.

Sarah Boddy loves her girls and that shines through in her work. Her pen and brushes, even her ipad these days, can't stop producing new images.

Long may the girls make people laugh, keeping us healthy and sane!”

There are now 164 designs in the range.

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Champagne from Second Nature Launched: 2002 “Champagne is our flagship handmade range and has been selling in the industry for over 20 years with over 700 designs across the time and is still our best selling captioned product. It started out as a range of just 12 designs on a coloured background at a slightly smaller size, but within 18 months had evolved to a range of 36 designs all on the crisp white board that is synonymous with the current range. The popularity grew and grew and before long it had become a mainstay of our offering with over 100 designs. Each year we refresh the range with a swathe of new designs including the latest styles, icons and embellishments. Across the years this range has been repeatedly mentioned in PG’s What's Hot section and is one of the few ranges that retailers have come to rely on as a consistent performer.

The quality of finishing and value for money are key to the range.”

There are 130 designs in the range.

One Lump or Two from Holy Mackerel Launched: 2011 “We launched this range in 2011 with just 36 designs, and it has gone from strength to strength over the years. Erica Sturla's amazing polymer clay characters have got ever more intricate, and the range has blossomed into a go-to occasions range.

It is contemporary but accessible, and its bright palette of colours make it stand out in any display.

A particular highlight is the range of numbered anniversary cards, every year from 1st to 24th anniversaries and then every five years up to 70th anniversary. There are age and general birthdays of course, and the range has a strong sports section with cards for rowers, wild swimmers, climbers, cyclists, cricketers. We know from customer feedback that the strong representation of women in these sports themes is particularly valued. In the last few years the range has expanded to include both Welsh and Polish language versions, and also regionally themed cards such as our Made in Scotland new baby cards and Best Dad in Devon birthday cards. The range shows no sign of slowing down, and artist Erica is still as prolific as ever!”

There are 490 designs in the collection.

Only Fools and Horses from Danilo Promotions Launched: 2008 “Only Fools and Horses is a much loved British sitcom and has become equally as loved in the greeting card world. It has been an evergreen brand for Danilo for over 20 years, performing consistently well in addition to being our

number one selling Father's Day and male card range for over 10 years. In total we have sold over 25 million cards to date. Incorporating the iconic characters, recognisable scenery and well-known catchphrases (which have even made it into the English dictionary), this brand is one that so many people can relate to and identify with, which is why it performs so well and really deserves to join The Henry Cole hall of fame. A heritage brand which has a special meaning and brings laughter to all those who loved it the first time round, and for those who are finding it for the first time on Netflix. It's a brand and a card range that spans several ages of generations, with a sustainable appeal which not many brands can claim.”

There around 208 designs in the collection.

Quicksilver from Wendy Jones-Blackett Launched: 2006 “This range has remained on the same board with two hot foil colours but the artwork changes every year to keep it fresh - we always keep older bestsellers in the range.

The textures, embossing and two colours of hot foiling make these cards special.

The cards are printed on FSC uncoated textured magnolia 300gsm board made at Croppers Mill in the Lake District, printed in Yorkshire and finished by hand on a Heidelberg press using two hot foil colours per design. Fluted foiling dies give the emboss and the cards are supplied with envelopes which match the board, also made at the same mill.”

There are 2,400 designs available.

Swing Cards from Santoro Launched: 1994 “This range started in 1994 and paved the way for 3D paper-engineered cards. This range has stood the test of time and has won numerous awards for the designs over the last 28 years. The cards are sold in over 94 countries across the world.

Our Happy Birthday card has been around for the longest and the design has evolved into what it is today.

Beautifully illustrated and intricately designed, Santoro's Swing Cards are the award-winning range of 3D pop-up paper sculptures! Ready assembled and with space for your own personalised message, each Swing Card opens to form an incredible shape with real moving components.

Innovative and imaginative, a Santoro Swing Card is a truly unique gift that is sure to be treasured!”

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BEST

Service to the independent retailer This award recognises the pivotal role publishers play in providing a good service to independent retailers.

The finalists in this category were arrived at as a result of an exhaustive poll, involving 1,750 independent greeting card retailers, who were each asked to nominate their top three card suppliers on the service front over the last year. These responses were then correlated, awarding three points to all first choices, two points to those mentioned as second choices and one point for all third choices. These points were then totalled to arrive as the 12 finalists. There are three awards in this category - a Bronze, Silver and ultimate Gold, that will be presented to the top three scoring suppliers in the retailer poll.

2022 Finalists l l l l l l l l l l l l

in alphabetical order

Abacus Cards The Art File Dandelion Stationery International Cards & Gifts Nigel Quiney Publications Noel Tatt Paperlink Pigment Productions Second Nature UK Greetings Woodmansterne Publications Words ‘n’ Wishes

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BEST

Honorary Achievement Award

Some of the previous winners of this award are…

2021 - Paul Taylor, managing director of Cardzone 2020 - Cath Tate, founder of Cath Tate Cards 2019 - Simon Elvin - co-founder of Simon Elvin, who received a special GCA Outstanding Contribution award.

2018 - Ged Mace, managing director of The Art File 2017 - Rod Schragger and Trevor Schragger, co-owners of Second Nature 2016 - Gary Rowley, former ceo of UK Greetings 2015 - John and Jennie Procter, co-founders of Scribbler 2014 - Louise Tighe, founder of Paperlink 2013 - Beth Genower and Matt Genower, co-founders of Five Dollar Shake 2012 - Lynn Tait, former owner of The Lynn Tait Gallery and founder of The Ladder Club - sadly now deceased 2011 - Giles Andreae, creator of Purple Ronnie, Edward Monkton and co-creator of Happy Jackson 2010 - Timothy Melgund, former chief executive of Paperchase 2009 - Keith Auty, former marketing director of UK Greetings 2008 - Mike Bugler, former managing director of Clinton Cards - Dennis Podmore, former chairman of Windles - sadly now deceased 2007 - Debbie Lewin and Clinton Lewin, former directors of Clinton Cards 2006 - Chris Dyson, joint managing director of Cardgains buying group 2005 - Duncan Spence, business angel with an investment in Carte Blanche Greetings and Moonpig - Stephen Haines, founder of Carte Blanche Greetings 2004 - Peter Reichwald, founder of The Great British Card Company 2003 - John Charlton, former chief executive of UKG and senior vice president of American Greetings - Stuart Mackay, former managing director of UKG and Birthdays, former chairman of Paper Rose and former director of Simon Elvin 2002 - William McCracken, a former GCA special advisor, former managing director of Ling Design and founder of one of the four first specialist card chains - Paul Woodmansterne, chairman of Woodmansterne Publications 2001 - Simon Elvin, co-founder of Simon Elvin 2000 - Andrew Brownsword, founder of Andrew Brownsword Collection and former owner of Gordon Fraser 1999 - John Condon and George Pomphret, former directors of Clinton Cards 1998 - Don Lewin OBE, founder and former chairman of Clinton Cards 1997 - David Hicks, founder of Really Good and Soul, now sadly deceased 1996 - Stewart Stott, former owner of Nigel Quiney Publications, awarded posthumously

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Retailer Face To Face

Judge And

Dury

The Retas trophy for Best Specialist Multiple Retailer of Greeting Cards isn’t the only new shiny addition to Card Factory’s estate. The last two months has seen the UK’s market leading card retailer open three ‘new model’ stores as well as make its debut in the centre of London with another different mix.

PG caught up with Adam Dury, Card Factory’s chief commercial officer to talk shop.

“It is all about testing and learning. That’s the way to move a retailing business forward,” believes Adam Dury, Card Factory’s chief commercial officer, his boyish looks decrying his 23 years’ experience in card retailing, having joined the UK market leader in 2019 after having worked some magic at Tesco and Marks and Spencer.

The ‘testing and learning’ certainly appears to be going well on the new model store front. Having debuted in its Coventry city centre store in February, the first new look for Card Factory in over 20 years, this saw the introduction of a new layout, including moving the card displays to the perimeter, lowering the fixtures, improving

Money matters

signage and digital screens to improve the customer experience, this new approach has been expanded to stores in Bury, Denton and Leeds, with another due to open in Bishops Auckland as PG went to press.

Card Factory was back with a bang, beating management expectations to post an £11.1million profit in its final results (released at the beginning of May), against last year’s £16.4m loss.

In the specialist value greeting card retailer’s full year to 31 January 2022, sales grew 28% on the previous year to £364.4m as the company said it had experienced “improving momentum” during the 12-month period, and a “steady recovery” in store performance since the easing of lockdown restrictions. Stores sales grew 33% year-on-year, which Card Factory said reflected a 20% increase in the number of trading days against the shop closures suffered during lockdown the previous year, and store like-for-like sales for the Christmas season recovered to near to pre-pandemic levels. Yet, like-for-like sales overall were 3.1% down on pre-pandemic levels, with online sales also dropping 1.5% on a likefor-like basis, although Card Factory said it was still “significantly ahead” of pre-Covid levels.

However, on a like-for-like basis against the FY2020, online sales surged 135%, which the retailer said reflected expansion of product range online and improved customer experience, as well as the accelerated shift in consumer online shopping behaviours.

Having taken pre-emptive action to mitigate a significant proportion of identified inflationary headwinds through a combination of efficient management of costs and working capital as well as targeted price increases, the board expects the business will deliver revenue recovering towards pre-pandemic levels in FY23, and remains confident in the longer-term growth opportunity, aiming to exceed revenues of £600m by 2026.

All eyes are now on the retailer’s interim results, released on September 27.

Above: Adam Dury at The Retas in July, with the trophy for Best Specialist Multiple Retailer of Greeting Cards and a giant Golden Ticket to spend at next June’s PG Live.

Left: Card Factory’s new model store that opened in Bury recently.

Below: Some well known DTR brands feature in the line-up of the Tottenham Court Road branch.

The plan is to have more new model stores trading by the end of 2022 and then take it from there. “We are trialling the look in different sizes of stores as well as in various types of locations, from retail parks to major high streets, large stores and smaller ones. We have already learned some quick lessons and have responded accordingly,” explained Adam.

Getting it right in retail brings fruits, as Card Factory’s 33% greeting card market share (by volume) testifies, but when you venture into the unknown that’s when you have to be a quick learner or it could cost you dearly. Hence the reason many CF eyes are on a small shop unit in London’s Tottenham

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Retailer Face To Face

Court Road, the retailer’s first branch in Zone One of the capital. In the shadow of where Paperchase used to have its flagship store and surrounded by furniture and lifestyle shops, this newbie Card Factory shop is not just bijou in size, but also in its product mix. While Card Factory’s own brand creations dominate, offering cards from 99p upwards, peppering the racks are cards from several design-led and quirky humorous publishers that hitherto have never been stocked by the retailer.

“We are very keen to see how the Card Factory brand will be received in central London and felt that the offer should be a little different. What is great is that our new publisher suppliers recognise what we are trying to do and are working with us to keep the industry moving forward,” says Adam.

While Card Factory’s vertically integrated model is still at the core of its greeting card remit, enabling it to achieve attractive margins, Adam also recognises that there is merit is offering a broadened choice from branded publishers, especially in specialist areas, such as licensed brands and humour.

Just over three years into his role at Card Factory, Adam has forged what he describes as “a very joined up commercial team” made up of three strands - creative, buying and merchandising.

“This trio needs to be in the right balance, each informing the other. You need

the design team to drive the creative, the buying team to build the product ranges and the merchandising team to do the analytics.

Using the analogy of a sock retailer, if you left it just to the merchandising side, you would end just selling black socks! All three sides working together opens up the ultimate prize,” stresses Adam.

Adam’s philosophy also extends to the industry as a whole. “Of course, I am very proud to be part of the Card Factory team, but I also have huge respect for other retailers, especially the many talented independents who offer something different for their customers,” citing indie Threads of Harpenden, close to Adam’s home as a case in point.

While Adam believes there is further potential to open more Card Factory shops (it currently trades from over 1,000

branches), as revealed in 2020 the five year plan is to transition from being a store-led card retailer into a market-leading, omnichannel retailer of cards and gifts, both through the development of its online activity as well as growth via third party retailers.

Back then, the stated goal was to secure a significant increase in ‘distribution points’ (UK and international) through various retail partnerships. While already underway, with its displays in 400 Aldi stores, a trial in Matalan and supplier agreement with The Reject Shop in Australia, the appointment of Syed Kazmi as executive business development director last summer suggests there is more where this came from.

“The past few years has taught us all so much, as people and businesses, but it does mean a lot to me that we are part of an industry that has been there to help people connect in an affordable, tangible way. We should not lose sight of that,” urges Adam.

Above: The inside of the new model store in Denton showing.

Right: The Tottenham Court Road branch.

Up Close and Personal

Left: Adam inside Purple, a favourite indie clothing store of his.

Adam Dury was put in the hot seat to reveal a bit more about himself… l When did you decide retailing was for you? “I started working on a market stall selling fruit and veg at the age of 13, that’s when I knew it was the career for me.” l What attracted you to join Card Factory? “I have always believed in the business and had bought shares in it even before I joined the company. I had watched it grow from afar. It is an amazing story, how it all started with Dean Hoyle selling cards from the back of the van to become a real game changer in greeting card retailing.” l Having spent 23 years involved in the greeting card sector, with M&S, Tesco and Card Factory, what is it about the industry that you find so engaging? “There are very few other products that fundamentally you spend so much time buying for someone else to make them feel cared for and supported.” l What three other retailers do you really respect? “Firstly, Next for how it has transformed its business to be truly omnichannel. Secondly, Oliver Bonas for being so in-tune with its customers and thirdly, Purple, an independent menswear shop in Harpenden (where I live). It started down a side street and has now relocated to a more prominent position on the main high street, it has added a coffee shop and hairdressers and opened another branch. A true entrepreneurial business.” l What irks you most about our industry? “The price of postage. It would be so great if Royal Mail could reduce the price of stamps.” l Other than what you are doing now, what would be your dream job? “I would love to be a professional footballer. I am a massive Liverpool FC fan.”

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A selection of some of delights that will on show at Autumn Fair.

Cave Men Sabivo Design has released a new male range, Man Cave. The initial 15 designs cover open birthdays, incorporating celebratory icons with popular male hobbies, such as fishing, biking, sports etc. These contemporary and stylish cards are sized 145 mm square, finished with gold foil, supplied with brown kraft envelopes and wrapped in biodegradable cello bags or bands.

Sabivo Design 01858 683 278 www.sabivo.co.uk Autumn Fair stand 6B24

Amber Nectar

Packing Lots In In response to the success of its popular new Christmas Card packs, Laura Darrington Design is extending the collection by launching some everyday packs at Autumn Fair. Each pack, which measures 113 x 157mm, includes five cards with a luxury foil finish. All come with matching envelopes.

Laura Darrington Design 0116 2849660 www.lauradarrigton.com Autumn Fair stand 6B31

Earlybird is adding a dozen new card designs into its beautiful Honey range.

Featuring illustrations by artist Linsey Kelly, her artwork is inspired by the natural world conjured into enchanted magical jungle of pattern and colour.

The new additions include both general birthday and occasion designs, with the cards being printed on FSC accredited board and are carbon balanced.

Earlybird 01227 765372 www.earlybirddesigns.co.uk Autumn Fair stand 6A14

Buzzy Nature The Eco-friendly Card Co has launched a host of new cards in its Henries-shortlisted Wildlife Trust collection. Featuring the very best of British wildlife, the range also includes images photographed in the publisher’s own wildflower area – including this design of a buff-tailed bumble bee.

There are over 30 new designs including seasonal designs for winter and Christmas as well as new notecard sets. The board used is 100% recycled, carbon balanced and the cards are available either in a compostable bag or with an easy-peel card clasp.

The Eco-friendly Card Co 01626 369269 www.ecofriendly.cards Autumn Fair stand 6C02

Purrfect Additions Well known for its cat-themed cards with a humorous twist, Tomcat will be launching brand new ranges featuring feline delights from artists Denise Laurent, Richard Macneil and Lucia Heffernan. In addition, the publisher is extending its best-selling Kim Haskins range with new designs.

Tomcat Cards 01207 775987 www.tomcat.cards Autumn Fair stand 6E01

It’s All Relative Paper Salad has welcomed lots of vibrant male relations designs to its growing Hunky Dory range including options for uncle, brother, dad, nephew, brother and son in law. All 185mm x 155mm in size, the hand painted artwork punches out bright neon colours with shiny coloured foil finishes and deep embossing.

The cards come either cello wrapped or naked with a brand new bespoke patterned envelope. The cards can be as per the customers preference.

Paper Salad 0161 427 0001 www.papersalad.co.uk Autumn Fair stand 6C20

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A selection of products that will be on show at Top Drawer and/or Autumn Fair this September.

Pop The Corks Mixing fashion and celebration with a little bit of magic is Five Dollar Shake’s new Champagne Supernova. The 40 designs feature painstakingly hand-painted fashion illustrations, small batch printed onto a sparkling champagne board, brought to life by beautiful glitter and highlights of neon.

Five Dollar Shake 01424 434062 www.fivedollarshaketrade.com Autumn Fair stand 6C23

A Cut Above

To The Max Among the newness from Ohh Deer is a contemporary range by artist Max Machen. Vibrant in colour, with added foiling detail for that extra pop, the designs span everyday birthday and sentiment. They come nested with a kraft recycled envelope. Also on show will be additions to its Cath Kidston, Steven Rhodes and the classic art meme range.

Ohh Deer 01509 812075 www.ohhdeer.com Top Drawer stand J29

As well as 20 new everyday designs joining Alljoy’s 3D Message In A Bottle range, the publisher is debuting brand new Christmas collections, including the CMS range (pictured). Capturing the magic of Christmas, the range comprises 10 quality papercut designs printed on 350g luxury textured recycled paper and come complete with a Brown kraft envelope.

Alljoy Design 07790 844382 www.alljoydesign.com Autumn Fair stand 6B15 and Top Drawer stand U29

Festive Woofs Animal Magic Not having exhibited at a trade show since 2019, Hannah Marchant is back with a bang with more delights using board that is embedded with wildflower, herb or veggie seeds that can be planted. As well as the everyday Zoo Friends Henries-finalist range, on the festive front is Christmas Ski, which features designs depicting sketches of skiers and winter alpine themes. All are supplied with a Kraft envelope and belly banded with a paper band.

Hannah Marchant 01458 241 068 www.hannahmarchant.co.uk Top Drawer stand X28.

Having barked up the right tree with the everyday version, Coulson Macleod is launching a Christmas edition of its Pooch greeting cards. Each of the 12 cards feature a different dog breed (the top 12 breeds in the UK) sporting a festive hat and funny Christmasthemed text.

The cards are H15.5 x W10.9cm in size and come with a red envelope.

Coulson Macleod 01536 419944 www.coulsonmacleod.com Top Drawer Stand K38

Celebrity Double Act Having been shown in mock-up form at PG Live, Hype Associates is now unleashing its inaugural collection of Wallace and Gromit cards out into the world. The 28 designs, which come with brown kraft envelopes, feature the Aardman duo both in close-up poses as well as famous scenes from their films.

Hype Associates 0151 625 6893 www.hypa.com (Not exhibiting)

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A selection of delectable new launches and additions.

Natural Inclinations Dyson Design’s birthday range Nectar has been an instant hit. Its colourful illustrations of flowers, bees and other insects are teamed with feelgood messages. Now a selection of new greeting cards with a wellbeing theme have been added to the collection. Messages include Sending You Sunshine, You’re Blooming Lovely and Sending You A Big Hug. Dyson Design 0116 285 5725 www.dysondesign.com

Extra Jollity Jolly Awesome has upped its jolly quota with the launch of 30 fun new original designs. All designed by company founder, Matt Nguyen this latest clutch of new cards cover a wide range of occasions with a dash of contemporary humour. All are A6 in size and come with white Jolly Awesome envelopes with the option of plastic free packing.

Jolly Awesome 07904383876 www.jollyawesome.com

Aimee-ing High The latest artist collection from Sunshine Llama features the art of Oxfordshire-based illustrator Aimee Stevens. Aimee's whimsical designs on a colour palette of greens, pinks and darker tones work perfectly with humorous slogans, perfect for celebrating birthdays and sending a little appreciation to loved ones. All are printed on 350gsm textured board and come cellowrapped or plastic free.

Lucy Maggie Designs/Sunshine Llama 07763239731 www.lucymaggiedesigns.co.uk

Dandelion Stationery’s new multi-pack birthday cards are great for those who like to be prepared and always have a quality card to hand. Each boxed pack contains six printed Words of Wisdom favourites supplied with kraft envelopes. The cards are printed in the UK on luxury sustainable board, blank inside and come supplied in a kraft box with clear labelling indicating the six assorted designs inside the box. There are also six festive boxed options for Christmas 2022.

Dandelion Stationery 01332 504940 www.dandelionstationery.co.uk

Festive Florals As the range name suggests, Stephanie Davies’ Hellebore Christmas collection is inspired by the Hellebore flower, also known as a Winter Rose. Focusing on current gift and garden trends for the illustrated and painted motifs, the type, captions and composition of the imagery mirror vintage botanical illustrations while the glitter effect foil gives the cards an extra bit of Christmas sparkle while still being kind to the environment.

The 120 x 170mm cards come either clasped or cellowrapped with an Eco-kraft envelope.

Stephanie Davies 07982182703 www.stephaniedavies.co.uk

Be Prepared

Treasured Keepsakes Offering an ideal gift or treat for anyone who loves to craft is Wrendale Designs’ new scrapbook collection. Available in three bestselling designs, this multi-functional product is perfect for filling with memories, photographs, celebratory moments, notes and sketches. The cover has a textured finish, with a brushed gold spiral and classic Wrendale green ribbon fastening while the inner pages feature different illustrations on every page. They are packaged plastic free.

Wrendale Designs 01652 680253 www.wrendaledesigns.co.uk

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Licensing Focus

The

property Spanning all manner of brands, from the entertainment screen to the heritage world, from the food shelves to celebrated designers and everything in between, the world of licensed greeting cards and wrap is reaching new heights. In the run-up to the Brand Licensing Europe show fast approaching, PG looks at some of the licensed properties that feature in this year’s Henries.

ladder

Nature speaks Abacus has long been synonymous with photographic greeting cards, so it’s not surprising its BBC Springwatch collection has made it into The Henries finals in the Best Photographic Range.

The company first had success with photographic designs when it launched Posies & Petals, a longstanding female floral photographic collection, and then Graphite, its male counterpart, and BBC Springwatch was its first experience with a licensed photographic brand when the range was introduced back in 2015.

“BBC Springwatch captivates a wide audience with live footage of nesting birds as well as the fun antics of squirrels and other wildlife,” studio manager Liz Ellis explained. “We’ve taken inspiration from the programme and tried to depict wildlife at its best.

“People have a fascination with nature, it’s a wonderful source of inspiration and we’re lucky to work with some amazing photographers who have managed to capture and portray some brilliant wildlife shots, some of which are comical - these stunning images are featured on our BBC Springwatch cards.”

Abacus also holds the BBC licences for BBC Countryfile and Gardeners’ World, with all three ranges of cards now being supplied with sustainable packaged options, including fully-recyclable paper bellybands or wrapped with Nativia clear bio-based film bags. Above: Animal antics from Abacus.

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PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

Below: BLE’s parade of characters awaits outside London ExCel.

Peaback to the rescue Picking a licence that’s good for cards is almost a science for Cardology, focusing not just how the property reflects the recipient’s interests, but also how the brand’s values speak to and enhance the emotional connection between purchaser and recipient.

“As publishers, when a customer buys our cards, we know they’re effectively buying into our ability to express emotions they feel towards a recipient. At Cardology, we believe the great designs go beyond this and also manage to tap into what we refer to as the double lens - conveying the essence of how the purchaser wants the recipient to feel about them as well, that offers a great start point for choosing licences,” stated director and co-founder David Falkner, who takes Below: A Cardology Battersea Pop-Up card.

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Licensing Focus

Tapping into team effort

responsibility for Cardology’s licences but consults with the rest of the team before signing anything new.

One of its latest is its Battersea Dogs and Cats Home Pop-Ups which, having won the People’s Choice in GOTY has also made the finals of The Henries Best Handmade Or Hand-Finished Range, and came about partly because of David’s admiration for the charity’s work.

“Growing up in South London, it was impossible not to be inspired by Battersea’s outstanding work - they were the first place I turned to when taking on my first rescue dog, the incredibly-named Peaback, some 22 years ago,” revealed David. “Fast forward to 2021 and we were approached by licensing agency ThePoint.1888 about Battersea. The numbers made sense, we shared the same vision around products and, when we met the wider Battersea team, we knew collaborating was going to be a lot of fun.”

Above: Cardology’s David Falkner (right) with Battersea’s head of licensing Warren Traeger in their specially-commissioned Battersea waistcoats at this year’s B&LLAs.

At The Art File, it’s a team effort to pick a good licence for card and wrap designs, with inspiration coming from anywhere.

Snowtap, a licence which The Art File has signed for greeting cards, was born from designers Susy Snow and Gracie Tapner’s love of the natural world with a pun or two thrown in for good measure. Living next door to licensing agent Kirsty Guthrie, of KJG, they got chatting about elevating their brand to the next level with licensing being recognised as the way forward.

And The Art File’s sales and marketing manager James Mace is delighted that the “phenomenal response” to the resultant card collection has been followed by a place in the finals of the Best Licensed Card Range in The Henries, with new designs having recently joined the collection.

The collection is named after the two designers, with Susy’s graphic design expertise Above: The Art File’s pun-tastic Snowtap range. meaning she’s behind the colour palettes and layouts, and is obsessed with fonts and hand-drawn typography, while Gracie specialises in line drawing and watercolour.

“Susy’s also known as the pun queen,” James said, “coming up with classics like Saturday Night Beaver and Aristurtle. These puns really bring the beautiful drawings in the designs to life.”

When picking a licence, most of The Art File’s team has a say with the final sign-offs by company co-founders Ged and Karen Mace, along with production manager Alice Tillotson, lead designer Lucie Whitehead and James.

“There are many things to consider when looking for viable licensing partners, some of the most important would be the strength and breadth of artwork available, an open mind, and willingness to grow the licensing collaboration together,” said James.

Lovely jubbly!

BLE beckons More than 180 exhibiting companies will attend Brand Licensing Europe (BLE, September 20-22, London ExCel, plus online follow-up on September 26-28). Exhibitors at the show will represent thousands of brands across sports and lifestyle to TV and movie characters and franchises, celebrities and influencers, artists, publishing, music, video games and theme parks, museums and galleries.

Prior to the show, registered attendees are benefiting from BLE’s Online Platform, where they can start searching the Brand Directory, look at exhibitor profiles, make connections and book meetings at the show through a Matchmaking function.

See www.brandlicensing.eu

Lords and masters of licensed products, with a shelf full of trophies and widespread distribution to prove it, the Danilo team is delighted with the news its long-standing official Only Fools and Horses range has made the shortlist for The Henry Cole Classic award in The Henries - as Del Boy would say, it’s lovely jubbly!

“We’re so excited that this evergreen brand has made it through in this prestigious category - it’s fantastic news for Danilo,” managing director Daniel Prince said. “We’ve been working with the BBC to publish an Only Fools and Horses card range for 15 years and it continues to perform very well as an evergreen brand at retail to this day.”

Above: Classic comedy from Danilo.

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Licensing Focus

Looking for a good fit

Below: One of Ling’s Morris & Co cards designs.

Quality of design and fit are the most important thing when the Swan Mill Group looks at licences, such the Morris & Co range from Ling Design, which is feted in The Henries.

“We’ve been offered great designs over the years, but understand the creative must work for our categories and our customers,” explained David Byk, ceo of Swan Mill. “GBCC and Ling are both card companies yet have different looks and requirements - Morris & Co was a natural fit for a design-led look in Ling, whereas humour and juvenile might work best from GBCC. If that property would work in gift packaging, for instance and it does not duplicate what we have already, then our Penny Kennedy business manager would discuss that with the creative teams. It’s a team approach with us working out what we need and, looking at the designs and brand, where it would fit best.”

And there are also collaborations across Swan Mill’s companies such as how Penny Kennedy’s long-standing relationship with the official Morris & Co licence and the success of its gift packaging helped Ling Design develop its card collection.

“The Morris & Co brand has gone from strength to strength. The access to the catalogue, and the quality of the imagery and support is great,” said David.

With its Best Licensed Card Range Henries finalist collection now extended to around 100 lines, including open, occasions, Christmas and bespoke, Ling is also producing a Morris & Co gift stationery range with notebooks, pens and address books, and introducing lots more lines for 2023.

Fun and friendship At Peartree Heybridge, the publisher has a special arrangement with British artist Sarah Boddy.

Known for her humour, Sarah’s longstanding Camilla & Rose range has earned Peartree Heybridge a Henries finalist place in the prestigious Henry Cole Classic Award, giving everyone a giggle about the best friends and their menfolk dealing with the stuff of life.

As well as publishing Sarah’s finely-drawn flora and fauna cards which are inspired by the natural world around her in rural Leicestershire, the latest artist and publisher collaboration expands the fun and friendship theme in the shape of Creeping Thyme.

As Sarah Boddy explained: “These girls were developed over lockdown when we were very conscious that friends needed to feel connected. We wanted to try to include them as a diversity range as this has been such an important subject over the last few years and one very close to our hearts but we were very aware Camilla & Rose didn’t address this. Friendship and humour bring people together no matter what race or background you come from.”

Above: Sarah Boddy’s humour is exclusive to Peartree Heybridge.

Adding depth and breadth With licensed product a big part of UK Greetings’ portfolio Ben Whittington, creative humour director for character and licensing, said: “We’re always looking for interesting new licensees and collaborators to work with and have some great new collaborations with individuals launching this year. These include amazing designs from artists such as Kendra Dandy with Bouffants & Broken Hearts, Georgina Fihosy from AfroTouch, Gin Bahia from Eastern Print, and David Olenick, as well as new licences such as Battersea Cats & Dogs Home, who we first met at Brand Licencing Europe in London.”

With fewer blockbuster movies released due to the pandemic, Ben and the UKG team have been doing more with the classics, such as celebrating Winnie the Pooh’s 95th birthday last year with a brand-new standalone range as well as working on new product for Disney’s centenary next year.

“We’re also doing brand-new work with existing licences such as Peter Rabbit and Comedy Wildlife and we’re continuing to challenge ourselves with the Disney licences, creating new innovative pop-ups and interactive elements that are 100% sustainable.”

And the team’s work with Peter Rabbit has come up trumps, earning a finalists’ place in The Henries Best Licensed Card Range, while the publisher’s long-standing and oh-so-cute Boofle range is a nominee for the Henry Cole Classic Award and gives the company the licensing experience in the opposite direction with the in-house brand now widely licensed across plush, stationery, ceramics, apparel, celebration cakes, confectionery and gifting.

Above: A Peter Rabbit design from UKG. Right: An added value and sustainable Mickey design from UKG.

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Licensing Focus

Producing something unique Ohh Deer’s co-owners Mark Callaby and Jamie Mitchell are involved from the start when the publisher is looking at licences, picking the designs they love for their in-house design team to get to work on.

But then it can get a little messy, as Mark explained: “We’ll pick the range to pieces! After the design team come up with some ideas based on our initial feedback and ideas session, this is presented to us and we’re making tweaks, changing patterns and fonts, until we’re completely happy with the whole range before it’s ever sent to print.”

Mark revealed: “It's a mixed bag as to who decides which licences to go for. We're happy for anyone to pitch ideas but, ultimately, it's myself and Jamie who will sign things off.

Our collaboration with Cath Kidston was driven by myself and our collaboration with Bob Ross was driven by Jamie.”

Having working with Cath Kidston for many years producing cards for all the brand’s stores worldwide, it was Mark who started the conversation about licensing, which led to the Cath Kidston range that has just earned Ohh Deer a Henries’ Best Licensed Card Range finalist place.

“The most important thing when looking for a licence to work with is, simply, does it fit? We recognised early on that most people wouldn't put Ohh Deer and Cath Kidston together but Jamie and myself knew that we could produce something with an Ohh Deer twist to help make this range unique and fill a gap in our portfolio,” added Mark.

Above: Cath Kidston with an Ohh Deer twist.

Pencilling in a hit Four years ago, artist Shaun Vickers jumped from a full-time job headlong into being a small business owner, specialising in highly-detailed countryside illustration, wildlife and pet portraiture.

That journey led Yorkshire-based Shaun the short hop to the Harrogate greeting card publisher Pigment Productions, which is now a proud Henries Best Licensed Card Range finalist with the Life In Pencil collection.

“I wanted to try something new with my love of putting pencil to paper, something my dad inspired me to do as child,” Shaun explained. “It’s allowed me to explore new opportunities and has been an incredible journey.”

Pigment’s creative director Martin Powderly said: “We came across Shaun’s exhibit at a craft fair and were instantly impressed by his beautiful products and the clarity of his brand” and since launching earlier this year the Life In Pencil card range has become a huge hit.

Pigment is known for its licensed collaborations, such as Happy Jackson, The Happy News and Edward Monkton, along with the evergreen Alice Scott collection which has made the publisher a double Henries finalist, making the cut in the Henry Cole Classic Award.

Above: A Life In Pencil design.

More tasty Henries’ finalists collaborations l Well known for dishing up the unexpected with its card ranges, Tache’s Famous Foods card collection, based on a licensing agreement with Unilever, certainly whets the appetite, featuring hand-finished designs based on classic household brands Marmite, Bovril, Pot Noodle, Colman’s Mustard and Wall’s ice cream. l Gift-wrapping specialist Glick’s licensing relationships have plenty of links to other card publishers as its trio of collaborations with Louise Mulgrew, Paper Salad and Stephanie Dyment which have all made it into The Henries Best Giftwrappings Range finals testify. l In the Best Photographic Range finalists list, there couldn’t be two more different nominations showing the breadth of licensing than the Minimiam collection from Holy Mackerel, based on Parisian photographers Akiko Ida and Pierre Javelle’s art in miniature, and Woodmansterne’s National Trust Hi There! range of charismatic images from the animal world enhanced with a subtle deboss.

Above middle: Tache’s Famous Foods.

Above right: Louise Mulgrew is among Glick’s licensed card brands.

Left: Holy Mackerel’s Minimiam fun.

Right: Woodmansterne National Trust Hi There! design.

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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ART SOURCE

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Art Source

Pan-oply of Creativity Pan Georgiou showed his creative talents as a toddler, soon outclassing his dad’s stickmen depictions, igniting a passion that has stayed with him.

Following his heart, Pan embarked on a career in illustration which has seen him work for several card and book publishers and Mothercare before striding out on the freelance front.

Now represented by Creative Sparrow, here Pan shares his creative life story.

“I live in Tunbridge Wells with my wife Elle, our three 3-year-old daughter Lucia and my black Labrador and shadow, Jones.

I have always been a creative for as long as I can remember. It’s who I am to my core. Every day I have lived and breathed design and illustration.

I have very fond memories growing up in what was the poor borough of Hackney in the 70s and 80s and spending my time drawing, painting or doing something creative. My earliest memories of drawing were at around three years old, copying stickmen or animals my Dad would crudely draw on his newspaper for me.

Throughout school I continued thriving in what I loved the most, art.

While knowing it would be extremely difficult to carve out a career as an illustrator, I decided to take the plunge and not deny my passion.

I went on to study Illustration at The Cambridge School of Art and in the final year of my degree I was awarded second place in the National Macmillan Prize for Illustration. This cemented my career in illustration and design and so I was off to the races!

What soon followed was illustrating children's books, and I loved it!

In the late 1990s living in Cambridge after graduating and being in my late 20's at the time I soon found it quite lonesome working freelance from home. I missed seeing people and felt on my own for what seemed like days at a time. I eventually decided the best course of action was to try my hand working inhouse as a greeting card designer.

My journey continued working for various card publishers until I finally

WANT TO BE FEATURED?

Above left: Pan Georgiou has enjoyed many years of designing cards.

Left: A vibrantly coloured uplifting design from Pan. Right: Some festive joy from Pan. Below right: Pan took a delicate cute approach for this new baby design.

Below left: Pan enjoys repeat patterning that designing giftwrap requires.

Bottom: From detailed illustration to the more typographical, Pan loves the variety designing cards offers.

settled at International Greetings in Hatfield. It was one of the most fun jobs I've ever had as I was given so much freedom to create and innovate in design. I designed cards, gift wrap, gift bags, gift boxes and games. I remained there for quite a few years until the crash of 2008 resulted in the studio closing and relocating back to Wales. All the remaining designers, including myself, were left to find new jobs.

I found a position as senior designer for Mothercare. I assumed I'd be designing but I found myself largely project managing freelance designers and being in many meetings. Not being able to design was devastating to me and so I looked for a more design-orientated posts.

I took what I had learned from Mothercare to my next role, working as a greeting card designer at card publisher Cardmix. Here I was able to project manage card ranges as well as develop my own.

Eight years ago I decided to try my hand at freelancing once again as I wanted to take more control of my destiny. I took on a few freelance projects and have not looked back. The difference this time was that I had so many contacts I had accumulated over the years meaning that I am always pretty busy. I continue to work on some really fun and creative projects, creating designs for Harrods, Monsoon, Unicef, Boots, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Hallmark, Macmillan Books and many more.

Looking at my design style, I'd say I have never wanted to pigeonhole myself in one technique. It keeps things interesting for me when I am able to design vector-based characters using Adobe Illustrator one day and then be commissioned to sketch a traditional looking Santa in pencil the next.

More than anything I consider myself to be so lucky to be making a career from what I love.”

Pan is represented by Creative Sparrow.

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

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PG ASKED A SELECTION OF RETAILERS FOR THEIR BEST SELLERS. Sue Phair, owner of Tŷ Cariad, in Brecon. A popular card and gift shop known in the Brecon Beacons known for stocking Welsh language cards.

Category

Name of Publisher

Product/Name Range

Comments

Everyday

Two Little Monkeys

Jazz; Kaleidoscope; Just Saying

Driftwood Designs

Across the board

Humour

Dandelion Stationery

Words of Wisdom; Hwyl & Sketch Cymru

Art

Sarah Kelleher

Fabulous Foils

Licensed Relations & Occasions

Woodmansterne Claire Giles

Emma Bridgewater Pom Pom age cards; Academic titles

Male

Toasted Crumpet

Country Gent

Giftwrap

Sarah Kelleher

Fabulous Foils

Gifts

Driftwood Designs

Prints, canvases, tea towels and aprons Soaps

“Jazz and Kaleidoscope cards (in both languages) are brilliant for everyday birthdays.”

“Artist Lizzy Spikes has such a unique style which is timeless.”

“Very popular with our Welsh speakers and the word ‘cwtch’ is a word that the Welsh love..it means hug/cuddle.”

“We fell in love with this range on sight.”

“We are an Emma Bridgewater stockist.”

“Contemporary, fun, embellished with colourful Pom poms for ages 1-100. The publisher does great ‘academic’ titles too.”

“Simple watercolour illustrations with a few humorous words. Beardy McBeard face is a firm favourite.”

“Beautiful. We’ve even had a customer buying the sheets to frame.”

“Based in Aberystwyth, they are a firm favourite with locals and tourists alike. “ “Customers look for postable presents and/or something to pop in a card.”

Dandelion Stationery

Above: A Words of Wisdom design from Dandelion.

Right: Wonderful blooms from Sarah Kelleher’s Fabulous Foils range.

Peter Anderson, owner of Saxmundham Post Office, which is located in the High Street of this attractive Suffolk market town in the River Fromus valley.

Category

Name of Publisher

Product/Name Range

Comments

Everyday

Otter House

Generally

“Our core sales come from this publisher who plans our displays.”

Photographic

Abacus Cards

BBC Countryfile, BBC Gardeners' World and BBC Springwatch

“We enjoy fabulous sales from this trio of BBC licensed ranges.”

Art

Canns Down Press Orwell Press Art Alex Clark Art

Generally Generally Generally

“Art cards have a specialist but regular following and these three publishers are so good at it.”

Contemporary

Eloise Hall Graphic Factory

Generally Generally

“In between seasons we devote an area for ‘Guest’ cards and these are recent stars.”

Humour

Peartree Heybridge GBCC

Camilla and Rose Young at Heart

Otter House

Pet Pawtrait

“These two ranges appeal to Baby Boomers who are mostly laughing at themselves.”

“These appeal to all ages.”

Top: A Gardeners’ World design with new eco packaging from Abacus Cards.

Above: A Pet Pawtrait card from Otter House.

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Gill Hague, co-owner of Seasons Gallery, Sheffield. A popular card, gift and coffee shop in the south of the city, close to the Peak District National Park.

Category

Name of Publisher

Product/Name Range

Comments

Everyday

Rosanna Rossi

Kirra Mini

Relations and Occasions Humour

The Art File

Sara Miller

Art Marketing

Artbeat - Angie’s Ladies and Gentlemen

Thinking of You

Rush Design

Blossom Love

Children’s

Louise Tiler

Tiny Sparkles

Adult Ages

Belly Button Designs

Elle Luxe

Photographic

Mark Denton Photographic

Peak District scenes

Giftwrap Gifts

Artebene Gracie Jewellery

Across the board Across the board

Miss Sparrow

Bamboo socks

“Competitively priced, bright and cheerful - they fly off the shelf.”

“Customers love the beautiful designs and vibrant colours.”

“Our customers absolutely love these and buy them by the handful.”

“Simple designs and lovely sentiments.”

“Lots of jungle animals which are just great.”

“Beautiful contemporary designs that are perfect for milestone birthdays.”

“We're on the edge of The Peak District so Mark's cards of the local area are a real hit.”

“Fantastic quality and design.”

“Competitively priced and great selection of designs which appeal to all age groups.”

“One of our best sellers. We stock ladies, gents and children's designs.

Top: One of Mark Denton’s Peak District scenes.

Customers buy them as Middle: A Blossom Love card from Rush Design. gifts and for themselves.” Above: A design from the Angie’s Ladies and Gentlemen range from Art Marketing.

Prakash Shah, co-owner of With Best Wishes, Petts Wood, Orpington. A long established card and gift shop in a town in the south-east.

Category

Name of Publisher

Product/Name Range

Comments

Everyday

Woodmansterne

Generally

Paperlink

Fever Pitch

Children’s

Rachel Ellen Designs Ling Design

Generally Generally

Relations and Occasions

Five Dollar Shake

Large cards

Paperlink Ling Design Woodmansterne

Generally Generally National Trust

Adult Ages

Cherry Orchard Second Nature

Down Memory Lane Champagne

Humour

Woodmansterne Rosie Made a Thing Pigment Bold and Bright Glick

Quentin Blake Generally Rib Ticklers Jeffrey & Janice Generally

Jellycat Orange Tree Toys

Amusables Toys

“The designs suit our clientele.”

“A strong contemporary male range that works well in captions too.”

“The age designs from these two publishers sell especially well.”

“Price is not an issue for special cards.”

“Good selection for all design tastes.”

“Our Kent customers love the NT ranges.”

“Both these ranges hit the spot for marking the milestone years.”

“Easily recognisable style.”

“Just spot on.”

“Has a wide appeal.”

“A great find at PG Live.”

“Constantly revamping the selection to keep it fresh.”

“A great hit with our customers.”

“Great for preschooler presents.”

Art

Giftwrap Gifts

Top: A Fever Pitch design from Paperlink.

Above: A Curious Inksmith card from Ling Design.

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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CHARITY GREETING CARDS One of the UK’s leading publishers of Charity Greeting Cards.

Impress offers a wide collection of images, including fine art, graphic, photographic and cute.

We also offer a bespoke design service for bulk orders and/or mail order fulfilment.

Innovative high quality gift wrap, gift bags, tissue paper and accesssories galore for all seasons and occasions.

01274 655980 sales@glick.co.uk glick.co.uk trade.glick.co.uk Glick Gift Packaging Ltd Unit 1 Allenby House European Ind. Park, Knowles Lane Bradford BD4 9AB

Hallmark Cards PLC Dawson Lane, Bradford, BD4 6HN UK&NI: 0800 90 20 900 ROI: 012 480 104 customerqueriesUK@hallmark.com

@glickgiftwrap

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Impress Publishing Appledown House Barton Business Park New Dover Road Canterbury, Kent CT1 3TE Tel: 01227 811 611 Fax: 01227 811 618 email: info@impresspublishing.co.uk

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PRODUCT DIRECTORY

l PRODUCT DIRECTORY

l PRODUCT DIRECTORY

Send Love e ( all year round )

To appear in the Product Directories contact Warren Lomax T: 020 7700 6740 email: warren@max-publishing.co.uk or contact Tracey Arnaud T: 07957 212 062 email: traceya@max-publishing.co.uk

+

Exquisite Designs Beautiful Cards Key br ands include: Wr ite from the Hear t Ar tisan, Marzipan, Capisco Designer s Guild, Clare Tupperr Lucy Ledger plus man y more

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.

t: 0208 6138 085 paperbirdpublishing.co.uk u

THAT’S WHY WE’RE ORIGINAL!

01932 267 300

Tel:: +44 (0)115 986 0115 Te customer ser vices@paperrose .co.uk www.paperrose .co.uk www.ar tgroupcards.co.uk

Greettiing g Card C ds

Great brands, Great service Bespoke planning We can help with all your planning l i requir i ements.

From smaller displays to redeveloping complete card departments

ww ww.passelllpublisshin ng.com m iinfo nfo o@ o @ passsel ellpu lpu u blis sshin hin ng n g..com m @pas ublis

p p paperlink... the home of fabulous cards!

@NoelT Ta attGroup 01227 811 600 sales@noeltatt.co.uk www.noeltatt.co.uk

An exciting and innovative range of quality Birthday, Relations, Special Occasions, Handmade, Art and Humorous greeting cards. Full range of Christmas and Spring Seasons merchandise.

B rand N ames a Pizazz, Pizazz Gallery, G Pizazz Limited Edition, E Pizazz for Men, Doodle, D A of Nature, Whatt a Picture, Art Designers Corner Cloudesley House, Shire Hill, Saffron Walden,, CB11 3FB

T: 01799 520200 F: F: 01799 520100 www.nigelquiney.c w ww.nigelquiney.com ww om

To appear in the Product Directories contact Warren Lomax T: 020 7700 6740 email: warren@max-publishing.co.uk or contact Tracey Arnaud T: 07957 212 062 email: traceya@max-publishing.co.uk

356 Kennington Rd London SE11 4LD T 020 7582 8244 info@paperlink.co.uk k www.paperlink.co.uk Paperlinkcards

@ @paperlinkcards

Quality Greeting Cards 01423 876311 www.peartreeheybridge.co.uk

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

Peartree Small Ad.indd 6

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PRODUCT DIRECTORY

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Products: Greetings Cards, Gift Wrap, Gift Bags, Social Stationery, Partyware

Brands: Blossom & Bows Card Essentials Greetings Impressions In Touch Isabel·s Garden Planet Happy Sentiments With You In Mind Word Play

Method of sale: Wholesale Distributors

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 Directories contact Warren Lomax T: 020 7700 6740 email: warren@max-publishing.co.uk or contact Tracey Arnaud T: 07957 212 062 email: traceya@max-publishing.co.uk

7RPFDW &DUGV

The UK’s leading publisher of highest quality handmade Greetings Cards.

To appear in the Product Directories contact Warren Lomax T: 020 7700 6740 email: warren@max-publishing.co.uk or contact Tracey Arnaud T: 07957 212 062 email: traceya@max-publishing.co.uk

104

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

6 Heron Trading Estate Alliance Road, Park Royal, London W3 0RA T: 0208 385 4474 F: 0208 385 4471 E: info@Xpressyourselfcards.co.uk

Products: Greetings cards for all occasions, Christmas and Spring Seasons. Spinners and other retail displays available.

WWW.XXPRESSYOURSELFCARDS.CO.UK

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: SENSATIONS – Direct to retail XPRESS YOURSELF – Now one of the leading wholesale publisher suppliers in the UK

Talking Pictures Cards Ltd 14-20 Eldon Way, Paddock Wood, Kent, TN12 6BE

Tel: 01892 838574 enquiries@talkingpics.co.uk www.talking-pictures.co.uk

www.tomcat.cards info@tomcat.cards

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Market Leaders in

Verse

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design-led Greeting Cards for all occasions, Spring Seasons & Christmas.

We offffer a COMPREHEN

range of high Greeting Cards f ALL Occasions,

CHRISTMAS an Season f Sale:

Method of Sale: Direct to Retail Orders can be placed on our trader site

www.cbgtrader.co.uk

mail: inffoo@words-nWeb: www We w..words-n-wishes.co.uk

Tel: 01942 233201

or call our customer services team on

+44(0)1243 792600

Enquiries: warren@max-publishing.co.uk or Tracey Arnaud

Enquiries:

traceya@max-publishing.co.uk

warren@max-publishing.co.uk or Tracey Arnaud

DIRECTORY OF WHOLESALE

traceya@max-publishing.co.uk

EUROPE’S LEADING GREETINGS CARDS, PARTY PRODUCTS, GIFTS, CANDLES, TOYS, STATIONERY AND FLORIST SUNDRIES DISTRIBUTION CENTRE 75000 SQ FT BESCOT CRESCENT, WALSALL, WEST MIDLANDS. WS1 4NG 01922-646666

Enquiries: warren@max-publishing.co.uk or Tracey Arnaud

www.greetingshouse.co.uk info@greetingshouse.co.uk MON,WED,FRI 8.00am-4.45pm TUES,THURS 8.00am-7.45pm SAT,SUN 8.00am-1.45pm

traceya@max-publishing.co.uk

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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DIRECTORY OF WHOLESALE

CLASSIFIED

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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

We’ve been producing p bags of high clarity and high quality q for over 30 years.

BAGS

01274 220 220 www w.wrapid.co.uk sales@wrapid.co.uk

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CLASSIFIED

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PRINTERS

ENVELOPES

FOR ALL YOUR ENVELOPE NEEDS! Largest range of in-stock colours Over 400 Bespoke Envelope Sizes 8 Sizes Permanently in Stock RECYCLED

PAPER

100% Recycled Paper Available Stock & Bespoke Cello Bags Peel & Stick Envelopes Bespoke Service on Request

ORDER ON LINE AT:

W W W. EN VE CO .CO .U K

01 90 83 78 86 6

www.regentenvelopes.com 01274 583000 sales@regentenvelopes.com

IN FO @E NV EC O. CO .U K

‘we we make Envelopes and Stationery’

MOREE THAN 50 COLOURS 6 POPULAR GREEETINGS CARD SIZES 50+ WH HITE SIZES IN STOCK BESPOKE ENV VELOPES AV AVAILABLE PEEL A AND SEAL CLOSURE RECYCLED / KRAFTT / 140GSM / 120GSM 11 SUPER BRIG GHT NEON COLOURS BESPOKE NOTEBO OOKS & STATIONERY

PLEASE GET IN TOUCH FOR TARY RY YOUR COMPLIMENTA ENVELOPE OR NOTEBOOK WATCH PA PACK SWA

SPECIALISTS IN SHORT RUN MULTI IMAGE PRINT s Foiling Services without the need for dies s Wiro bound notebooks, no minimum quantity s In House Fulfilmment Services

T 01274 305832 E info@hellocards.co.uk www.hellocards.co.uk

The simplest way to order your greetings cards

FLITTERING 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

Powered by

Unit 8, Archers Park, Branbridges Road, East Peckham, Kent TN12 5HP www.theimagingcentre.co.uk Email: info@theimagingcentre.co.uk Tel: 01622 871449

we print

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PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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Social Sta tationerry Printer of the Year

Award winning U UK & Global specialist manufacturer ffor the greeting card industry fo or over 40 years To discuss how we can worrk together, contact Richard Bacon: Tel 0115 928 7766 Email ric chard.bacon@sherwoodgroupuk.com

www.sherrwoodgroupuk.com Hadden Court, Glaisdale e Parkway, Glaisdale Drive West, Nottin ngham NG8 4GP

WAREHOUSING & DISTRIBUTION

Same day order turna around Accurate fulfilment Value added only as you sell the product

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Exclusively Greeting Cards Dedicated Account Managers

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APPOINTMENTS

16/08/2022

18:36

Page 111

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SALES AGENTS Farm shops / country stores / garden centres ARE YOU A SUPER Splimple requires established Sales Agents to develop and maintain sales of our Alison’s Animals card and gif t range, in four territories:

• • • •

South East England (Kent, Surrey y,, East and West Sussex, Hants) Scotland Nor th West England South Midlands (Gloucs, Oxon, Buck, Beds) Each territor y has a small established custo omer base but of fers considerable business development potential – par ticularly among Farm Shops and rural retail outlets. At tractive commission structure and reliable marketing suppor t . Discuss informally with Stuar t Caldwell, on 01386 872752 or email stuar t@splimple.c com

Sales Agents 07-2022.indd 1

AGENT?

Half Moon Bay & Shruti are looking for outstanding agents to enhance our established & successful sales team.

You will be an expert in selling fantastic giftware to independents, garden centres and heritage centres and based on the South coast, North East or Scotland.

Please contact Ben Craddock at benc@halfmoonbay.co.uk for further information.

13/07/2022 13:14

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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