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Manchester Focus
Youthful, energetic and bursting with character, Manchester is known throughout the world as the birthplace of the industrial revolution. And adding to its proud history in music, science, politics, arts and sport, the city has become something of a greeting card publishing powerhouse too. Heatwave notwithstanding, PG received a warm welcome from a gaggle of Manchester-based greeting card publishers who were keen to champion the merits of the city as a base for their respective businesses. Jam-packed with galleries, museums, centres of learning, markets, restaurants, bars, a beating music scene, strong community and sporting allegiances, not to mention a surrounding patchwork of natural beauty and good transport links, Manchester has so much going for it on a business and social front - something that has not gone unnoticed by greeting card publishers. Home to Belly Button Designs, Paper Salad, Stop the Clock Design, Stripey Cats Cards, Davora, Always Sparkle, Greenhouse and Bella Jacobs, among others, Manchester
ranks right up there as a key centre of greeting card publishing excellence. At a recent GCA gathering of the Mancunian greeting card fraternity, the attending publishers were keen to share the myriad of reasons as to why the city is a greeting card creative hub. “The whole region, not only the obvious Media City and The Northern Quarter, is full of creative businesses and organisations, all
energising and inspiring each other, bringing and training talent. It is no wonder, for me, that it is such a fertile ground for greeting card publishers,” says Simon Wadsworth, cofounder of card and homewares company, Wraptious. He also cites Manchester’s market scene as being second to none. “I moved to Manchester six years ago in order to do an intense, fantastic three month Graphic Design course with Shillington College. I then set up Wraptious here because Manchester's markets were taking off. We booked over 250 market stalls in our first two years of Top: Manchester played a key part in the Industrial Revolution. Above: Wraptious is based in Welkin Mill, an early 20th Century Cotton Mill. Above left: Davora was ready for the demand for Rakhi cards. Left: The Northern Powerhouse gathering. (Left-right) Alexa Stratton (Always Sparkle), Kimberley Williams (Belly Button), Lucy Bailey (Belly Button), Jakki Brown (PG), Tamar Klaus (Bella Jacobs), Raj Arora (Davora), Claire Williams (Paper Salad), Rachel Hare (Belly Button), Karen Wilson (Paper Salad), Chris Houfe (Santoro), Tracy Mills (Greenhouse), Wendy Jones-Blackett (Wendy Jones-Blackett), Danielle McCarthy (Stripey Cats), Amanda Fergusson (GCA), Jack Wilson (Paper Salad), Jonathan Crosby (Stripey Cats), Simon Wadsworth (Wraptious) and Warren
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PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE