26-27_Wendy Jones-Blackett.qxp_Grid 09/04/2025 13:52 Page 1
IN CONVERSATION WITH… WENDY JONES-BLACKETT
The (Quick)Silver TOUCH ‘Newness, newness, newness’ is a battle cry from greeting card buyers, and certainly new collections do reinforce and secure our world-leading industry’s pre-eminence, but in tandem is the evolution of long-running, highly successful ranges that have chimed with public tastes and generated considerable sales for retailers and publishers alike for many years in succession. With entries now open for The Henries 2025, PG catches up with the founder of Wendy JonesBlackett whose Quicksilver range rightfully secured a place in The Henry Cole Classic Hall of fame in last year’s awards.
“This is our 10th Henries award trophy and they are all cherished dearly, but this is THE BIGGIE!” exclaimed Wendy JonesBlackett, founder of the eponymous greeting card publisher the morning after last October’s Henries awards event which secured Quicksilver’s place in The Henry Cole Classic Hall of Fame as a range that has endured with its relevance to the consumer’s exacting tastes thus retaining its place in retailers’ selections. Just to enter this prestigious award category, the vast majority of greeting ranges wouldn’t come close to the award criteria of having to have been on sale at UK retail continuously for at least the last 26 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
Above left: Wendy Jones-Blackett at the recent Spring Fair showing off the newness in the Quicksilver range. Left: One of the many new additions to the WJB Quicksilver range. Below: Henries 2024 host George Zacharopoulos (left) on stage with Wendy Jones-Blackett (second right) with the company’s independent account manager Jacqui Godlove (second left), collecting the trophy from (far right) Richard Hall, The Sherwood Group’s sales and marketing director, sponsor of this award category.
eight years, Quicksilver’s tenure can smash this more than twice. “I’ve been reinventing Quicksilver every year for the past 18 years and thankfully our customers still love the designs,” revealed the ever-enthusiastic Wendy. “And