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Spotlight On Ladder Clubbies
The Ladder Club was set up over 20 years ago to help newbie publishers safely scale the rungs of greeting card publishing. Some of The Ladder Clubbies Class of 2018 share their ‘life before cards’ and what led them into the industry, what they gleaned from attending one of the two day Ladder Club seminars and what plans are afoot for 2019.
Rhian Gruffydd, founder of GruffPawtraits: Before cards: “I’ve been a freelance photographer for the best part of 20 years, working for various magazines and charities, such as Comic Relief, working all over the UK and often on charity projects throughout Africa. Gruffpawtraits all started one day just before Christmas 2017 when I was doing a Christmas tree shoot at a journalist’s house. The lady I was about to photograph with her Nordic spruce was still in make-up and we had a lot to get through so I said, “Can I borrow your dog as a stand in to check the light exposure?”. It wasn’t until I got home later that evening to do my day’s edit that I came across the opening picture of her Tibetan terrier looking straight at me and thought what a great picture it was. I couldn’t help going back to that picture again and again - it just captivated me. After that, whenever I had an ‘at home’ photo-shoot, if there was a dog present I would always ask “can I use your dog as a stand in”, just to see if I could get as good a portrait as the first dog; to see if it wasn’t a fluke. Well it wasn’t. I very quickly found I was actually pretty good at getting any dog to Top: Rhian Gruffydd of Gruffportraits look straight at the camera. at the Battersea Ball. It was my friend’s birthday Above: Gruffportraits’ Rhian Gruffydd is lucky to have “the best neighbours and I knew of a local printer in in the world”, as they helped her package all her dog cards for the Notting Hill so I went in and asked Battersea Ball goody bags. if I could get one of my dog images printed onto a card? The printer loved the image and we fast developed a great relationship where I would be in every few days with images of different dogs to be trialled on a card some worked some didn’t. The cards were only for my own personal use and it hadn’t crossed my mind that I could possibly make a business out of them.
Ingrid Henningsson, founder of Of Spring and Summer: Before cards: “I’m a Swedish photographer based for many years in London where I live with my family. I studied Fine Art and Textiles at Camberwell College of Art and it was during that time that I picked up my first SLR camera and fell in love with photography. I later went back to school and trained in Horticulture and Garden Design, followed by several years lecturing at The English Gardening School. I also worked for the BBC as a horticultural consultant at Chelsea Flower Show. In 2009 I launched a blog called ‘Of Spring and Summer’ featuring photography and flowers, and later produced an ‘Of Spring and Summer’ website to highlight my photography. Lately, I have been contributing as a freelance photographer and stylist for a variety of Scandinavian and American magazines.” Shining advice: “I attended The Ladder Club for the first time in November 2018 and came away with an incredible amount of valuable information. As a ‘newbie’ there is a lot to learn, and what better place than from a bunch of experts? One of my favourites was Blue Eyed Sun’s Jeremy Corner’s brilliant talk called ‘Four Different Hats’.” New for 2019: “I’m now working on a collection of photographic greeting cards, wrapping paper and stationery, and during 2019 I will be further developing these ranges.” Top right: Founder of ‘Of Spring and Summer’, Ingrid Henningsson. Above: A beautiful floral design from Of Spring and Summer.
I had thought that an exhibition would be a great way to show them off, but a friend then gave me a great idea: “Why don’t you concentrate on your greeting cards, everyone loves them!” He continued: “I know someone whose mother was on the board at Battersea Dogs Home, why don’t you give her some samples to take in and try and get them in the goody bags for the Battersea Ball?” So my samples were taken to Battersea Dogs Home and they loved them! Just a week later, at the charity ball, we had a table and I saw my cards in everyone’s goody bag - it was the most amazing sense of achievement! The following week I attended my first Ladder Club seminar it could not have been better timing.” PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
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