Progressive Greetings June 2016

June

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Leader

On The Cards It is not every day that you get invited to see what must be the largest collection of 90th birthday cards and when the ‘birthday girl’ is the Queen and the invitation is extended to going ‘behind the scenes’ of Buckingham Palace to meet the people who are involved in Her Majesty’s greeting card affairs (both incoming and outgoing), well, what can I say about my excitement levels!

So, leaving hordes of tourists at the front gates of Buckingham Palace, Sharon Little, ceo of the GCA and I made our way to the front door, giving a nod to a passing Welsh Guard in a magnificent busby (like you do!).

It was incredibly generous of Christopher Sandamas, chief clerk of the Private Secretary's Office, to not only agree to see us, but to ask permission from the Queen to give an interview with Progressive Greetings. I took the fact this was granted (a rarity as I understand it) as an indication that not only does our Monarch enjoy receiving greeting cards, but also sees them as a valued way of

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Above: The PG Live 'meeters and greeters' clad in dresses made from exhibitors' cards with the PG Live team (left-right) Tracey Arnaud, Warren Lomax, Jakki Brown, Jacqui Parr, Ian Hyder, Simon Boyd and Clare Davies.

Left: Members of the Dutch contingent met up at the PG Live Overseas Drinks Party held on the eve of the show. Artige’s Dorothe Hollander (second right) and Robert Aaftink (second left) with the ‘Two Ronnies’ from Orange Papers, Ronald Kortirjk and Ronald Kareze.

Below left: Christopher Sandamas, chief clerk of the Private Secretary's Office in Buckingham Palace visited PG Live to be shown the Queen's 90th Birthday Card Display at the show by (left-right) GCA ceo Sharon Little, PG editor Jakki Brown and Raquel Lopez, GCA office administrator.

communicating with her loyal subjects on their 100th birthday and diamond wedding anniversaries and above (see pages 52-53).

It felt somewhat surreal that while the Changing of the Guards was taking place outside, there Sharon and I were standing in a ‘bedroom’ on first floor at the front of Buckingham Palace, surrounded by postbags and boxes crammed full of birthday cards of all shapes and sizes, each and everyone of them containing hand-written messages to someone almost all were unlikely to ever meet. We loved it.

And what is even better is knowing that some of the wonderful birthday cards (from hundreds of publishers and retailers) that Sharon, Warren and I delivered to the Palace after their display at PG Live, could now be displayed on the desk and mantelpiece of the world’s most famous lady. She is our Greeting Card Queen!

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i might look like i'm doing nothing, but in my head i'm quite busy

Life is Sweet greeting cards designed by icon order online: www.icon-art.com telephone: 01242 679800 / email: info@icon-art.com

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Contents

Within This Issue:

What’s Inside 28

FOCUS ON CUTE CARDS

52

9-19

35-39

55-57

News

Innovations

Art Source

21-23

41-45

58-59

PG Live In Pics

Focus On Cute Cards

What’s Hot?

Just Picture It!

A Cute Above

Relive last month’s PG Live ‘magic’.

PG highlights current cute cards news and adorable fresh launches.

25-29

60-61 Lynn’s Lines

Going The Extra Smile

PG Live Viewpoints

46-47

Stand And Deliver

Jeremy’s Journal

Card buyers who visited PG Live share their product discoveries.

Europe - In Or Out? Blue Eyed-Sun’s Jeremy Corner discusses Brexit.

62-75

Classified

30-31

60

Over The Counter

49-51

A Purple Profession

Retailer Face To Face: Notonthehighstreet

Independent card and gift retailer, David Robertson, co-owner of JP Pozzi in Scotland, takes a leaf out of musical maestro Prince’s book.

Write On! Rebecca Saunders, head of development at Notonthehighstreet.com, shares her thoughts on what's trending.

32-33 Cardsharp

52-53

The Royal ‘Mail’ Elephant

Inside The Palace

Cardsharp muses over topical events happening in the industry.

Our Greeting Card Queen PG goes to Buckingham Palace to meet the Queen's greeting card team.

Progressive Greetings is a monthly business magazine.

SUBSCRIPTIONS: UK subscription: One year £50 Two year £85 Three year £110 Overseas subscription: One year £75 Jakki Brown

Warren Lomax

Gale Astley

Editor

Advertisement Director

Deputy Editor

jw@max-publishing.co.uk

warren@max-publishing.co.uk

galea@max-publishing.co.uk

SUBSCRIPTIONS ENQUIRES: maxsubscriptions@marketingreinforcements.co.uk Tel: 020 8943 9541

PG is the official magazine for the Greeting Card Association GCA: Sharon Little 020 7619 0396 Email: gca@max-publishing.co.uk www.greetingcardassociation.org.uk Use your smartphone app to scan the QR code to visit our website.

Copyright© 2016. 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.

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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NEWS ‘Letting Your Hair Down’

TOP STORY

Hundreds of industry members went to town and really let their hair down at a fun packed party to celebrate specialist greeting card printer Sherwood Group’s 40th Birthday.

The wild celebration party, which included a 70’s style disco and lots of big hair, took place in Islington, immediately after the PG Live drinks party, near to the Business Design Centre, where the exhibition took place.

PG Live-ing The Dream The Whole Industry Under One Curved Roof “Just Fab! What I love about PG Live is it’s small enough to socialise, but large enough to accommodate all the major players. And there was even more innovation this year,” was how independent card retailer Tina Botterill, co-owner of Cool! Cards & Gifts, Skipton summed up PG Live 2016, which took place last month at London’s Business Design Centre.

The dedicated greeting card two day show was buzzing with retailers, both indies and multiples and overseas distributors from across the globe who converged at the BDC to see the best greeting card designs in the whole world.

“It was great to be back at PG. As always the show did not disappoint,” said Tish Bas, senior buyer of Paperchase. “We felt there was even more variety this year, it was wonderful to see so many new publishers.”

Lisa Rutherford, buyer of John Lewis was another major retailer to give the show the ‘thumbs up’: “I really liked the mix of

Below: Jeremy Bacon, ceo of Sherwood with big hair!

publishers at PG Live, both large and small, new and established.

I was also really impressed with the level of new product from established publishers - a great effort by all!” ● To see what new products caught retailers’ eyes see pages 25-29 and to relive the show see pages 21-23.

Above: Cool! Cards’ Tina Botterill (left) was very happy to spend her Retas Silver Ticket with IvoryMint.

Below: Michelle Lovell, owner of To Be Established, won the oi Doris prize draw to win a stunning piece of art, created entirely on a typewriter. (Pictured is oi Doris founder, Ann Worsnip ).

A Little Bird Told Us The winner on the first day of the Miko Greetings 'name the bird' competition at PG Live was Kathy Morgan of The Little Gift House in Bebington who named the Miko bird Jin Jiggly. The winner on the second day of the competition was Tonky Leberne of Pickwick Gifts in London whose winning suggestion was Beaky Bird. Both received a beautiful giclee print as their prize.

Left: Mik Brown, partner in Miko Greetings delivered the print to Pickwicks Gifts and presented it to owner Tonky Leberne in her shop.

Winning Ways PG Live 2016 saw a feast of competition winners!

Below: Sarah Maclean of Menagerie Makes, Walthamstow, was the lucky winner of a Rowena Wright picture as a result of a prize draw on the Charlie Foxtrot stand (pictured is co-founder Richard Walters with the prize).

Below right: Art Works’ md Adam Rankin on the stand at PG Live.

Right: PG’s Gale Astley pulled Rod and Frankie Bennett of Card Gallery, Southampton out in the Two Scoops prize draw to win a beautiful bespoke diamond necklace.

Left: The winner of the Deckled Edge

by Janna promotion, picked by the GCA’s Sharon Little, was Sophie Kirwan of Bricknells, Cornwall. She won £50 gift voucher to spend at online equine boutique Gallop Guru.

Charitable Launch Above: PG Live marked the official launch of the ‘all for charity’ Christmas cards for Action Medical Research, instigated by Lynn Tait of the Lynn Tait Gallery. All those involved in this amazing project, from the publisher artists who have donated a design to the suppliers who are producing them at no charge were at the launch.

100% of all the sales will go to the AMR charity.

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NEWS PEOPLE

TOP STORY

Henries Bollywood Extravaganza Card Publishers Shout Out To Enter The Henries Awards Entries are pouring in from publishers, large, medium and small for the 21st Henries Awards.

The awards, the premier accolades for British greeting card publishing, recognise and celebrate the finest card ranges available in the most competitive and vibrant card market in the world.

The final closing date for entries is Tuesday June 24, and although an entry form was included with the May issue of Progressive Greetings, a form can still be downloaded from The Henries website.

Judging will be carried out by a panel of over 40 top card retailer buyers, perfectly balanced to represent all sectors of the industry. The finalists will then be informed in early August.

Last year’s Henries attracted entries from some 200 publishers who entered over 14,000 greeting cards into the 18 product categories.

The theme for this year’s lavish Henries Awards is Glamorous Bollywood, and no doubt many of the 700 guests that will be present at the Gala Awards evening, where the winners are announced, will no doubt be embracing the theme. The Awards take place at the Lancaster London Hotel in London on Thursday October 6.

For tickets for The Henries Gala Awards contact Clare Davis of Createvents on Clare@createvents.co.uk or 01183 0085.

We're Honoured Antalis, a leading paper company which supplies many greeting card publishers with their board, has teamed up with acclaimed war and reportage photographer Don McCullin to launch a Carefully Curated paper selection initiative. This was inspired by Don's three volume limited edition retrospective of his life's work: Irreconcilable Truths, which has been printed on Antalis paper.

"One of the most satisfying parts of the whole project was the process of test printing a selection of my images using a mix of different litho and digital printing techniques and a carefully considered range of papers,” comments Don. “The final decision was straightforward - Antalis’s Cocoon recycled paper for the reproduction of images in Irreconcilable Truths, and Mohawk Superfine stock for the digital reproduction of accompanying monographs, including the first ever printing of a selection of my colour photography.” ● The campaign also includes the launch of a photographic based competition entitled These Feet In Ancient Times which is open to anyone working in the design or print industries.

Visit: www.antaliscarefullycurated.com.

Above: The three books comprise over 700 of Don’s most iconic photographs as well as many previously unpublished images. This page shows a young girl starving in Biafra taken from volume 1, War & Reportage.

Race For Life With her much-loved mum in mind, well known South-East independent sales agent Maria McKenna recently took part in the Bognor 10K race to raise money for the Alzheimer's Society as her Mum suffers from the disease. "I felt that running the race was something that I could do for my mum and that might make a difference in a small way," Maria told PG. "It was certainly a very emotional day."

Left: Agent Maria McKenna with her mum.

Making A Debut At Spring Fair Debut will be a brand new area in Spring Fair 2017, conceived by show organisers i2i Events to help GCA member publishers try out Spring Fair for the first time.

Supported by the GCA, Debut will comprise around 22 stands, all 3m x 1m traditional shell scheme available at a discounted special package price of £1,250 + VAT. To be eligible for this package publishers must be a small GCA publisher member looking to exhibit at Spring Fair for the first time.

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● Paul Macfarlane (right) has joined K2 Greetings and Creation Express as sales director. Paul brings a wealth of experience following his 31 years at Hallmark where he rose to become head of independent sales and the wholesale division.

Also joining the company is John Collins (right), co-founder of Cherry Orchard, who has joined Creation Express as Southern sales manager. John, who has been operating as a retailer in Tewksbury since leaving Cherry Orchard, became a Creation Express retailer in January and loved the product so much he joined the company! ● Stephen Illingworth (right) has been appointed as product development director of gift company Widdop and Co, joining Stuart, Andrew and Chris Illingworth on the Board of Directors. "His appointment provides both stability and continuity for the long-term future of Widdop and Co,” comments md Stuart Illingworth, md. ● Widdop and Co has also appointed Lindsay Townsend (right) as national account manager where she will play a major role in the continuing development of this sector of the market place. Lindsay spent eight years in a similar role at Mamas & Papas, working with many major UK retailers including Shop Direct, Boots, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Next and Argos, on both branded and exclusive nursery products. ● OPC has recently welcomed several new franchisees. Judit Folinek has taken over Canterbury, with her partner Norbert Folbes looking after West Kent; Glynn and Maureen Richards have taken over Hereford, two years after purchasing their initial territory in Swansea; Rod Lane and Michelle Simms have taken on Peterborough, plus Debbie Edwards and Paul Bennett have purchased the Suffolk territory.

Above: Glynn and Maureen Richards.

● Alan MacNamee, md of Irish card publisher Garlanna Greeting Cards, will be challenging himself by taking part in a 700km cycle from Dublin to Paris from June 7-14 to raise money for charity Mustard Seed Island. Visit: www.dublin2paris.com. ● Russell Kirby has been appointed Caliq's sales and marketing manager. With over 25 years in the card publishing, homeware and giftware sectors, Russell is a well-known face in the industry, having been providing mobile sales solutions and backoffice systems across the UK. He joins Caliq from Trisoft, where he helped establish SalesPak as a leading mobile sales solution and was instrumental in its design and development. Prior to that, he sold business accounting software into wholesale distributors.

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NEWS A Royal Knees Up

TOP STORY

A Majestic Array An Industry Celebration Of The Queen The Queen is on course to receive over 40,000 90th birthday cards this year - and among those delivered to her at Buckingham Palace is a very impressive collection from the greeting card industry.

Card publishers large and small rose to the challenge set

by PG Live and the GCA to create special cards for Her Majesty to mark her 90th birthday. These cards, which contained hand-written messages from the publishers, were put on display at last month’s PG Live exhibition for everyone to admire.

“Our wonderful card publishers certainly did rise to the challenge as the beautiful, inventive and often quirky array of these special cards testify,” commented Sharon Little, ceo of the GCA. Publishers were also asked to send in other cards suitable for the Queen’s 90th birthday which visitors to PG Live could select, writing their own personal

Below: The cards for the Queen’s 90th birthday display at PG Live.

messages of goodwill to add to the greeting card industry’s ‘postbag’.

Echoing the views held by others, Emma Gillett of Special Occasions, Castle Bromwich said that “One of the highlights of this year’s PG Live for me was choosing and writing a birthday card to send to Her Majesty. The buzz created by people picking and writing cards was very heart-warming.”

PG editor and GCA ceo Sharon Little, were invited to Buckingham Palace to not only deliver all the cards, but to be granted ‘behind the scenes’ access to meet the Queen’s Correspondence team, who receive the cards (and respond in person to the senders) as well as witness first-hand the sheer number of birthday cards that are continuing to pour into the Palace.

(See pages 52-53 for the full story).

Stamping Its Hallmark Even before the GCA revealed plans to create a special display of 90th birthday cards for the Queen at PG Live, Hallmark was already in the planning stages of creating a very special card for Her Majesty that involved its teams of people from both sides of the Atlantic.

Michelle Crouch, art director and graphic designer, based in the Hallmark Ideation Studio at Bingley Road, Bradford, has co-created this special milestone marker with Barbara Bennett, creative process specialist, based in Hallmark's US office in Kansas City, as well Above: Hallmark's 90th birthday card for the Queen. as other colleagues.

Explains Michelle: “When the brief came in to design and create a birthday card for the Queen, my first reaction was ‘yes, love to’, but to produce the best card possible I would have to work with Barbara and the print workshop team in Kansas City.” Michelle immediately flew out to Kansas City and the creative collaboration began. Lending their expertise was editor Louise Heaps, who wrote the meaningful verse, Chris Briggs who created the intricate engraving, master hand-lettering artist Jim Fedor who wrote the words, and Rick Eisel, Kenny Berry and Sherry Hancock who developed the final print, to include the card’s pillow embossed cover box and wrap around band which featured the Queen’s cypher and scroll work.

The final result is a three panelled card, with rose and blossom emboss details in gold hot foil gradients, wrapped in a delicate pearlised screen-print tissue wrap.

“The finished result far exceeded the vision I had in my head,” comments Michelle, who led the design team. “This is co-creating at its best - working with an amazing team to get a fantastic result we can be proud of. This really is a card fit for the Queen.”

A Crafty Move The winner of the British Craft Trade Fair Greeting Card Award was Yoojoo, for its original origami and digital image greeting cards, bookmarks, gift boxes and stationery. The Awards took place at the BCTF show held in Harrogate in April.

A second BCTF show is being launched this year, to be held in London at Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane London, E1 from September 13 -15, 2016. Visit: www.bctf.co.uk Left: BCTF award winners Yoojoo.

Louise Heyler, owner of greeting card and gift retailer Forget Me Not, Stubbington, is to continue the card trade’s celebration of the Queen’s 90th birthday.

All of the spare cards that were donated to the PG Live/GCA Cards for the Queen initiative are now being put to good use by Louise as part of a Queen’s 90th birthday celebration street party day that she is organising with the Stubbington Traders and the Crofton Lions on June 12.

Above: The birthday party poster.

Louise plans to encourage those attending to write and send cards to the Queen, which will then be delivered to Buckingham Palace from the good people of Stubbington and the environs.

The day will involve live music, a vintage dress competition and a birthday cake competition.

A Queen’s Best Friend One of the designs that caught the eye of Royal Household member Christopher Sandamas, chief clerk of the Private Secretary’s Office when he visited PG Live to see the Queen’s 90th Birthday Card display was a one off hand-painted card created by Ling Design in-house artist Cordelia Hutchison featuring a Corgi.

Commenting on her creation, Cordelia told PG:“I was delighted to get the opportunity to design a card especially for the Queen’s special birthday, but what to paint? Well it had to be a Corgi! I have always loved the Queen and remember, even from an early age, she was either talking about her Above: Cordelia Hutchison with the card that features Corgis or being the original artwork. pictured with them.

Animals are among my favourite things to paint and I especially love painting dogs.”

Cordelia joined Ling Design as an inhouse artist over two years ago. She is a History of Art graduate, but has always had a passion for Fine Art. During her degree in Bristol she had the opportunity to study both History of Art and Fine Art in Florence at the Charles Cecil School of Fine Art.

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NEWS TOP STORY

Solid Card Factory Results “Not Immune” To Weaker Consumer Confidence Card Factory, the UK’s largest specialist retailer of greeting cards, announced a solid set of financial results for its trading update for the quarter ending April 30.

New chief executive officer, Karen Hubbard, revealed an increase of 6.5 % in sales over the same period in 2015. This follows on from a record increased performance in the same quarter in 2015.

Continuing an impressive run of store openings, an additional 20 new stores were opened in the period, making a total of 834 with every intention to open 50 net new stores by the end of its financial year.

Getting Personal, Card Factory’s online division, saw a 10% increase in sales.

Commenting on the results, Karen Hubbard reflected that after a record performance in 2015, Card Factory had had a “reasonable start” to the year and that the Group remained highly cash generative thanks

to strong operating margins and the relatively low capital expenditure needed for expansion. But she noted that Card Factory was “not completely immune to the weaker consumer confidence” seen in 2016.

Offering reassurance she pointed out, “The market for greeting cards in the UK has proven highly resilient in the past and our unrivalled value offer will continue to appeal to a broad range of customers,” and she remains confident of making “further progress” this year in line with expectations.

Despite these healthy figures, Card Factory’s share price dropped by 2.5%, possibly a reflection of investors concerns over the general state of high street retail.

Richard Hayes, Karen Hubbard’s predecessor, retires from the group this month after 13 years’ service.

Above: Karen Hubbard, new ceo of Card Factory.

Be A Star, Bake A Cake A cake sale to raise money for the 10th anniversary of Bowel Cancer UK, with recipes donated by some of the hottest chefs, recently inspired Soula Zavacopoulos, designer and director of The London Studio, to produce a range of cards featuring cakes, featuring the cake recipes printed inside.

With helping to raise money for Bowel Cancer UK's Be A Star, Bake A Cake campaign as her goal, she approached thortful.com, an online greeting card company which licences some of her designs, suggesting that they team up to produce eight bespoke designs, with 30p from every card sold going to Bowel Cancer UK. Recipes include those from The Hairy Bikers, Rick Stein, Brian Turner, Tom Aikens, Gino D’Acampo and Gennaro Contaldo as well as rugby star James Haskell.

The cards are available at: www.po.st/cardrecipes.

Top: Among those participating in the Cardgains walk this year is Nigel Quiney’s Alison Butterworth (right), seen her on the publisher’s stand at PG Live with sales director Fiona Douglass having been presented with a Retas Golden Ticket from Just Cards, St Ives.

A Well Baked Idea

Above: One of the designs used in the campaign is from A Slice of Life published by Saffron Cards & Gifts.

Jamie Sees The Funny Side When Soula Zavacopoulos tweeted Jamie Oliver a rather cheeky Wisdom of Kids quote on Twitter, asking him if he might be the Jamie, age 4, author of the quote, (see below), to Soula's surprise he tweeted back a short but humorous “busted”!

"I was so happy and shocked that he replied", Soula exclaimed.

"I’m very surprised he even saw my tweet considering the number of tweets he gets with over 5 million Twitter followers. It shows he’s paying attention and his reply also shows his terrific sense of humour!"

The design is available from Gemma as a milestone birthday card, and to independents through Is It Art. Above: The cheeky card caption that Soula Zavacopoulos tweeted to Jamie Oliver.

Walking For Charity As the country gets ready to cast their vote in the EU Referendum on June 23, over 30 industry stalwarts, to include Sharon Little, chief executive of the GCA, will be gearing up for this year's Cardgains Charity Challenge - The Edges of the Rainbow.

Other well-known 'cardies' taking part include: Alison Butterworth, Carl Pledger and Jenny Weare from Nigel Quiney, Chris Houfe from GBCC, Jackie Collins from Cherry Orchard; Lee Wardell from Carte Blanche; Nick Carey from Abacus Cards; Richard Marsden and Louise Isherwood from History & Heraldry, Carl Salt from Words 'n' Wishes and Nigel Williamson from House of Cards.

"It's great to see a few Cardgains Charity Challenge 'virgins' as well as our regulars and a couple we welcome back following a break from one of our events," enthuses Cardgains marketing director Penny Shaw, who will be taking part in challenge along with Cardgains managing director Chris Dyson and the organisation's Steve Grocott.

The event takes place in the Peak District, with the organisation's 20 mile walk raising funds for The Rainbow Trust children's charity.

Last month IC&G took part in a bake off for a local charity, Diverse Abilities. "We work with the charity to print its handmade Christmas cards each year," explains marketing and social media assistant Megan Glocker, “and this month, IC&G wanted to get involved in the bake-off."

The team came together for the event to raise money, baking all kinds of delicious treats including homemade fudge, Nutella cookies and carrot cake. "After raising over £70 for diverse abilities through the bake-off we are feeling very full and excited to take part in more fundraising events in the future!' adds Megan.

Above: No soggy bottoms from IC&G!

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NEWS New Specialist Printer

TOP STORY

Over The Moon The Retas Puts The Stars In Alignment “Wow! We are over the moon and honoured to be in the finals of The Retas,” was the perfect reaction from Elaine Coles, owner of The Country House Gift Company in Winscombe. Her exuberant retort is a perfect fit with the ‘moon and stars’ theme for this year’s greeting card retailing awards.

Many of The Retas’ retail finalists (featured in The Retas brochure that accompanies this edition of PG) have gone into orbit, making the most of the marketing opportunities that being in the running for the card retailing equivalent of ‘the Oscars’ offers them, with posters printed, PR campaigns, staff and customer events.

"We are so proud and amazingly excited to have reached the finals of The Retas 2016! We just can't stop grinning!" commented Trudy and Tilley Tebbutt, co-owners of Marmalade Meringue in Hinckley.

Meanwhile, plans for the sparkling awards event, to be held on July 13 at The Dorchester Hotel, London’s Park Lane, are well underway.

The creative stars at Paper Rose embraced the challenge of designing the keepsake Retas invitation, and really went into orbit with their ideas, with the selected design involving 3D pop-up binoculars!

Commenting on the inspiration behind the design, designer Kamila Gawlowska told PG: "I find something mysterious and beautiful in the moons, stars and constellations. When you look

Below: The Paper Rose studio team testing The Retas ticket concept. (Left to right) Jojo Norris, Tilly Harries-Pugh, Sarah Tanser and Kamila Gawlowska.

Below left: This year’s Retas brochure.

up to the sky and see all those stars and planets you can’t help but wonder, what is out there? I dreamt of something that could bring us just a little bit closer binoculars, which are widely used by astronomers, were the inspiration for the 3D pop-up Retas 2016 ticket."

The ethereal design on the ticket itself features a beautiful cosmic landscape, and just between the pair of eyelets you will find the words 'look up to the sky'.

Kamila adds that using a source of light when looking through the binoculars helps to reveal a magical secret world. "Printed on translucent paper you will see a vintage lady sitting on the moon, which helps to remind us that we are looking into the past when we gaze up at the stars,” she adds.

The board and paper for the ticket is being donated by GF Smith and Loxleys is undertaking the printing.

Now in their 12th year, The Retas awards recognise retailing excellence from right across the greeting card retailing spectrum.

This year Danilo, IC&G, Xytos and Widdop and Co join the strong band of sponsors.

Visit: www.retasawards.co.uk

A Local Hero In addition to reaching the finals for The Retas 2016, for his Small Business Saturday campaign, Isle of Man based retailer Mantons recently received a prestigious award.

For the second consecutive year, Chris Beards, owner of Mantons Cards based in Isle of Man’s Port Erin, triumphed at the annual bira High Street Conference Awards held in May, received the bira Local Hero award 2016 to add to last year's Retailer of the Year prize.

The bira Local Hero award is given to a bira member who has engaged with his/her community and has helped or supported local initiatives with honour and credit.

Chris also took away £1,000 to donate to his chosen charity.

Left: Chris Beards received bira's Local Hero award which was presented to him by Simon Bicknell of sponsors Toolbank (left/right). He is also shown with presenter Alexis Conran.

Hello Cards, a new venture for family run business Corners Direct, is launching in June. Headed by Peter Wright, other members of the team include Sally Wright who will be in charge of marketing and sales, and Jonathan Wright who will be managing the technical and production side. "Between them they have over 30 years’ experience of print and are able to advise customers on all aspects of design and production," comments Peter.

He says that the new company will appeal to small and medium sized greeting card designers who want to order smaller quantities incorporating multiple images.

Corners Direct began life as a paper and envelope merchants but expanded into the print industry in the late 1990s, providing customers with general business stationery.

The Itty Bitty Force Was With Them To join in with the frenzy surrounding Star Wars Day on May 4, Hallmark sent out Star Wars goodie boxes (including its Itty Bitty plush and Star Wars cards) to the media, buyers and key bloggers.

Coverage in print and on social media included tweets from Capital Radio and Best magazine, as well as an extra Itty Bitty mention on Capital Radio.

Social media activities featured quizzes, GIFs, downloadable profile pictures and giveaways on Facebook and Twitter. The company also came up with a themed menu with a 'name the cake' competition and provided 400 Star Wars Itty Bittys to Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Internally, there was an Itty Bitty treasure hunt along with a screening of The Force Awakens.

EU Referendum Decided By 'Don't Knows'?

With the EU Referendum taking place on June 23, over a quarter of retailers haven't yet made up their minds whether to vote to Brexit or to Bremain, according to a recent survey among the 6,000 members of the British Independent Retailers Association (bira). "A momentous decision will be made in the June referendum and our survey shows that many still have yet to make up their minds," comments Alan Hawkins, ceo, bira.

Members had a second opportunity to 'vote' at the recent bira High Street Conference, held on May 11, with keynote speaker Labour MP Chuka Umunna (above), mentioning bira's EU vote on the BBC news that evening, as well as tweeting his entire speech just after he left the conference.

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NEWS On Top Of The World

TOP STORY

Write On Stationery Lovers United Good news for lovers of stationery - and greeting cards - is that “stationery is anything but stationary” according to Rebecca Saunders, head of development at leading online retailer Notonthehighstreet.com.

Rebecca was the keynote retail speaker at the recent London Stationery Show, where she revealed, "stationery is a large and fast growing category at Notonthehighstreet.com. We’re a destination for bespoke ranges such as wedding stationery and are continuing to grow our core stationery ranges such as notebooks, diaries, cards and wrapping. Our customers choose stationery as an extension of their style and personality so sourcing unique designs from small creative stationers really appeals to them.”

Her presentation looked at how stationery fits into the online portal’s offer

and its increasing popularity as the company's partners – typically smaller creative manufacturers - respond to consumer demand for innovative and personalised options for how they make notes and share the written word. Rebecca also shared insights into stationery styles and current trends. (See pages 49-51).

In addition, trend translator Phil Pond of forecasters Scarlet Opus presented an update on current and future global trends, highlighting key themes that will be dominating the high street in 2016/17. "A 'homemade' feel for Christmas 2016 will include decorations such as knitted baubles and crocheted snowflakes," he revealed. Other trends leading into 2017 include ghostly, dark romanticism, based on the 200th anniversary of Charlotte Bronte's birth, and, with Millennials in mind, the home office is set to be given a more homely twist.

Above: Rachel Saunders of Notonthehighstreet was a keynote speaker at the London Stationery Show held at the end of April.

Left: At 4ft, Nuco's notepad was declared the world's largest notepad by officials from the Guinness Book of Records, who visited the London Stationery Show to assess the notebook.

Winners All A highlight on the first day of the London Stationery Show was the presentation of the show's annual Stationery Awards. The winners included: Portico Designs' pineapple boxed notecards in the Social Stationery category; Stone Marketing's Nuuna Pearl Pink notebook in the Notebooks & Journals category; Mums Office Christmas planner in the Diaries & Organisers category; Notable Designs' Penco brass pencil in the Everyday Writing category, and Notable Designs' Blackwing pencils in the Writing Instruments over £25 category.

The Judges’ Award was presented to the Christmas Planner, created by Emma Fletcher of Mums Office, to recognise the individual passion and interest that had gone into creating it.

“The judges were thrilled by the strength and diversity of the products entered this year," commented Henri Davis, independent retail advisor and head of buying and merchandising for Scribbler, who chaired the judging panel.

Above: The award winning products were prominently displayed at the show.

Left: Big smiles from Notable Designs. The company scored a double success at the awards.

Cumbrian artist Derek Eland who is spending six weeks in the foothills of Mount Everest, celebrated World Stationery Day in his diary room, with National Stationery Week helping to financially support him, allowing him to purchase the vital tools to survive during his difficult journey.

“Without stationery, I wouldn’t be where I am standing now," stated Derek.

"World Stationery Day is a celebration of what can be achieved with pens, pencils and rulers.” Derek tweeted live across World Stationery Day and throughout National Stationery Week.

Commented Chris Leonard-Morgan, founder of National Stationery Week: “there was no better place to celebrate World Stationery Day than on top of the world.

It’s a feat of human endeavour that Derek is spending six weeks camping on the tallest mountain on earth, and I’m excited to hear some of the stories he will have to share with us.”

Derek has become the first artist-inresidence on the 8,884-metre mountain and has a keen interest in the world of stationery. He has collected a selection of handwritten notes, painting a picture of the human condition under extreme pressure on the arduous trek to Nepal.

Above: Artist Derek Eland is pictured on Mount Everest.

Sharp Shavings "Ooooh, that was a close shave. Is it weird we're a bit obsessed with these pencil shavings?" tweeted Paperchase as part of its engagement with National Stationery Week. To support World Stationery Day, part of National Stationery Week, Paperchase offered its customers 10% off stationery products both in store and online, while calligraphy Above: Sharp thinking from Paperchase! demos took place from the Manuscript Pen Company in its London and Manchester stores.

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

17

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NEWS TOP STORY

NEWS IN BRIEF

Paperfest Joins Top Drawer September Show Ups Its Stationery Credentials The upcoming Top Drawer exhibition, which takes place at Olympia in London on September 11-13th, will for the first time this year incorporate the specialist Paperfest event into its Stationery and Greetings section.

Paperfest is the brainchild of luxury stationery publisher, Abigail Warner, which started life as a niche event with a small number of attendees. In three years it grown into a major event with over 200 visitors and an impressive line-up of high profile speakers, including Anna Bond of Rifle Paper Company and the successful style and fashion icon, Cath Kidston.

Commenting on the Top Drawer tie-up, Abigail said: “When the opportunity arose to incorporate the event as part of Top Drawer I fully embraced it. Paperfest will retain its charm and unique offering, using the same aesthetic, values and high quality of speakers. And I am really looking forward to working with the Top Drawer team to

Below: Paperfest founder Abigail Warner (left) with Cath Kidston at the 2015 event.

● A Velvet Olive's Mother's Day card recently won a Louie Award in New York. It is published under licence in the US by Calypso.

Right: Velvet Olive's winning card design.

● Inspired by National Stationery Week, The Pen Company has launched a Big Stationery Survey 2016 to help the company build a picture of how the world feels about stationery in 2016. Questions included whether people still use stationery, what their favourite items are, the type of greeting cards they send and how they felt about handwriting.

develop more exciting plans, which are yet to be confirmed.”

The introduction of Paperfest to Top Drawer will provide attendees with an interest in stationery, with an additional reason to attend. Paperfest’s aim is to inspire the creativity, which is at the heart of the stationery and the greeting card industry.

Among stationery and card publishers already committed to exhibiting at Top Drawer are Notable Designs, Go Stationery, Noi Publishing and The Art File.

The Buyers’ Festival Harrogate Home & Gift, which has been given a new tag line, the Buyers Festival, will be taking place from July 17-20, showcasing 150 new suppliers and thousands of new product launches. Design Point 5, 20% larger than last year, will be dedicated to greeting cards and stationery.

"Buyers Festival truly represents the spirit of the show, the first in the second season of the year," says show director Cleere Scammell. “We are always looking at ways to make life at The Home & Gift Buyers’ Festival easier for everyone. Building on the easier layout introduced last year, we are adding another entrance point adjacent to the ever popular Design Point campus, creating the easiest-ever arrival experience."

● Firebox.com is offering a range of greeting cards that are guaranteed to annoy the recipient! They include a never-ending birthday card and congratulations card, as well as obnoxious joker cards that play music for over three hours!

Below: A never-ending birthday card can be found on Firebox.com

● A recent YouGov poll has revealed that Londoners are lagging behind the rest of the country as their interest in writing wains. Only 68% of people in the Capital believes that writing is important, while some 84% of their Welsh counterparts support the art of handwriting. ● In a You Gov report commissioned by National Stationery Week, children still believe the handwriting is important with 91% of children declaring it vital and 87% of top employers saying they are more likely to employ someone that has good quality handwritten skills.

In Support Of Sick Children Online card and gift shop, Love Kate’s, together with Second Nature, has brought smiles to the faces of sick children through greeting cards.

The retailer and publisher recently joined forces with charity Post Pals to send Pop-Up cards to 50 poorly kids. "I have committed to continue to help Post Pals source other exciting cards and am hoping to gain the support of other publishers,” explains Kate Malt, founder of Love Kate’s, who paid for half of the Second Nature cards with the publisher donating the other half.

The charity Post Pals help people to ‘Post a Smile on a Sick Child’s Face’ by sending greeting cards, letters, and gifts to seriously ill children and their siblings in the UK. Left: Second Nature Pop-Up cards cheer up sick children.

What A Life Saver Ian Morris and Kathryn Phalp, owners of MAP Gift Shop in London's Archway, were jubilant about winning Best Independent Gift Retailer of the Year London in The Greats gift retailing awards (organised by PG’s sister magazine, Progressive Gifts & Home). They couldn't wait to show the trophy to their staff the following morning. That trophy saved Ian Morris’ life, as he was carrying it on the way to the shop when a reckless motorist rammed into him. Luckily for Ian, the trophy took the brunt of the hit rather than Ian. ● All winners of The Greats can be found on www.thegreatsawards.co.uk Right: Map’s Ian Morris (centre) with partner Kathryn Phalp 2nd left) collecting their Greats trophy that had been presented to them by Lisa Marcuccio (far right) and Lisa Shoesmith (of Really Good/Soul), sponsor of this category, and host comedian Rob Deering.

At The Art Of A Woman With many years experience, both working as an artists’ agent as well as for other publishers (such as Hallmark and Paperclip), Emma Louise Caresimo, has taken the plunge and is launching her own greeting card company, called The Paintbox. "My background is essentially greeting cards and I have been approached on many occasions for greeting cards to purchase, which can be seen on my web’s home page," explains Emma. "I feel launching this lovely feminine range allows us to be able to sell our designs direct, where I have used a handful of my artists to create a balanced range called Daintily Does It. The aim is to offer a varied selection of beautiful art aimed at today's modern woman."

Visit: www.the-paintbox.com Above: A new Paintbox design.

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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PG Live In Pics

Just Picture It! Summing up PG Live 2016 is a tricky one, but here goes... over 260 of the best card publishers, retailers, overseas distributors, suppliers and agents altogether under one airy roof mixing business with pleasure in a celebration of greeting cards.

Now enjoy a visual feast of this special show, which took place last month.

Left: Leading greeting card retailers and overseas distributors from all over the world were there for the ‘ribbon cutting’ which pronounced PG Live 2016 officially open for business!

Right: Colour-themed ‘Meeters and greeters’, clad in dresses made from exhibitors’ cards were there to welcome visitors to the Business Design Centre, home to PG Live.

Left: Sainsbury’s buyers Emily Goldthorpe (left) and Caroline Hawkins are drawn to the sparkle of the Five Dollar Shake stand – and to the publisher’s md Matt Genower!

Below left: The main mezzanine saw plenty of business and chit-chatting being done.

Below right: Having recently toured with Madness and worked with The Lightning Seeds, the soaring strings from the Sorrento Quartet playing at the entrance added an extra high note or two to the first morning of the show.

Below: Retas finalists and winners enjoying a pre-lunch champagne reception at the Wall of Fame area. As a surprise, Fedrigoni gave away limited edition pendants made out of paper created by artist Pia Wustenberg to some of the lucky ones. (Left-right) Jennie Procter (Scribbler), Rita Knibbs and Rachael Barnes (both of Dragonfly), Mel Holme (Fedrigoni), Tina Botterill (Cool!

Cards and Gifts) and Amanda Lockwood (Cards R Us).

Below: The trio of undergraduate winners of the On The Cards competition (organised by The Art Group/Paper Rose and GF Smith and supported by Paperchase) were presented with their ‘Gold Awards’ in the Springboard Lounge where their winning entries were displayed. (Left-right) students Natalie Palmer and Ellie Broatch; Paperchase’s Hazel Walker, student Jennifer Offley, Paper Rose’s Reggie Pugh, GF Smith’s Mark Jessett and The Art Group’s Phillippa Phipps.

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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PG Live In Pics

Left: A name in lights!

Carte Blanche Greetings’ trade marketing manager Julia Andrews with commercial director Gerard O’Mahoney at the entrance to the Gallery Hall where the lunch and opening day after party took place, both of which were sponsored by CBG.

Above: Publishers demonstrated their creative prowess in the 90th birthday cards they created for the Queen’s special milestone, celebrated in a feature display at the show, at the entrance to the Gallery Hall, where lunch was served.

Right: Retailers were delighted to join in with writing a card for the Queen on her birthday, selecting cards from those donated by publishers as part of the GCA/PG Live initiative.

Among those to participate were (left and third left), Pauline and Emma Gillett of Special Occasions, Castle Bromwich, and Mick and Amanda Lockwood, of Cards R Us, Woodham Ferrers (2nd and 6th left). The GCA’s Sharon Little can’t stop smiling (5th left) either!

Right: As it was his 21st birthday, Tatty Teddy was there in person to welcome everyone who flocked to the dining room to enjoy the legendary complimentary two course lunch.

Left: The UKG team was keen to ‘pedal’ its brand new beautiful RHS card collection! (Left-right) Karen Skipper, Tony Roberts, Jill Alexander and Frances Billington.

Right: Marking Mint’s 10th anniversary made its stand something of a ‘sweet spot’ as co-owners Debbie and Alan Williams were happy to share their ‘celebration cake of sweets’, presented to them by GT’s Tracey Bearton, with visitors.

Right: (Right-left) Mayther’s Trevor Gibbons and Barbara Arpina; Mike Broad and Riou Baxter, both of Why, with Henri Davis (of Scribbler, GA and industry consultant).

Left: Eleanor Stuart (founder of the eponymous publisher) gets to the point with Postmark’s co-owner Mark Janson-Smith.

Right: Rhymes With Orange’s Brent Milburn was only too happy to spend his Golden Ticket (as a 2015 winner of The Retas) with Tache’s co-owner Pennie Bryant.

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PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

21-22-23_Grid 31/05/2016 11:27 Page 23

PG Live In Pics

Left: Mary Ann Singleton, director of Panda Cards, St Albans has her Retas Silver Ticket at the ready!

Right: (Right-left) Mat O’Marah and Dean Morris (both of Dean Morris Cards), Sarah Danby (Cinnamon Aitch), Giles Hale (Belly Button) and Susie Minnear (Cinnamon Aitch).

Below: (Left-right): Agent Patrick Renouf, Mark Barber, Courgette Cards, David Pursley, md of Australian distributor Waterlyn and Vicki Prior, Clear Creations.

Below: Melbourne-based distributor John Simson of Simson Cards really worked his socks off at PG Live! As well as ordering over 700,000 cards, he also took Roy Lowe and Sons up on its stand offer of a ‘sock swap’, donning a pair of its natty mismatching Roy’s Boys tootsie warmers!

Above: Hat’s off to him! Famous artist ‘The Master of Movement’ Paul Trevillion visited the Dry Red Press stand to mark the launch of two ranges based on his work.

Left: Celebrated cartoonist Annie Tempest ‘tottered by gently’ into the BDC to see Peartree Heybridge which publishes her work on cards.

Above: As ever the tea trolleys serving free cuppas was very much appreciated element of PG Live.

Right: It was not only the meters and greeters that were ‘boofle’, UKG’s cute star was there to give lots of cuddles.

Above: Scott & Robson’s best saleswoman Thomasina made a guest appearance on the stand to give ‘mummy’ Jo Scott a hand, or should that be paw!

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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PG LIVE VIEWPOINTS

Stand And Deliver

Lauren Keen, manageress, and the team at Sentiments, Burnham on Sea:

With over 250 exhibitors and thousands and thousands of brand new card designs being launched, retailers visiting PG Live were spoilt for choice, but relished the product discovery.

PG shares the ‘faves and raves’ from a cornucopia of buyers who visited the show.

“PG Live was amazing! For us, Johnny Javelin really stood out, as did Hallmark’s Itty Bittys. Neither are companies with whom we currently deal, but we do like to use PG Live as a way of making contact with new suppliers.

We love visiting PG Live, the show has soul; everyone there is so enthusiastic about the industry. It’s big enough to offer lots of choice without being overwhelming.”

Left: (Left-right) Sentiments’ Shaun Coggins, Lauren Keen, Anne Tasker and Linda Coggins enjoying a glass of bubbly at PG Live’s retailer Hall Of Fame.

Nik Gornall, owner of Romantica (3 shops) in Bristol: “I really liked the very different and quality offering from a Hungarian company called Fancy Gift. Its cards and message in a bottle gift should make a great display in our shops.

I also liked the composite art drawings from Louise Tate Illustration and the play on words in the Stuff and Nonsense range from Corrina Rothwell.

We already stock cards from Scottish outfit I Like Birds, but Stuart gave me a sneak preview of some other products that the company is hoping to get licensed. I hope they do because they look fantastic.

I go to PG Live each year, specifically to see the amazing talent and innovation from the publishers in the Springboard areas. This is the only time in the whole year that I would get to see them and I always order from about half a dozen of them when I get back to Bristol. At this year’s show everyone seemed to have upped their game even more than usual so I currently have a dozen companies I want to order from!”

Above: Nik Gornall from Romantica admired Corrina Rothwell’s Stuff and Nonsense range Left: PG’s Jakki Brown raises a glass with Nik Gornall from Romantica.

Irene Bayliss, owner of Harriet & Dee, Disbury and Chester: “What really stood out for me at PG Live 2016 was the quality of large cards. The new Joy collection from Belly Button and Wendy Jones-Blackett’s Paper Diamonds Deluxe ranges are really going to stand out on our shelves. We are always on the lookout for extra special cards for those life milestones, and the feeling at the moment is the bigger the better!

The highlight of the show for me was being able to spend my Golden Ticket in Springboard – there is so much new talent around. I was very happy to spend my Ticket with new company Meraki.

PG Live is always a great party - lots of friendly, smiley faces, beautiful decorations, delicious food and back home by 10pm!”

Right: Frankie Tighe (right) of Meraki, accepts Irene Bayliss of Harriet & Dee's Retas Gold Ticket worth £150 worth of orders at the PG Live show.

John and Jennie Procter, co-owners, and Eliot James, buyer of Scribbler: “We thought PG Live was better than ever this year! It is difficult to narrow it down as we saw loads of good stuff, but some of our top choices were: Rosie Made a Thing (recipient of our Retas Golden Ticket!); Objectables; Kate Guest (particularly the new Christmas range), The Art File’s Geronimo range; Meany bo Beany and Stripey Cats Cards. It was, as ever, a most productive show for us with a number of new companies we are intending to trial.”

Left: Meany bo Beany had some impressive product at the show.

Right: Jennie and John Procter (left) with Eliot James, all of Scribbler, present their Retas Gold Ticket to Rosie Made A Thing.

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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PG LIVE VIEWPOINTS

Below left: Louise Helyer and her team from Forget Me Not (centre left) was happy to spend her Retas Silver Ticket with Hearts Designs.

Below: UKG had a gorgeous bike on display on its stand at the show.

Mary Singleton-Jones, creative director, Panda Cards, St Albans: “It was wonderful to be back at PG Live. All the hard work paid off for those involved.

I loved meeting up with my lovely, creative and cheerful suppliers, from the lovely Bex at Bexyboo with her delicious ‘Scrabble’ cupcakes, to Lucy of Hoppy Bunnies at her very first show - and happily I became her very first customer.”

Louise Helyer, owner of Forget Me Not, Stubbington: “We all loved Stephanie Dyment - some beautiful soft feminine images.

I spent one of our Silver Retas Ticket with Hearts Designs as the Mad Dots range has worked so well for us and the stand really stood out.

The girls and I were tickled by the revamped Norman and Brenda range from Is It Art. My colleagues Lucy and Nicky always open a new account without my input and this year they went for the humour cards from Ezen.

UKG stood out for its beautiful bike display and all the lovely new RHS and Collage ranges.

What we really liked about PG Live 2016 was catching up with all the familiar faces and meeting old friends; the wall of Queen's cards looked so lovely; opening five new accounts – and the opening night party. A big thank you!”

Sally-Ann Campbell, buyer of McColls (1,350 stores): “What caught my eye was the strong range extension at Pigment, as well as the good new ranges from Quitting Hollywood. I also loved the Ladybird Books cards for grown-ups from Danilo.

Bob was losing his

memory with age but luckily he had a wife

to remind him of

every tiny, stupid thing he’d ever done

What I really liked about PG Live 2016 was that there was much more of an artistic vibe this year. It was very inspiring and is an important show for buyers to attend.”

Above: A Ladybird Books cards for grown-ups design from Danilo.

Left: Quitting Hollywood caught visitor’s eyes with its range extensions.

Lolly Blackman, owner of Lorelei, Truro: “I really enjoyed PG Live, the atmosphere was really positive and everyone was very friendly - all working towards the common good of keeping card buying and sending out there.

The stand out companies that caught my eye were Toffee Nose Designs, with its Dashing Dogs collection; the Jackie Morris range from Graffeg; the new big cards from Wendy Jones-Blackett and Belly Button Designs, as well as designs from Pippi & Me and Stephanie Dyment. I also loved the new sparkly giftwrap from Glick.”

26

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

Right: Hoppy Bunnies received her first order from Panda Cards' Mary Singleton-Jones.

Sally Matson, co-owner of Red Card, Petworth: “There were two standout ranges for me this year: Wendy Jones-Blackett's new Paper Diamonds Deluxe range is so beautiful with gorgeous shimmering blues and embellishment. WJB has also released Christmas cards in this range and I am sure they will fly out.

Ilona Drew's (I Drew This) Landmarks range is just fabulous - so original, and such a fantastic showcase of Great Britain - brilliant for the tourist market.

In the Springboard section, a small company called Little Difference really caught my eye - I thought its stand and cards were lovely, but also incorporated what I believe is going to be a very big trend going forward, which is the involvement of card companies in environmental and charitable work.

For me, Louise Tiler’s and Pocket Typewriter's stands were so colourful and pretty; it was obvious they had made a real effort to showcase their cards and it worked - they made you want to look at their gorgeous products.

I loved the fact that this year's PG Live felt really busy and exciting, which was reflective of the current buoyancy in the card market.”

Above: Red Cards' Sally Matson (left) presented Ilona Drew of I Drew this with a £50 Greats Awards Ticket.

Right: Pocket Typewriter's stand at PG Live was stunning.

Kathryn Phalp, partner of MAP gift shop, Archway, London: “We were really taken with the work of Eleanor Stuart. Her quirky designs, both for everyday and Christmas, really ticked the boxes of what our shop is about and what we were looking for on the day.

It's hard to take in cards at a general gift fair, which is why it is really important to attend this dedicated show. Cards represent around a quarter of our turnover and as such it's really important for us always to have a great selection.”

Above: A beautiful design from Eleanor Stuart.

25-29_Grid 26/05/2016 15:27 Page 3

PG LIVE VIEWPOINTS Richard Hills Ingyon, buyer of Darts Farm, Exeter: “We had a fantastic time at the show. It was the first time that Darts had been and I'm so glad we went.

Firstly, the atmosphere, food and drinks and evening party were beyond what we expected. It was so great to see so many fantastic card companies, both existing suppliers as well as newcomers too!

A few companies really caught our eye. These were: l Eleanor Stuart: her colourful prints of the surface of Venus were stunning and her Christmas cards were the perfect balance of quirky and classic. We can’t wait for her flat wrap to be delivered! l Anna Wright: She has great designs and really beautiful colours - very popular here at Darts. l Max made me do it: She had a lovely stand, and really displayed her work beautifully. l IvoryMint: This publisher had a great selection of cards for men without resorting to generic beer mugs and clichés. l The English Card Company: We really loved these guys. We placed quite a big order at the show and I’m sure we will have to top it up soon after it comes in. The name says it all, very nice, classy, ‘traditional meets design’, strong and simple cards.”

Lucy Cave, card buyer of Set Design, Leicester:

Tish Bas, senior buyer of Paperchase: “It was great to be back at PG Live. As always the show did not disappoint. We felt there was even more variety this year, it was wonderful to see so many new publishers.

We love discovering and supporting new talent and Springboard is perfect for Above: The whole Paperchase team trying on Brainbox Candy’s Face Matts. that. In particular we met with Nicholas and Ross from Grumble and Co, they have a charming range with a fantastic background story to each card. Nicholas and Ross seem like a great duo and we're really excited to work with them.

PG Live provides a fantastic opportunity to catch up with existing suppliers. Having them all under one roof meant we could take a day out dedicated to finding new and exciting product for us. To mention a few, Sooshichacha had a gorgeous stand that showed the cards off beautifully. We always manage to walk away from the Brainbox Candy stand laughing, this year not only did the cards make us laugh, but saw our entire team trying on the hilarious Face Matts!

Both The Art File and Pigment continue to move on their respective ranges which works perfectly for us as we love refreshing our stores.”

Roger Eames and Laura Didehvar, co owners of Celebrations, Stourbridge: “We certainly had a worthwhile visit to PG Live 2016. In the Springboard section we really liked Bexy Boo and Rush Designs. Bexy Boo provides something different that embraces the sentiment aspect, which is very strong, but with a different design angle. Rush Designs has great titles and interesting designs - they just get everything right.

In the main area of the show we especially liked Artige, where we found a great range of sentiment cards that had a more modern design compared to the traditional options.

We ordered the new Hot Lips range from Hearts Designs, which also has the stunning Mad Dots range which we have been selling really well for the last couple of months.”

Left: Roger Eames and Laura Didehvar from Celebrations enjoy a cup of tea from the tea trollies.

Above: Anna Wright's cards are very popular at Darts Farm, Exeter.

“It was great to see Liz Climo’s new range from Redback Cards; the illustrations are lovely and the humour is funny, but gentle.

We loved the Tessellate and Aquarelle ranges from Velvet Olive.

Nice male ranges are something we struggle to find! l Louise Tiler seems to be leading the way with her florals; she’s a new favourite of ours, and we especially love her animal designs. There seem to be a lot of similar floral designs popping up elsewhere, since we first saw Louise, but we like hers best! l Old favourites include Whale & Bird (Katie Abey in particular), U Studio (Toasted, Type Club and 1000 Words) and Jolly Awesome.

We loved the Springboard and The Artists’ Quarter areas as we pride ourselves on a varied and eclectic mix, as well as supporting the ‘little guys’, so seeing emerging talent is always great and we’re always keen to add to our selection.”

Above: Stuart Delahoy (left) and Lucy Cave (right) from Set Designs, Leicester, spent their Retas Silver Ticket with U Studio who had some amazing ranges at the show.

Right: Louise Tiler has some beautifully gold foiled designs.

Janet Stow, co-owner of Love Letters, Anlaby Common: “There were three companies that really caught my eye at PG Live: l Clear Creations - Hand-finished cards with Swarovski crystals and glitter, just lovely. l Image Plus Cards - Beautiful hand-drawn designs which look and feel just like real lace. l Frillybee - Bright and colourful with unusual titles which are supplied in threes.

PG Live 2016 had a great feeling; everyone was so friendly and the suppliers so helpful. It was wonderful to see and catch up with old friends, especially those at The Retas Wall of Fame pre-lunch drinks reception, which is now an annual event.”

Above: Love Letters' Janet Stow (centre) found some card 'treasures' on the Jonny Javelin stand.

Right: Clear Creations' stunning hand-finished cards were just one of the lovely ranges Janet Stow found at PG Live.

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PG LIVE VIEWPOINTS Andrea Pinder, co-owner of Unit 7 and Presentation, Manchester, Birmingham and Barrowford: “What a fantastic show PG Live 2016 was! Here are my hot hits: l Popzle’s children's 3D interactive activity cards. These beautifully presented keepsakes are a card and gift combined. l The Coaster Card Company for its glass cocktail coasters. The packaging is suitable for posting and also opens out into a card. l Megan Claire for her Good Morning Sunshine range. These are bang on trend being bright yellow and black with contrasting envelope, while her gold pink champagne range is elegant with quirky sentiments and presents beautifully. l Choc Greetings for its greeting cards that have a lovely chocolate, with a beautifully designed wrapper, on the front. l Paperclip Penguin, a newcomer to the industry with some lovely penguin designs, bright coloured cards on a velvet touch board covering occasions and relations as well as open designs.

For me PG Live is definitely the crème de la crème of all card and gift shows. The atmosphere is upbeat and friendly with the added bonuses of a fantastic lunch, beverages throughout the day and not forgetting the after party for networking and sharing product knowledge with other retailers.”

Above right: Unit 7's Andrea Pinder (left) with Wendy Jones Blackett and a lovely Golden Retas Ticket.

Above left: Popzle’s 3D interactive activity cards are a gift and card in one.

Liz Killick, owner of Calladoodles, Carshalton:

Miles Robinson, partner in House of Cards:

“PG Live is certainly our favourite trade show of the “I chose Two Beans as the whole year! It really is a fantastic recipients of our Retas’ showcase of brilliant publishers.

Golden Ticket because I liked Having them all in one place at the card quality, the the same time is great for us. combination of intricate The attention to detail, the classical drawings with atmosphere and the way we subtly witty wording and the were all looked after is second delicately hand-applied to none among trade shows. glitter - delightful!

Our highlights were (in no On The Art File stand, particular order!): Tache Crafts; Sara Miller's lovely colour palette enhanced by subtle golden sheen Words n Wishes’ Unique Personalised Cards (a range that includes highlights caught my eye. And it was good to see that Penny Kennedy different captions options that the customer can affix); Cinnamon now carries a range of Sara's wrap and gift bags too.

Aitch’s everyday ranges; Belly Button’s new large cards; Really For delicate pastels Studio Seed stood out, while in contrast Good/Soul’s new Bright Side occasions/new Soul occasions; the new SupaDupa Designs' new Jungle range proved a really vibrant addition everyday designs from Bexy Boo; Rosie Made A Thing; I Drew This’ to its existing cards. new Landmarks; Catherine Kleeli.

For guaranteed laugh out loud reactions we will be ordering Other publishers of note that also some of Brainbox Candy's Face Matts, while Dandelion Stationery stood out generally this year were: Janie continues to come up with new quirky, gently humorous designs.

Wilson, Megan Claire, Clear Creations, Vivid's sumptuous wrap and decorations Eloise Hall, Two Beans and Lola Designs.” will be top of my list for Christmas; spot on Above: Miles Robinson (left) and Nigel Williamson (right) of House of with the current trend for coppers and rose Cards in the Home Counties were pleased to discover Catherine Kleeli at golds married with rich deep jewel colours.

PG Live.

The wraps have real eye appeal, while its more Left: A design to make you smile from Rosie Made A Thing. traditional offerings do not disappoint either.

Catherine Kleeli's animal designs, which are created by Lisa Rutherford, buyer of John Lewis: overstitching collages, were a “I was on the search for something different/ new. My two favourite finds were: richly coloured treat. Check out 1790 Cards for its stunning collection of ranges the fabulously flower crowned hedgehog! of which Heads Up and Escapes are real I Like Birds’ new ZigZag range will be a must for our standouts. I also loved I Ended Up Here. nature loving customers, and for tourists I Drew This' I really liked the mix of publishers at PG Landmarks range would be an original take on the Live, both large and small, new and established. I normal postcard home. much prefer the venue because it is manageable I could go on... but the show was as good as ever and creates a much nicer atmosphere than the with plenty of new fresh talent, a super lunch and the bigger shows. I was also really impressed with opportunity to catch up with friends old and new. An the level of new product from established enjoyable and productive couple of days!” publishers - a great effort by all.”

Above right: Two Bean's Rachael Mulraney is pleased to receive a Retas Golden Ticket from Liz Killick of Calladoodles.

Above left: Gorgeous pastels from Studio Seed.

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Left: A stunning design from 1790 Cards.

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PG LIVE VIEWPOINTS Lucy Sticka and Heidi Richardson, partners of Little Paperie, Ashbourne: “Ah we loved PG Live!! It’s our favourite show so wouldn’t have missed it.

We LOVE Paper Salad - its range of cards is always expanding and it offers such amazing choice. The new invite and notelet packs are fab!

We also loved Hearts Designs and spent our Retas Silver Ticket with the company. The cards just have a touch of luxury to them and will be a lovely addition to Little Paperie!

The whole atmosphere of the show was great; it had a real buzz about it. Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves, both exhibitors and visitors. It’s great for meeting new people and also catching up with familiar faces too. You can tell a lot of care is taken in planning the show and making sure everyone feels looked after.”

Above: Little Paperie’s Heidi Richardson (centre) and Lucy Sticka (left) with Michelle Ellingham from Box of Delights, Flitwick, at The Retas Wall Of Fame.

Above right: Hearts Designs' Mad Dots range was a huge hit with visitors to the show.

Rod and Frankie Bennett, Card Gallery, Waterlooville: “PG Live is a great show, it has such a nice ambience, it's almost like being in somebody's lounge (albeit a very big one!).

There were so many really good companies to choose from, including stalwarts such as Jonny Javelin, Grass Roots, Five Dollar Shake etc that we wouldn't be without. A main purpose of travelling to shows is to find new product and some of the ones that impressed us were Clear Creations (lovely cards and a lovely lady on the stand), Lola Designs’ products were also stunning and A Made Hand’s creations were another favourite.

It was good to have Qualatex doing the balloon displays at the show as this gives you great ideas.

Also deserving of a mention is Space Hippo as this is fantastic.”

Above right: Frankie (right) and Rod Bennett with Glick’s Michelle Airth (second left) and Ruth Stockdale.

Left: Lola Designs' cards caught the eye at the show.

Matt Shearer, partner of All Good Gifts, Battersea: “What were the highlights? Sass A Fras from Cardmix caught my eye; a fab new humour from Redback Cards is its The Little World of Liz range, while up in the Springboard area Louise Wright was very on trend (where we spent our Retas Silver Ticket) and I Drew This’ new art cards of London monuments will be great for the summer tourist season. Hotchpotch had a good launch of new products - one to follow up on - and as a gift I loved the vinyl 'Happy Birthday' record card from Recards!

What else did I like? Well aside from the fab lunch, champagne reception, Silver Ticket to spend and post show drinks... I love what the Imaging Centre and GF Smith offer to the show, both in what they put on in the Springboard lounge as well as the creativity they offer through their processes and product. The greeting card industry would be a lot more bland without the ‘behind the scenes’ work these two companies (and the like) do in enabling short print runs, exceptional board/envelopes as well as great advice to the up and coming card designers! And such great people too!”

Top: I Drew This' Landscapes cards were very eye-catching and perfect for the tourist market.

Above: Matt Shearer of All Good Gifts found Louise Wright in the Springboard area and spent his Silver Retas Ticket with the publisher.

Sarah Green and Guy Mitchell, co-owners of Spots, Southwold: “We were really excited to find I Like Birds, they caught our eye in the Show Preview booklet and so we headed straight there. We loved the graphic bird designs and know they will be very popular. We are only 10 miles from Minsmere, (the RSPB reserve where they film Springwatch) and so bird-related cards are always popular.

We were also excited to see new designs in Woodmansterne’s Hysterical Histories range. Inspired by the Bayeux Tapestries the mix of humour and history is perfect for many of our customers - there is always a lot of giggling around the spinner they are on!

A new company for us at the show was Dry Red Press. We do very well with fine art cards and have been keen to inject something new into this sector. Dry Red has some wonderful images of dogs by Claire Eastgate, which we hope will fly out.

I can’t put my finger on why PG Live is so different and more enjoyable than other trade shows. Somehow there is a much more relaxed yet buzzy atmosphere which as a buyer makes it so much Above left: I Like Birds creates beautiful bird inspired designs. more enjoyable.”

Sara Rao, director of The Lemon Tree (six shops in Surrey and Kent):

Below: Sara (centre) and Ivor Rao (right) from The Lemon Tree found lots of lovely (but a bit naughty) ranges on the Icon Art stand (with Icon’s Alan Holmes).

“I thought PG Live was an excellent show with a lovely friendly atmosphere - there was a great buzz about the place and everyone seemed to be in a good mood which gave us a very positive vibe.

Ivor [my partner] and I felt like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory going around the show with our Retas Silver Ticket, which we were thrilled to use with Icon Art - a great new supplier for us. We loved its photographic cards, which were creative, contemporary and a bit risque.

I loved the fact that there was a separate hall (Springboard) for all the new up and coming companies and I liked the fact that they were all nurtured and supported by Progressive Greetings.

We found some great new cards in this hall, including Lola Design, Two Beans and Bexy Boo. I also really liked Georgia Breeze, Age Attitude and Dandelion Stationery and will definitely be placing orders in the future with them.”

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Over The Counter

A Purple Profession Independent card and gift retailer, David Robertson, co-owner of JP Pozzi in Scotland, discusses how to play all the right business ‘instruments’ to run a thriving shop.

Some of the stories of the year so far have been the death of so many legends of popular culture. Everyone from Alan Rickman to Victoria Wood to Sir Terry Wogan, and our one time Henries compere Ronnie Corbett, have passed. Worldwide music legends Glenn Frey, David Bowie and now Prince have also started to play on the great stage in the sky.

Statistically it is unbelievable. There has been a five times increase in celeb obituaries from the BBC news department while The Daily Telegraph gallery, which constantly updates information on those celebs who have passed away, is currently at number 75 twice the previous year’s total! As far as celebrity deaths go, 2016 has been a ‘bad’ year.

The general perception currently in bricks and mortar retail is that it is also a ‘bad year’. Footfall and general spending is down and as a result, many of the retailers I speak to are struggling, both in terms of money and indeed motivation.

Every agent, retailer, rep and indeed business owner I have spoken to recently has also said that the early Mother’s Day and Easter occasions have caused major issues. It seems that every school had different Easter holidays, which meant we didn’t see the usual spike in visitors or sales.

What is also frustrating is that we seem to have more and more to do and cope with as a small business.

Prince famously had on the sleeve notes of his debut album ‘performed, written, sung and played by Prince’. In fact, the album noted that he was the musician behind 27 different instruments, including fuzz base, poly-Moog, tree bell and finger snaps. In other words he did everything!

The interesting thing for me is that us small indie retailers are without doubt more like Prince than we may actually realise. We are 30

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

expected to be buyer, boss, HR, negotiator, accountant and analyser. We have to cope with marketing, branding, designing, displaying, IT, banks, suppliers and customers! We are expected to motivate our staff and ourselves, provide a shoulder to cry on, while juggling a home life, relationships, keeping up with the latest box sets (Game of Thrones Series 6!) and everything else that gets thrown at us.

Top: Prince was a musical maestro.

Above: One of David’s stores, Bijou in Elgin, announced its Big Easter Giveaway winner on its Facebook page.

Recognising the picture? Of course you do. Anyone who runs a small business goes through some, if not all, of the above.

Now coping and doing everything and keeping good business habits even when the money is not coming in is a bit like holding your nerve as a gambler. You have to ask, do you back yourself? Do you believe in what you are doing? I call it unshakeable self-belief.

I have it and by God I need it now with all the challenges I face on many fronts.

What you also need to recognise is that you don’t just focus on what you enjoy doing

in your business. Dunn and Bradstreet, a leading data business analyst, discovered that 90% of small businesses fail, not because of footfall, location or tough economic times, but because the person running them lacked the skills and knowledge to make them a success.

I look back on how I ran my business even a few years ago and cringe thinking about the mistakes I made, the money I wasted and the lack of true organisation and planning I had. These were all masked by the fact that we were growing and continuing to make a decent return on our investment of time and money.

I have no professional qualifications in business, in fact I didn’t even take it as one of my O’ Levels, but this should have no real baring. All it really means is that you really have to learn on the job, which I now think is a huge advantage.

Cash flow was my huge grey area because for a long time we didn’t need to worry as there was always enough. Now with the large investment in buildings, the huge changes to our old core of newspaper sales and the large number of staff required to run a five site business, the cash flow is not as easy to work with as before. Quite simply I had to learn how to do it properly.

Now I balance a daily cash flow and have overseen 15 difficult months as we search for a new bank with which to work to drive on to the next part of our story. I have learnt about ROCE - Return On Capital Employment, Wage to T/O ratio, I have looked at the ratio of current assets to liabilities and I have learnt that maintaining and coveting your margin is key. When we move to the new bank and let things settle I hope that by 2017 my cash flow will be properly under control. Just now I understand the principles and have the routines in place, but that doesn’t mean I have

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Over The Counter

the money to do everything I want to do, when I want.

The problem is you really do get consumed by this. Like Prince you can become obsessional, but quite simply you can’t do or control everything no matter how much you try. Prince was so obsessed he even had people make all his clothes for him at Paisley Park, his gated home complex. This level of control is beyond my level of thinking, but you must be aware of what the key things are to make your business a success.

I have created a list of 10 goals with the intention of trying to fulfill this, covering all the areas I feel you need: 1. Excellent customer service 2. Intelligent buying and good stock management 3. Customer-focused marketing 4. Manage your team fairly and effectively 5. Improve efficiency of the store/s 6. Cash flow is king 7. Constant staff training 8. Visual display and merchandise is key 9. Demonstrate consistent and fair leadership 10. Continue to evaluate short and long-term aims Now this list may sound grand, but in actual fact you as a business person are doing all of the above every day. What you may find is that you are doing certain aspects more than others and this is where you need selfdiscipline. This is where you need to force yourself to focus on tasks that you simply may not enjoy.

The points above are fairly self explanatory and really they all link and lead to number 10. It is the one that should be constantly on your mind to ensure that you continue to move forward.

My overriding belief at the moment is that retail is not going to survive as merely ‘selling stuff’. It just can’t. I see so many shops and they just feel old-fashioned. They feel of their time and they feel like they have had their time. It is not that they are bad retailers and it might be not even that they won’t survive. It is a case of they will just exist. And I am afraid real business people that are driving forward never just exist. Maybe you recognise yourself in the aforementioned description and if you do then you will have decisions to make.

I have embarked this year on a 12 month rolling programme of improvements to our

Above: Last month BHS went into administration as it is felt that it failed over the years to evolve and change as a retailer.

Below: Apple Store’s Genius Bars allow customers to gain face to face advice.

estate of stores. We are rebranding, building a proper website, strengthening our staff training, enhancing our social media, installing new shop frontages and finally bringing our original store right up to date with a new product mix and look to appeal to an even wider clientele. I believe that destination or leisure stores will be key.

So why would we do this when it is tough? This is when most people would batten down the hatches, but for me the time to make changes and to push ahead is when you or the business needs that shot in the arm. My next biggest problem is focusing on one job at hand. At present I feel like I have too many things half done.

When I think about these radical decisions I look to others to reaffirm what I am doing. One such individual is a man called Ron Johnson.

Now I am pretty sure that most of you will not have heard of him. I hadn’t but I wanted to look at why Apple stores are the way they are and Ron Johnson was the man tasked with creating a different retail concept for the company. He had to contend with the fact that many retailers sell Apple products and some of them do it even cheaper than Apple. He also wanted to avoid discounting or a deal based retailing (Black Friday being the exception).

Now obviously they are making the product, which help as its margin is fantastic, but breaking down the Apple lessons is quite straightforward: 1. Put experience before price.

2. Create and atmosphere and let customers feel relaxed in the store.

3. Make them feel that it is somewhere cool guilty by association.

4. High staff knowledge and very customer

focused. Staff are there to get you the correct product, not to up or cross sell or be on commission.

5. Get your customers to see, handle and interact with the product.

6. Simple bright advertising to nurture/cherish that brand.

The special touches, such as the Genius Bars (where Apple ‘geniuses’ provide technical support and troubleshoot hardware problems), and the fact that whoever speaks to you actually serves and takes your money, may seem like small things, but think carefully and they are big plusses.

The Genius Bars were initially a huge failure with very few customers taking appointments. People were suspicious of being charged for advice as at the time hefty service charges were the norm in the brave new tech world. But with Apple there is the reassurance that if you have a problem that you can’t solve then you can ask someone yes a real person - and get your problem sorted! Apple believed, and still believes, that the key to its success is to have face to face interaction with its customers and in this way they will become disciples of the brand.

So maybe the fact that Apple, the most successful company in the world, still believes in seeing the whites of its customers’ eyes should reassure us that there is a retail future.

Small business people tend to be in this for the long haul, and lifelong learning and improvement is an evolutionary process, not a revolutionary one. You need to pick the elements that you will feel will make the biggest difference to your business and start with them. Do some research, read an article, speak to someone knowledgeable in the field.

Focus on that one area, but don’t forget about everything else.

In Prince’s case the finger snaps were equally as important as the guitar solo… it says so right there on the sleeve notes.

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

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CARDSHARP

The Royal ‘Mail’

Elephant As long as Cardsharp has been involved in the greeting card industry, Royal Mail has always been one giant elephant in the room. The whole industry is inexplicably linked to this postal organisation, relying on it as it does for Royal Mail to deliver greeting cards to the right recipients on the right day. Most of the time we all ignore the elephant or don’t even notice him, but every now and then he decides to take a walk and it has a big effect on us, shaking the room.

Cardsharp has witnessed some big ear flapping and trumpeting and hopes it is a false charge by this important Nellie.

T

rue, the greeting card industry is useful to Royal Mail. We (the industry) provide the ‘balanced doormat’ thud. We provide the good news; the feelgood factor to counteract all those horrible bills and irritating junk mail, but revenue wise, we are pretty insignificant to Royal Mail, especially with the decline of corporate Christmas card sending. Mail sending generally has declined, and so Royal Mail has sought to compete with other carriers in the huge web driven parcel market.

Cardsharp believes that increasingly greeting cards are given by hand, but still according to the recent research recently carried out by Carte Blanche some 37% of greeting cards are still sent by post.

Historically, Royal Mail has always listened to the greeting card industry’s concerns and has in the past amended plans after pressure from the GCA. A decade ago, the industry, despite protestations made through the Association, could not stop the introduction of size based pricing, but it did manage to

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mitigate the effects and gain a uniquely UK concession by achieving exemption for square cards. (In Germany for example it costs three times as much to post a square card as it does a portrait shaped one, and the US also imposes an offputting levy for ‘being square’).

That exemption has proved invaluable, reflects Cardsharp, given the huge rise in the popularity of square cards since then. But despite this, the GCA could not stop the overall thrust of the introduction of size based pricing or the increase in the standard First Class postal charge.

The development (instigated by the GCA) of the

now accepted logo which publishers use to signify if cards require standard or ‘Large Letter’ postage has been invaluable in minimising consumer confusion, as well as avoiding the negative experience of the recipient having the pay excess postage on arrival – a hark back to the olden days before the Penny Post was invented.

And of course there have been other triumphs of this symbiotic relationship. The postal franking marks in the run up to major card sending events, being the most visible and are certainly a great reminder of the dates of the Spring Seasons as well as awareness building of Thinking of You Week.

However, while not wishing to be too alarmist, Cardsharp cannot hide his concern of the current predicament that the now privatised Royal Mail is facing. Its latest profits were disappointing. It also recognises it has to cut costs and modernise, with the costs that will be incurred in order to do this looking like being much higher than were originally envisaged.

It no longer has a monopoly of mail delivery and faces huge competition in the parcel market.

On top of that, industrial relations, always rather tense in Royal Mail, will further be put under pressure as management attempts to implement modernisation. Already the regulator, Ofcom, is investigating whether Royal Mail has breached compliance

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CARDSHARP over negotiations with its workforce over wages and the pension scheme.

But the most worrying development was something Cardsharp picked up on in a recent article that appeared in The Times newspaper penned by a member of the postal regulator. He made the case for Royal Mail to cut down postal deliveries to just three days a week. Obviously, oblivious to the needs of the greeting card industry, the case was made that, in this increasingly digital age, Royal Mail’s legal obligation to deliver a six day

Above: Is Royal Mail going to cut down its delivery days?

A Little Added Spice By all accounts, last month’s Progressive Greetings Live was a credit to the UK greeting card industry. Cardsharp thought the quality of the new product on offer from large, medium, small and start-up publishers was a joy to behold. Retailers responded by placing record orders, and overseas buyers flocked enthusiastically to the Islington venue in their droves. It would be tempting to think that everything in the greeting card market is rosy.

Yet Cardsharp guards against complacency.

Only by being bold can retailers fully benefit from what is happening at supplier level and overcome the obstacles that lie in their path.

Cardsharp was thinking about general retail welfare as he perused the latest set of financial results from the industry front-runner, Card Factory. On the face of it, the figures, which covered the first three months of 2016, were excellent. Revenue increased 6.5% over

Above and right: Even Card Factory is currently cautious about consumer confidence.

the same period of 2015. It opened 20 new stores, bringing the total to 834. It is on target to hit its profit target for its financial year (which is also the calendar year) and to open another 30 shops in that period.

Yet, even that did not stop the incoming ceo, Karen Hubbard, from sounding a note of caution. She said the market for greeting cards in the UK has proven highly resilient but Card Factory is not completely immune to the weaker consumer confidence seen so far in 2016, and implied that footfall has been lower, only counteracted by continuing growth in

the average spend. This is the first time in Cardsharp’s memory that a Card Factory set of financials has ever referred to the wider retail market.

It seems that the slow down in consumer spending pre-dates the EU referendum campaign and will outlast it by some considerable stretch, making life very difficult for many indies, card shops included.

Sadly, however popular greeting cards remain, less traffic flow means less customers coming into high street shops and therefore less revenue. And this is at a time when the increasing cost of the National Minimum Wage is taking effect. Already Cardsharp has heard many a story of independent retailers cutting down staff hours or dispensing with staff to counteract the increased (and increasing) wage costs. Many are battening down the hatches, spending a lot more time in the shop, sticking to existing suppliers and eschewing anything new or different on offer.

Cardsharp’s view, for what it is worth, is that this is probably a mistake.

He read with interest the findings of the latest Gift Shop Retail Barometer findings in PG’s sister publication, Progressive Gifts & Home, how retailers championed greeting cards, which are in fact proving increasingly financially lucrative to independent gift shops, seeing them as a way of clinching a sale as well as upping the average spend.

Cardsharp has a feeling that (apart from Card Factory) any growth of greeting card sales in the last few year has come from gift shops, many of whom openly admit that they could not survive now without greeting card sales. In the main, good gift retailers have a great attitude. They keep up with trends, they buy new, they buy fresh, they buy wild, they experiment and take risks. They get out from behind the counter, even if it means providing staff to cover, and trawl trade shows searching

a week postal service was an anachronism that was holding the business back.

Thankfully, Royal Mail was quick to refute this argument. It reiterated a statement that it remains totally committed to a universal six day a week delivery and that this commitment was protected by law.

Cardsharp is not saying that this will change, but it is worrying that someone so close to Royal Mail is airing these views. He hopes that the Royal Mail elephant remains firmly tethered! for the new and original. It doesn’t even have to be trendy. It was mainly gift shops, who initially leapt in and embraced the potential of one of the smash hits of the last few years, Wrendale Designs. A traditional range, if ever Cardsharp saw one!

Of course gift shops, unlike specialist independent card shops, do not have a ‘main control’ covering all the occasions. The gift shops are more often than not buying wild and therefore arguably taking more risk.

Cardsharp reflects there has never been more choice available to a card retailer than now. There are upwards of 600 publishers in the UK alone - 260 of those, and all the best ones, exhibited at last month’s PG Live.

They say that ‘fortune favours the brave’, and it certainly seems that right now, when the retail landscape is a bit rockier and sparse than we would all like, that more experimentation is to be encouraged.

Of course this is already evident in so many of the leading indies. Take House of Cards, the Home Counties group for example.

Not so long ago this successful group had what it believed was a rock solid set of suppliers, all established mainstream players.

Now look though, the team was on a voyage of discovery at PG Live, looking to find brand new gems to further pep up its offer. House of Cards is certainly not alone in its more daring approach, as so many others that attended PG Live made a point of seeking out new publishers to make a real difference to their business. So yes, times are not perfect, but a little spice livens up life, reflects Cardsharp.

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Cards of Culture

34_PG_June 2015.indd 1

View iew and buy online at a www.davora.co.uk www w.da .davor ora.co.uk for a full catalogue catalogue of designs desig Contactt us for 0161 641 0655 or sales@da sales@davora.co.uk 135 Heaton Hea on Moor Moor Rd Rd | Stockport SK4 4HY /DavoraGreetingCards /DavoraGreetingC eetingCards ds

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Innovations PG Showcases A Collection Of New Product Launches

All In The Family Cherry Orchard is launching 36 new designs into its Model Line to mark male and female relations’ birthdays. With a selection of styles and captions to cover friends and relations and a wide range of image styles, this collection provides a rich eclectic mix to suit a broad range of needs.

Cherry Orchard Publishing 01684 295500 www.cherryorchardpublishing.co.uk

Dotty About Weddings Lesser & Pavey has teamed up with Hearts Designs, to launch a new range of wedding gifts. The Mad Dots range comprises a set of two mugs, Champagne flutes, gift bags, two different types of storage boxes and a wedding card post box, all covered with gold dots. There are two captions ‘Hugs and Kisses To The New Mr & Mrs’ and ‘Love Laughter And Happily Ever After.’

Lesser & Pavey 01322 279225 www.leonardo.co.uk

Uncharted Waters ‘Printed in 1928’ is a new range from Mia Hague featuring her collaged artworks made out of old books, with images featuring the writing, prices and notes left inside the book covers. There are 12 designs covering birthdays, couples, family, friends and sentiment, all sized A6 size and sold with recycled kraft envelopes.

Mia Hague Illustration 07803 781 983 www.miahague.co.uk

Celtic Fantasy A new mini range of seven designs has been born into the Bold Bunny warren, celebrating the latest spring 2016 colours. These contemporary 120mm square designs are a nod to the more minimal approach to design that the Bold Bunny crew is loving right now, and the trend du jour, well, who doesn’t love a unicorn?!

Bold Bunny +353 86 388 9298 www.boldbunny.com

Gone Quackers New publisher, Whimsie is excited to launch its cheeky, colourful and witty debut range of 27 designs. Featuring many occasions, there are lots of lovable animal characters from a BBQ chef bear to an adorable puppy in a knitted jumper. These fun designs are printed on 150mm square luxury board and come neatly packaged with a recycled brown kraft envelope.

Whimsie 07702 589 006 www.whimsie.co.uk

Just Your Type Create a real impact in your shop with new products launched for Pocket Typewriter’s fun Typewriter Display units! Launches include cute notecard packs and more gorgeous designs in its top selling Good Life card collection, all with vibrant colours paired back with more natural kraft hues.

Pocket Typewriter 0115 931 2772 www.pockettypewriter.co.uk

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Innovations PG Showcases A Collection Of New Product Launches

Fluttering Gently OriginaliArt is introducing new designs into its Butterfly collection, which now features many well-loved native British species. Commas, blues, peacocks, marbled whites and gatekeepers are all collaged and found amongst some of their favourite flowers and environments. The cards are sized 120mm square and sold wrapped with white envelopes.

OriginaliArt Cards 07973 158123 www.originaliart.com

Truly Inspiro-ed That Foxy Feeling

Lizzie Chancellor is launching a new range of Spirograph copper foiled cards. There are 12 gorgeous designs in this luxurious range, which is sure to catch an eye of the passers by. All the cards in this range are printed on beautiful textured paper from the Lake District and are accompanied by a recycled kraft envelope.

Lizzie Chancellor 07913 921282 www.lizziechancellor.com

Time To Party!

Party Paraphernalia, the debut range from new publisher Print Circus, comprises designs taken from the collages of Fay Shoesmith. There are 30 designs, including children’s ages one to five years, birthdays, mixed and same sex weddings, baby shower, new baby, twins, retirement and good luck to name a few. Many are multi purpose and unisex having colour and pattern as the main focus. All the cards are sized A6 and sold wrapped with kraft envelopes.

Print Circus 07789 951676 www.printcircus.co.uk

A new range of quirky animal illustrations is being launched by Whale & Bird. Featuring the artwork of illustrator Holly Rutter, there are 18 brand new designs covering birthdays and occasions, including new babies, new job, weddings, anniversaries and more! The cards are sized A6 and come wrapped with recycled brown fleck envelopes.

Whale & Bird 01225 667106 www.whaleandbird.com

Star Struck

Life’s Rich Pattern

Coinciding with the launch of its new website, HartDeco is launching Zodiac, a new range of 12 bright and eye-catching designs by Fiona Hart. Each card shows the relevant dates for specific star signs and key personality characteristics. The cards are sized 155mm square and supplied wrapped with a kraft envelope and also available with a tailor made counter top display.

HartDeco 07894 354320 www.hartdeco.co.uk

Yorkshire publisher Lonetree is launching LACE, a collection of occasions cards and wrap based on a series of evolved natural patterns in heritage colours, with simple typography motifs applied in gold foil. The range comprises six initial designs: wedding, baby boy, baby girl, birthday, hello and thank you, and are available in A6 and 150mm square formats. There are also three wraps to complement the range.

Lonetree 01751 431737 www.lonetree.co.uk

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Innovations PG Showcases A Collection Of New Product Launches

The Comic Touch

Out Of The Box New from Robert Strange is Squashed – eight designs all featuring colourful objects squashed into a box. Detailed and fun, each card has a theme covering mainly male interests, some more obscure than others. Designs include Squashed Ties, Squashed Golf Tees, Squashed Dice and Playing Cards, as well as Squashed Cracker Toys and Squashed Wrapping Paper for Christmas.

Robert Strange 01235 820966 www.robert-strange.co.uk

Just launched, the Gladys range from Meanybo-Beany affectionately parodies girls magazines from the 1960s and 70s - complete with ludicrously named pop-stars, silly ‘how to’ features, romantic episodic stories and an unusual degree of interest in Quantum mechanics! There are currently 12 A6 size cards in the range and all sold wrapped with an eco kraft envelope.

Meany-bo-Beany 01237 420 427 www.meany-bo-beany.cards

Heartfelt Messages This first range by Sentimeant comprises ten photographic cards based themes such Hope, Confidence, Family, Home and True Love, with each card containing a unique piece of carefully written poetry or prose inside. The A5 cards are printed on luxury 100% recycled white board and sold wrapped with a white envelope.

Sentimeant 07702 253 823 www.sentimeant.co.uk

Cute As Pie Chocolate Love Quayside Cards, the new brand from Otter House, is launching Little Else, a cute and humorous range centring on the life, thoughts and friends of the charming character Little Else - and her undying love of chocolate and cake!

Otter House 01392 824300 www.otterhouse.co.uk

Cut It Out! Tigerlilly is launching its Confetti children’s range, an exciting super collaged collection bursting with vibrant colour.

There are six designs in the range, all taken from original handmade characters by Suna Sor. All the cards are sold wrapped with a white envelope.

Tigerlilly 07835 893775

Desito is adding 12 new occasions and relations designs into its very cute Whimsicals range, bringing this range to 42 designs.

Endearing, handmade, fuzzy animals are photographed in little scenes and made extra heartwarming with sweet wording. The cards are sized 150mm square and supplied wrapped with ivory envelopes.

Desito 01959 534852 www.desito.co.uk

Live In Colour Special Touch Designs is releasing a new range created by Georgina Fihosy featuring 30 distinctive cards all hand-finished with African wax print fabric. The range is truly vibrant and Afrocentric and includes 15 birthday and 15 occasions cards. All cards are sized 150mm square, printed on gorgeous textured board and are sold wrapped with coordinating envelopes.

Special Touch Designs 07984 652962 www.specialtouchdesigns.com PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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Cute Cards Overview

A Cute Above It's a ‘whiskering gallery’ on social media with pooches and felines bringing a smile and melting our hearts in a myriad of ways, while rice pudding eating, easy-going brown bears and holidaying teddy bears have the ahh factor on TV adverts, all testament that ‘cute’ continues to score highly.

PG takes a look at the ‘irresistible’ current news and range releases within the cute card market.

A Boofle-tastic Relaunch

Above: Bake-Off Boofle From UKG’s new launch.

Right: The cat’s whiskers, Pusheen on a Hype card.

Made from 100% love and cuddles, lots of wool and a little button, Boofle is all that a snugglesome pup should be. But watch your paws as this June Boofle is stepping into the spotlight to become the star of cute greetings once more as UK Greetings give him a Boofle-tastic relaunch!

With a complete makeover, his brand new look strikes the perfect blend between pretty colour palettes and delicate patterns, but with Boofle’s quirky yet loveable personality at the heart.

Additionally, to coincide with the product launch, Boofle’s website will get a complete makeover and Boofle stockists will be offered a comprehensive branded PoS package.

Smitten Kitten With millions of fans, Pusheen the sweet tubby grey cartoon cat seen on facebook, has recently purred her way onto a licensed range of 22 greeting cards and giftwrap from Hype.

A Waggy Tale Cute news from the Alice Palace gang is the new addition of Harley, a golden Lab aged 11 months, “but he is bigger than all of us!” says Liz McMaster, company manager.

Left: Albi (AP’s Alice Boston’s little boy) and Harley the new Lab – “it was very difficult to get a picture as he wouldn't sit still long enough!” says Liz.

A Sweet Recipe

Left: Simon Elvin is a connoisseur of cute cards.

For over 30 years, Simon Elvin has been a leading exponent of the ’art’ of cute cards. As Simon Elvin, owner of the eponymous company explains: “Cutes are, and always have been, a genuinely important part of our collections. We have a reputation for producing cute cards and part of the ingredient is they have to have the magic ‘Ahh’ factor. You can’t be complacent.

You need to refresh and test your designs regularly, and we do, and unless they get that unprompted ‘Ahh’ from our research audiences, we simply don’t release them.”

Below: As part of its 21st celebrations CBG has launched a whole new collection of Me To You designs.

Tatty Turns Twenty-One

Carte Blanche Greetings is making sure that the 21st birthday of Me to You is going to be marked in style. As part of the year long celebrations CBG has launched a new everyday range of 42 designs in five design formats, and 12 lenticular, inspired by the beautiful colours of spring in pastels and brights. A touch of gold foil finishing and a generous dusting of Crystalina flitter to give extra sparkle.

Ready For Bed Ted Wise old bear Tired Ted and his friend Stanley Duck (which star on greeting cards from Cherry Orchard Publishing) continue to charm people. To be in with a chance to win an amazing personalised canvas or a fantastic pair of Tired Ted pyjamas just pop over to Tired Ted’s Facebook page and like and share. The winner’s name will be picked at random once the page hits 12,000 likes. www.facebook.com/pages/Tired-Ted Above: To be in with a chance to win a personalised Tired Ted canvas ‘like’ his Facebook page.

Woolly Woofs “Owning a Golden Retriever has brought me many delights, along with a constant supply of soft furry fluff lining the floors,” jokes Karen Gilbert, owner of card publisher Woollytales.

But her canine chum has sparked the idea of knitting adorable Above: Woollytales puts the woof into wool. doggy characters for her card designs.

“Because of the different qualities and the variety of yarns, I try quite a few ideas until I find the one that works; I like to think that each bundle of wool has a fluffy character waiting within to be discovered”, says Karen.

Left: Otto Dreams from Noel Tatt.

On Cloud Nine Dreams do come true for Otto, a cute brown bear that talented author and illustrator Emma Thomson created initially on a canvas, based on her own childhood teddy.

Publisher Noel Tatt had been discussing the need to further develop its cute offering and as if by magic were then introduced to Emma last year at PG Live. She felt Otto had the potential to become the central character to a new range of cute cards and so Otto Dreams was born!

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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Cute New Launches

Things That Make You Go Ahh Nothing pulls on the heartstrings like a doe-eyed baby animal, a fluffy huggable teddy bear or sweet naive illustrations.

So PG highlights some new cute card ranges that will make you go ‘ahh’. l Alice Palace’s new mini cards are very

cute because they're such tiny cards.

They're business card size (A7) and they cover the occasions of love, anniversary, new baby, best Dad, best Mum, birthday, Easter, engagement, get well, new home, sympathy, thank you, and well done. They are great to have around the house, and perfect for putting a smile on someone's face! l Allihopa’s new ‘Hej

Sunshine’ (it’s Swedish not a typo!) collection is super cute!

This cheery collection will awaken that free spirit in us all.

The fresh Swedish feel is perfect for the new season coming in and is bound to brighten anyone's day. Each 15.5 x 15.5cm card is supplied with a kraft envelope and is individually wrapped in a cellobag. l The cutest kittens and puppies star in Cherry Orchard’s

Kaleidoscope range with the addition of 38 new age and relations designs. All at code 30 and with a RRP of 99p, these cards offer a wide range of designs for different ages, with a focus on quality at an affordable price. l Continuing with its

super cute card collections, The Grumble & Co. has launched its cute and charming Christmas range.

Made up of 16 designs printed on fabulous GF Smith stock, the collection is bursting with character and cuteness!

Supplied with a festive red envelope and cellowrapped, these cards will surely prove popular this Christmas! l ArtPress is very excited to extend its Animali range by

Tony Trickey. The eight new designs concentrate on the

interaction of cute animals on intricately embroidered backgrounds and express friendship, affection, playfulness and love. The 150mm x 150mm designs include a cat and a dog lovingly holding paws in a love seat, a fox cuddling up to a bear on a motorbike and a polar bear balancing a flowerpot on his head and a chicken in his hand, all while unicycling! l Cute little tags, cute wooden

attachments, cute and magical unicorns, Cinnamon Aitch has brought a contemporary and modern cute to card designs with its recently launched Piccadilly range.

With a sophisticated edge, cute elements and imagery to appeal to a more grown up market, the cards are all beautifully hand-finished with gorgeous gems, buttons and bows and of course sprinkled with love! l All About Gus is the latest cute

property to join the Hallmark portfolio.

With a mixture of design styles these bold, cheeky cards will appeal to cute and non-cute buyers for both male and female sends. Watch out for “Gus says...” on the back page of the cards! These mischievous snippets of ‘wobbly’ wisdom prove that bears just wanna have fun! Gus and his family span across everyday, Christmas and Spring Seasons - they even have their own Christmas gift packaging. l Hype has recently added some new designs to two of its

current ranges. There are six new designs in the Beatrix Potter line up, each one arguably more cute than the next! This now brings the grand total to 46 designs in the range. And with seven new additions, there are 49 designs to choose from in the Moomin range.

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Cute New Launches

l Jonny Javelin has expanded its Fudge range to 50

titles now across three sizes and the new versions have bigger and bolder characters. The cards are still foiled, flittered and embossed but now a scalloped edge along the top and bottom has been added. All in all, the cards look bolder and fresher and Fudge jumps out at you now - to give your face a friendly lick. l Laura Sherratt Designs has

added to its new and already popular Ditsy Daisy card range.

The range now consists of nearly 50 handmade designs, with new occasion titles added, including ‘You've passed’ and New baby’, as well as lots of birthday cards for all relatives and friends. Each 150mm square design is embellished by hand with delicate paper flowers! l Louise Mulgrew Designs is developing a new

range of Under The Sea cards featuring some super cute sea creatures in Louise’s typical hand-drawn, inky style, and rainbow colour pallet. The cards are sized 150mm square and come individually wrapped with a brown kraft envelope. l The Funky Animals range from Louise Tiler Designs is a

contemporary, sophisticated and beautifully designed new birthday range for 2016. The new range of animal cards includes illustrations of cats and dogs to flamingos and elephants, with stunning detail and very cute characters! l The Duckberry Place range

from Marina B Designs has been extended to include a collection of new intricate designs with the focus being ducks. The range will include cards for all occasions, whether it's a birthday, engagement or congratulations. The cards are printed on the highest quality board and sold with a French grey envelope individually wrapped. l Launching shortly into Pango

Productions’ successful Jelly Tales range are three new ‘Well done’ occasion cards. Each card comes with a collectable Jelly Magnet, making them not just an extremely cute card, but also a lovely keepsake. Driving Test, Clever Sausage and Top Banana are available, all with a rainbow envelope size 15.5cm x 15.5cm. l Paper Rose’s Totem Pals new range features cute

woodland creatures. These amazing designs are not only a card but also transforms into a stackable keepsake totem

pole full of fun and friends. With eight to collect in the range you are guaranteed to have fun with these delightful 120mm x 170mm designs (right). l Following on from its

Pretty Things range, Paper Salad has added 12 brand new occasions cards in the same unique style. Printed with super bright neon inks on FSC board and finished with gorgeous copper foil, each card is hand-finished with a 3D attachment and individually cellowrapped with a neon envelope. They are size 155mm x 155mm and blank inside. l Pippi & Me makes super cute

cards, so cute in fact that it won the Best Cute Range category at the 2015 Henries Awards! It has just launched its Grown Up Girls cards for all those special birthdays – from 18 all the way up to 90 - girls love cute whatever their age! The cards are 125mm square, on FSC card with white recycled envelope and individually wrapped. l The Christmas Post is a stunning

range of bright and lively festive greeting cards from the Stripey Cats stable for 2016, featuring several of its cute animal friends, newly presented in a snowy postage-stamp style. The company's appealing seasonal images of Mr Snowman, the Christmas Donkey and Poppy Penguin are joined by adorable winter tree dwellers squirrels and owls, sitting beneath the mistletoe. l Take cute rhyming verse and

mix in those unique Winnie-isms we all know and love, and you’ve got The Smallest Things – a range from UKG that brings all the sunshine and friendliness of the Hundred Acre Wood to the happiest, most special occasions.

This range uses favourite characters from Winnie the Pooh, all in adorable poses. l Wrendale Designs’ Fur, Feathers and Whiskers range has new additions, one of which features a lovable little owl perched on a branch and reads ‘Owl always be there for you wherever you may fly’. A lovely design that can be used for so many different occasions.

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JEREMY’S JOURNAL Business blogging by publisher Jeremy Corner of Blue Eyed Sun.

Europe -

In Or Out? Jeremy Corner, owner of greeting card publisher Blue Eyed Sun, considers Brexit.

On Thursday 23 June 2016 Britain’s electorate will vote on whether or not we should remain in the European Union. The Union has long held a fascination for me, ever since I designed and patented an EU board game at school. At university I spent an exchange year in Amsterdam thanks to the ERASMUS scheme. And currently, Blue Eyed Sun is selling more and more greeting cards in Europe.

A common complaint among business owners is that we don’t have enough information about Brexit to make an informed decision. If you think about it, we can never have enough information. The data for any given situation is infinite. So, despite our best efforts, we could end up making a snap judgment based on emotions like fear (of the unknown or of missing out) or anger (at the idea of losing control or at being taken advantage of ). If it works out alright we will forget the external variables that affected this and pat ourselves on the back even though it has very little to do with our conscious intent or control.

Despite this seemingly frivolous outlook on how we make decisions, I’ve been brushing up on my history and weighing up the pros and cons of Britain’s EU membership to try and rationalise my thoughts. Here’s what I’ve learned:

A Brief History The European Union is an economic and political partnership involving 28 European countries. Created post WWII, the thinking 46

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

was that countries that foster economic cooperation together are less likely to go to war. After the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, the EU created its own currency (the Euro), which is used by 19 members. The EU has a parliament to which member governments assign representatives. It sets rules on things like the environment, transport, consumer rights and human rights. The single market facilitates free movement of goods, services, capital and workers.

Above: What are the pros and cons of Brexit and the EU? Below: The signing of the Treaty of Rome in 1957.

After being twice rejected in the sixties (French President, Charles de Gaulle, was unconvinced of Britain’s commitment), Britain joined the EU in 1973 under Ted Heath’s Conservative government, desperate to prevent further relative economic decline. Harold Wilson’s Labour government held a referendum in 1975 when 67% voted to stay in the EU. After joining the EU our GDP per capita has been comparatively stable ever since.

Should we remain, David Cameron has negotiated terms that mean that Britain will not join the Euro, migrant welfare payments will be cut, the City of London will be protected, British cash spent on bailing out Eurozone nations will be reimbursed and a ‘red card’ system will be implemented to prevent the EU imposing unwanted legislation.

The Debate

Despite Churchill’s supporting of the idea of the EU, Britain initially stood on the sidelines at the signing of the Treaty of Rome in 1957. Britain was one of the few European economies that grew during the war; held back by commitments to the commonwealth and the ‘special relationship’ with the US. At the time, GDP per capita in the UK was significantly larger that the average six founding members of the EU; however by 1973 it had plummeted to 10% below average.

While a lot of detail will be affected by the outcome of the referendum, broadly speaking the debate centres around two main areas, our sovereignty and financial implications.

Sovereignty The right to control our own destiny is one of the lynchpins of the ‘Leave campaign’. In my opinion, this control is somewhat of an illusion, as is the notion of a separate Great Britain. If you think about it, we are already European. There is no ‘us’ and ‘them’.

St George, our patron saint, was a Roman soldier born in Cappadocia, Turkey.

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JEREMY’S JOURNAL Financial

English is Latin based and we were essentially under the moral authority of the Pope for centuries until the Reformation.

Previously, Britain has been controlled by the Saxons (Germany/Denmark/Holland), the Normans (France/Scandinavia), the Vikings (Denmark/Norway/Sweden) and the Romans (Italy). For centuries French was the language of our Royal Court, diplomacy and the law. Several Royals have been German (Namely Hannover and Windsor - previously Saxe-Coburg).

Immigration and the flow of people and ideas has always been an integral part of what Britain is.

The flow goes both ways. Over a million Britons live in other EU countries and millions more visit each year. EU citizens can live and work where they like within the EU. Those voting to stay say that there is no guarantee that expats would be able to stay abroad after Brexit. The opposition says that international law protects expats from being forced to return.

The issue of sovereignty is essentially about control. Leavers say that most UK laws are made in Brussels, while those that wish to remain say that only a minority of UK law derives directly from the EU; plus Britain retains a veto in many important areas. In any case, some sharing of sovereignty is crucial to enable fair trade across Europe.

Britain is already a member of, and influenced by, a variety of external bodies including the International Monetary Fund, World Health Organisation, United Nations, NATO and G8. The toxic Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), banks and corporations arguably all have more powerful control over our lives than the EU.

About half of the UK’s trade is conducted in the EU. As members trade negotiations with other parts of the world are conducted by the EU not individual states. Being part of the EU gives the group more negotiating power on a global scale. US President Barack Obama said as much in a recent interview.

Those wanting to leave say that the EU bureaucracy costs Britain too much. For example, last year my friend Gemma Price at Superfood Market had to spend over £40,000 on new labelling to comply with EU changes.

At a Sage EU Debate I attended, MP Anna Soubry asked the 100 business people there if their business had been affected by EU red tape and not one raised their hand. Certainly we are unaffected by this bureaucracy in the greeting card business.

Those who believe we should leave the EU say that £billions would become available for other priorities. It is hard to know the true

Top: After William the Conqueror invaded and conquered England, French became the language of the Royal Court.

Above: Its hard to define the financial cost of staying or leaving the EU. Below right: Expats living abroad is one of the reasons greeting card export is strong.

cost of leaving though. Some estimate this could also be in the £billions.

Those wishing to remain feel that we save money being in the EU because prices are lower as a result. Flights and mobile phone charges, for example, are cheaper.

They say the benefits easily outweigh the costs and that we might even have to pay to access the EU market if we left.

Leavers say that trade would continue because we import more than we export from Europe. They cite non-member, Norway, as an example of how trade deals would work outside of membership. On the Remain side, it’s felt that leaving would cause an economic shock and slow our growth. We are more dependent on the EU than they are on us and we would still have to comply with EU rules when selling into

the single market – my friend Gemma would still need the right labels if she wished to sell into the EU. The Leavers are concerned that unemployment is over 10% in the EU (almost double that of the UK) and worry that more people will flow into the UK putting financial strain on our healthcare and welfare systems. The UK currently gets £66 million for investment every day from the EU. Three million UK jobs are said to be linked to the EU.

The Greeting Card Industry Blue Eyed Sun trades in Europe with EU members and without. Having less paperwork and fewer currencies to exchange saves us money. One of our best BES team members is from Spain and we’d hate to lose her. To be honest though, I’m sure we would cope whatever the outcome of the vote.

The diaspora of Brits abroad probably has a more important effect on the European greeting card market than we can quantify.

For example, last year Blue Eyed Sun sold over 50,000 cards in Greece and I believe this is largely due to British influence. With more Brits abroad, more countries are adopting our practices. Would this diminish if we left the EU and had less flow of people between Europe and the UK? Personally I like being part of Europe. It protects our Human Rights. We have cleaner water and air and lower greenhouse emissions. The EU protects consumers and regulates on trading standards. We currently have a seat at the table with influence instead of being on the outside. I also like the concept of the EU protecting

consumers and regulating on trading standards. I like that the EU aims to stimulate competition and trade, increase efficiency, raise quality and cut prices. This makes good business sense to me.

Read more on Jeremy’s blog at www.blueeyedsun.co.uk/blog PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

47

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Retailer Face To Face:

Write On! What started as a nugget of an idea just over a decade ago has grown to become one of the biggest brands in retail and notable eCommerce successes - with greeting cards very much part of its mix.

PG caught up with Rebecca Saunders, head of development at Notonthehighstreet.com at the recent London Stationery Show, where she gave a keynote speech, to discover what's trending in this all powerful market place.

Rebecca Saunders started her career in the City, but as soon as she began working with retail clients she realised that that was the sector for her. "I'm fascinated by customers’ decision making and I love the dynamic pace of working in retail which is magnified in e-commerce where decisions can be made quickly," she explains. "Online retailing makes me tick."

After studying retail marketing as part of her MBA at Columbia University she decided to go in-house so that she could get more involved with the creative side of products and has worked in retail buying and strategy in both the UK and America. "I have bought everything from beauty to computers,� she reveals. Now, as head of development at notonthehighstreet.com - a post she has held for just over a year Rebecca is responsible for a number of fast growing categories that include all of the company's baby and child areas - such as clothing, toys and haberdashery, food and drink, weddings and parties, Christmas decorations and Experiences - everything from distilling gin to learning to swing dance! “Plus, I look after stationery and all the products that sit within that area - greeting cards, wedding invitations, desk accessories, notebooks - the lot!" she smiles.

Ask her what her favourite product category is and she happily admits to being a passionate stationery addict, with four

Above: Notonthehighstreet's Rebecca Saunders recently delivered a seminar - Stationery Is Anything But Stationary - at the London Stationery Show.

Left: Greeting card publishers and makers that sell from the Notonthehighstreet portal are referred to as partners by the company.

Below: The original Reasons I Love You card that Martha Keith, founder of Love Give Ink, created for her husband Christopher following his proposal.

different journals, a paper diary and a paper 'to do' list all on the go at any one time.

Commenting specifically on the greeting card market place, she says that the company has really seen the sector evolve. "We are seeing a real trend for cards that can be kept and remembered, cards that are increasingly

Popping Up In London For the first time, notonthehighstreet.com opened a pop up shop in London's Spitalfields over the first May Bank Holiday weekend. "The Open Door event was an immersive brand event and our first ever opportunity for customers to experience and shop from notonthehighstreet.com product ranges in a physical environment," Rebecca explains. "Taking greeting cards and stationery as an example, we wanted to share what we have learned about the product sectors. Although none of our partners were there in person in those categories, we did have a selection of cards which were all wedding related. We also held very popular product masterclasses from tea mixology to pom pom making!"

valuable as mementos and keepsakes, such as a card that is also a fridge magnet. Plus, there has also been growth in DIY and craft cards using traditional methods, but with a modern twist, and, of course, more and more cards are also being personalised and sent to recipients directly from our partners."

One notonthehighstreet.com partner that Rebecca is keen to highlight is Martha Keith, founder of Love Give Ink. "When her partner decided to propose to her he arranged a personal treasure hunt in the hotel they were staying in, with the ultimate 'treasure' being his proposal! Inspired by that hugely romantic proposal, Martha decided to launch her own company based around a personal treasure hunt and a product highlighting 10 reasons why she loves him," Rebecca continues. "It was her personal card/gift to him, and she has continued to innovate and to think about who the end consumer is."

Other examples of the type of personalised greeting cards Martha creates include Words of Wisdom for brides-to-be, baby shower cards and recently, a 70 Reasons Why You're Special card for a team of relations who wanted to send it to their grandfather.

"Martha says that nowadays people want to send a card that's a bit more sentimental and thoughtful, so her goal is to PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

49

The LarGesT CoLLeCTion of Greeting Card Publishers in The WorLd “PG Live 2016 was an excellent show with a lovely friendly atmosphere. We will definitely be coming back next year, thank you for helping us source some very cool new suppliers!”

Sara Rao, director, The Lemon Tree You’re All Stars!

Thank you all so much for helping us make PG Live 2016 the best show ever - so far!

Be A Part Of It PG Live showcases the wonderful world of cards get in touch now to be part of the 2017 show.

Shoot For The Moon!

A very big, star-studded congratulations to all RETAs finalists - you’ve all put in a stellar effort over the last year, and PG Live is delighted to be able to help you celebrate this afternoon. Good luck!

PG Live 2017 Tuesday 6 - Wednesday 7 June Business design Centre, London

+44 (0) 1635 297070 @PGLiveLondon www.progressivegreetingslive.com

save The date!

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Retailer Face To Face:

Notonthehighstreet.com: The Lowdown l Notonthehighstreet.com was founded in 2006 by Holly Tucker MBE and Sophie Cornish MBE. l It has become a leading curated modern marketplace connecting a myriad of small creative

businesses with millions of customers around the world. l The curated product selection includes thousands of unique designs, high quality craftsmanship

and inspiring stories behind the people who make them. l The company has experienced exceptional growth, with gross sales in 2015 reaching £156

million and delivering a compound growth rate of 135% since its launch. l A team of over 200 are based its headquarters in Silicon Upon Thames, South West London. l Simon Belsham was recently appointed as the company's new CEO. Left and below left: Love You To Pieces and Dad, Love You cards by Clouds & Currents.

Right: Look Out World notebook by Tillyanna.

capture the feeling as to how, as the giver, you can delight and surprise someone," confirms Rebecca. "It's a great moment when, as the giver, you can do that for someone."

Another example of a successful greeting card partner is Clouds & Currents.

"They have developed their business from providing all sorts of wedding related products into the cards market, including their famous jigsaw card," explains Rebecca.

As for stationery, she views it as the intersection of home and fashion, pointing out that today it is as much about selfpurchasing as gifting. "Continuing innovation in the sector is important through providing surprise and delight," she states. "When someone buys or uses stationery it is not only seen as a luxury product but also says something about them personally - about their style, how they want to be perceived,

how trend conscious they are - and this works for men as well as women.

"At notonthehighstreet.com we are seeing a huge boost in the self-purchase market," she continues. "It's a bit like the 'lipstick effect' which we see in recessions.

Stationery enables us to buy into a trend at a relatively affordable level, and feels like a treat when bought for oneself."

So what's next for the company? "We are adding new partners and products all the time so that customers have a reason to keep coming to notonthehighstreet.com regularly to see what’s new," she states."Sharing the stories of our partners is very important to our customers who care about the provenance of their products and about helping small, creative businesses. We therefore support our partners with product development in line with trends that we have identified so they can be agile in responding to customer demand and providing innovative, trend-led products.

Plus, we have just appointed our first ever customer director to ensure that we

are always putting customers at the heart of our business."

As well as expanding in all product categories, notonthehighstreet.com is also adding new partners through initiatives such as the company's Pitch Up events and its partnership with Crowdfunder. "We are also growing quickly in newer categories for us, such as food and drink where customers are looking for premium products, subscriptions and hampers and experiences - which has shown triple digit growth," says Rebecca.

She adds that the aspect she loves most about the brand is its strong sense of purpose. "We work with 5,000 small creative businesses and help them grow through connecting them with our millions of customers. It’s truly rewarding and humbling to meet these entrepreneurs and hear how we’ve helped them to build a business that has transformed their lives."

Current Trends l l l l l

Metallics: to include rose gold and mixed metals.

Block colours: which translate into cards and invitations.

Monochrome: seen in geo patterns and unusual categories such as Christmas.

Slogan fashion: statements can be seen on, for example, notebooks and pencil cases.

Foliage: a colour palette that works well with cards, invitations and stationery items such as pencil cases. l Texture/materials: such as marble and concrete. A sophisticated look for stationery items.

Above: Foliage wedding stationery by Lucy Says I Do. Right: To My Groom/Bride on our Wedding Day cards by CJ Designs.

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Inside The Palace

Our Greeting Card Queen As the most famous person in the world, it is not surprising that the media has been full of articles, pictures and TV programmes galore to mark The Queen’s 90th birthday.

PG (and the GCA) were invited to Buckingham Palace to meet Christopher Sandamas, Chief Clerk in the Private Secretary’s Office, to witness first-hand the thousands and thousands of 90th birthday cards that are still pouring in, as well as to find out more about the team that this year will be responsible for sending out a record 46,000 congratulatory cards with personal messages from The Queen to members of the public celebrating their significant milestones.

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PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

Above: Buckingham Palace, where both the Correspondence and Anniversaries teams are based.

Below: A greeting card design by The Lynn Tait Gallery that visitors to PG Live could select and write their own message to the Queen to wish her a Happy 90th Birthday.

Below: (Left-right) Christopher Sandamas, Celia Guy, Sharon Little (GCA) and Jakki Brown (PG) inside Buckingham Palace with just a few of greeting cards that have arrived for the Queen recently.

ith the heavy responsibility of ensuring that a ‘bumper postbag’ of 90th birthday cards for The Queen from the greeting card industry (as a result of a special display feature at PG Live) could be safely delivered to their worthy recipient, a telephone call was made by Sharon Little, CEO of the GCA to Buckingham Palace.

Not only did that phone call give assurances that the greeting cards would be gratefully received, but also extended was an invitation (to Sharon Little and PG’s editor Jakki Brown) to go ‘behind the scenes’ at the Palace to gain an understanding of what’s involved in both receiving the 40,000+ 90th birthday cards that have arrived for The Queen, as well as sending 46,000 goodwill messages in cards from The Queen to centenarians and those reaching their Diamond wedding anniversaries and above.

“Our Anniversaries Team looks after the sending out of the personal goodwill messages in a card from The Queen, while our Correspondence Unit accepts and responds to the cards and letters that are sent to The Queen,” explains Christopher Sandamas, Chief Clerk in the Private Secretary’s Office, whose responsibility straddles both teams.

“It is a very busy time here at the moment as you can imagine for the Correspondence Unit, as cards marking The Queens’ 90th birthday started arriving before her actual birthday on April 21 and will continue to arrive until

W

52-53_Grid 25/05/2016 18:49 Page 3

Inside The Palace

well after her official birthday in June, while our Anniversaries Team are also looking at a record year,” explains Christopher.

If ever proof was needed that a greeting card is still very much the chosen medium of the British public to convey a personal tangible message, it’s to be found in the surrounding rooms and hallway of the Correspondence Unit's offices in Buckingham Palace.

Box upon box, tray upon tray, postbag upon postbag each contain the public’s outpourings of respect and good wishes for our beloved monarch on her special birthday, virtually all of them written inside a greeting card.

“What you see here is just this week’s deliveries they have counted but not yet opened,” reveals Celia Guy, Correspondence Co-ordinator, gesturing towards the organised piles in just one of the rooms set aside. “Roughly 70% of the cards that have been sent are shop bought with the remaining 30% being handmade. I have come to recognise the most popular card designs.”

As for the handmade cards, while many wonderful cards have arrived from schools and Brownie groups, their creations are eclipsed by the maestros within WI groups.

“Some of their creative skills are astonishing,” says Celia, but added that she was looking forward to seeing some of the cards that have

Above: GCA’s Sharon Little and PG’s Jakki Brown arriving at Buckingham Palace to deliver the cards that had been on display and written at PG Live.

Below: The Royal Household’s Christopher Sandamas (second left) came to visit PG Live to see all the wonderful cards that featured in the Happy Birthday Your Majesty Display that were signed by publishers and delivered to the Palace after the show along with the 500+ additional cards that had been written by retailers and others.

been specially created by card publishers for The Queen’s 90th birthday, recalling how impressed she was by some of those that were created specially in a similar PG Live/GCA initiative to mark The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee four years ago.

Every day, The Queen sees a selection of correspondence received in the Private Secretary's office “These are selected to reflect the diversity of design styles as well as messages written,” explains Christopher.

If Celia and her colleagues have spent the last few months dedicated to receiving the thousands upon thousands of cards, the next few months will involve returning the favour, “If people have taken the time and trouble to send their good wishes, it is right and proper that we acknowledge that, however long it takes,” says Christopher. “A great power of greeting cards is that they include handwritten personal messages, be that in this case written largely in celebration and to show respect, but in other instances to provide understanding and support.

They provide a very important way to communicate,” he adds. And with two teams dedicated to their purpose within Buckingham Palace, it suggests that the role of greeting cards is also appreciated by someone who must have received more 90th birthday cards than anyone ever - The Queen!

Royal Connections Having decided that being a teaching assistant wasn’t the career for her, Lauren Chambers looked for “interesting places to work doing something worthwhile”. She has satisfied both requirements; for the past three and a half years she has worked in the Anniversaries Office. Currently she is the Acting Senior Anniversaries Officer in the Royal Household.

The walls and mantelpiece of the office she shares with her two colleagues perfectly illustrate the department’s remit - to send out personal messages from The Queen in a card, to members of the public on the occasion of their 100th or 105th birthdays as well as to couples celebrating their Diamond wedding anniversary (60th), 65th, Platinum wedding anniversary (70th) and every year after.

Last year, Lauren and her colleagues sent out an incredible 43,699 of these very special cards on behalf of The Queen, and this year they are bracing themselves for even more - expecting to send a record 46,000!

When you consider that each and every one of these is guaranteed to arrive on a set date, not just in the United Kingdom, but anywhere the individuals happen to be on their special day, it is a logistical challenge of mammoth proportions.

“We often have to arrange for it to be presented on board cruise ships where a couple may be celebrating their anniversary,” reveals Lauren.

However, it is effort very well spent as the photos that adorn the Anniversaries Team’s office walls of very proud recipients with their special cards testify.

The Queen is hugely supportive of continuing the tradition, which was started in 1917 by her grandfather King George V, of sending a personal message of goodwill to mark these special events in people’s lives.

It was in 1999 that the change was made whereby the ‘message from The Queen’ was conveyed in a greeting card rather than in a telemessage (letters that looked like telegrams).

The mantelpiece in the Anniversaries Office acts as a showcase for all the card designs since this change was made, each one featuring a different photo of The Queen that she personally selects.

“It used to be that we kept the same design for a number of years, but the last three years we have changed it annually. This also helps to ensure that if someone receives more than one message from The Queen, the design is not duplicated,” says Lauren, showing her true greeting card credentials!

Above: Lauren Chambers, Acting Senior Anniversaries Officer with some of the designs that have been used over the years to carry the personal messages from The Queen. The Department of Work & Pensions inform the team about people who will be celebrating their 100th and 105th birthdays while those celebrating their milestone wedding anniversaries need to apply for their special message.

Left: Over the years the Anniversaries Team has sent out more than a million personal messages from the Queen (or Kings before her). Not surprisingly many recipients frame this special piece of correspondence in a designated frame that is available (pictured centre).

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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54_56_PG_June 2016.qxp_Art Source 31/05/2016 12:35 Page 54

ARTSOURCE

TO APPEAR REGULARLY IN THE

ARTSOURCE SECTION OF PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS CONTACT TRACEY ARNAUD ON

01234 740 051

55_57_49/51 25/05/2016 17:48 Page 1

ART SOURCE

PG helps to paint a pretty picture of freelance artists, designers, verse writers and photographers’ worlds in order to promote their talents to publishers and, conversely, make it easier for publishers seeking artists.

ARTIST IN FOCUS

Robbie Graham I was born in West Germany and after finishing my education in the north-east of England I joined the Royal Air Force and served at various locations. I was awarded the South Atlantic Medal in 1982.

I then joined Kent Police in 1990, serving in a number of senior roles. In 2006 I was selected to undertake a secondment to South Australia. There, I wore the Australian Police uniform and took charge of policing in Adelaide.

I am a self-taught artist and started painting during my police service. As the Borough Commander at Maidstone, I decorated the station with a number of my paintings, which made it quite unique! It was at this time that I was approached by Daler Rowney, the largest art suppliers in the world.

My painting ‘Always Alert’ can now be seen in suppliers worldwide After completing a commission for a high profile client, my reputation as a 'photorealist artist' grew. I was also selected by a jury to become a 'Signature Member’ of ' Artists for Conservation', a select group of only five hundred artists from 27 countries. I have used my art to raise thousands of pounds for various wildlife conservation

WANT TO BE FEATURED?

charities. I travel extensively to enhance my knowledge of wildlife, whether studying wolves in the USA or orangutans in Borneo.

My last three solo exhibitions were sold out. I have exhibited in Kent and London and have also been featured in magazines and books in the UK and USA. In June 2014 my painting 'The Splash' was selected as a finalist for 'The British in Art Award' at the National Exhibition of Wildlife Art. My painting ‘Two for Joy’ has been selected to promote this year’s national exhibition.

I am currently a finalist in the David Shepherd Wildlife Artist of the Year and my painting will be displayed in The Mall Gallery, London, during the summer. l Email: Robbiescontact@aol.com l Web: www.robbiegrahamart.co.uk

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

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ARTSOURCE

TO APPEAR REGULARLY IN THE

ARTSOURCE SECTION OF PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS CONTACT TRACEY ARNAUD ON

01234 740 051

G R E E T I N G S

C A R D

D I S P L A Y

S P E C I A L I S T S

Axiom are the acknowledged experts in Greetings Cards and Gift displays.Our bespoke designs incorporate a range of patented components to create increased visual impact in-store, optimising available space, bringing your store to life and increasing sales and profitability. Call us now!

Innovative display creates massive sales increases!

Axiom Displays Ltd Mersey Road North, Failsworth, Manchester M35 9LT, UK t: +44 (0)161 681 1371 f: +44 (0)161 683 4641 e: info@axiom-displays.co.uk w: axiom-displays.co.uk

55_57_49/51 25/05/2016 17:48 Page 3

ART SOURCE Michelle Parsons

Close-up organic forms create an abstracted expressive surface based on space, light, colour and texture. A sense of depth, blurred backgrounds and loose brushstrokes contrast with sharp detail and tighter representational mark-making. The longer I paint the more I realise that my work is all about the composition as a whole. My style has an adaptive reverence for the subject and yet does not rely on it, elevating the forms with bright use of pigment and suggestive mark-making. The resulting pieces are proud declarations of colour and expression. Colour, depth, texture and contrast - does is matter if it looks like a lobster or a fish? Not really.

A professional artist with a fine art degree, I have been working as an artist, art teacher and tutor for the past 25 years. Now focusing full-time on oil painting, I am looking to expand my field and I feel my work is ideally suited to the fine art card market. I have a real passion for all things organic; I’m inspired by the living world. I like to heighten colours, add textures and show a sense of ‘life’ and movement through my work. My paintings are colourful and uplifting, they lift the mood and portray a sense of the outdoors and nature – who doesn’t love a bold quirky chicken or lobster? l Email: easelandcanvas@gmail.com l Web: www.easelandcanvas.co.uk.

Keith Drury As an art style my work is unquestionably quirky and contemporary in its interpretation of the urban landscape, and yet it refuses to be compromised as every piece is created with meticulous attention to detail. Months of exacting work go into each picture as it is created by a painstaking process of sculpting virtual clay. The end result frequently yields surprises to those who are eagle-eyed or use magnifying glasses!

My art has received a national commission and is on permanent display to the public in Belfast City Hall.

Commercially my art has found its way into every world continent and has appeared in advertising campaigns.

Political and social commentaries can also be found embedded in my work. My art has been bought by the rich and famous but is created simply to be enjoyed and to be a talking point on anyone's wall. Perhaps we could summarise it by amending Oscar Wilde’s famous expression, ‘Art is too important to be taken seriously!’

I cannot remember a time when I did not draw or make 'stuff', but my introduction into the more serious art world began when the owner of a prestigious gallery took me under his wing, lending me works of international artists to take home and copy (not for sale and later to be destroyed). On return, the gallery owner would assess my style and then test me with something completely different. My confidence and skill grew, and now after years of trying new mediums I have developed my own unique style. l l l l

Tel: 028 4483 2109 Mob: 07980207436 Email: deborah@keithdruryart.com Web: www.keithdruryart.com

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PG asked a selection of card retailers for their ‘hot’ card sellers.

Ian and Alison Cook, owners of The Osokozi Gallery in Holt, North Norfolk A medium card, gifts and ethnic artifacts shop in a market town with a loyal locals and varied customer base.

Category

Name of Publisher

Product/Name Range

Comments

Everyday

Woodmansterne

Across The Board

Roger La Borde

First Press

Paperlink

Wrinklies and Bestie

Woodmansterne The Alternative Image Company Tracks Archivist Emma Ball

Genius General

Always lots of new product, and a good cross-section appealing across the board. The Quentin Blake range is especially popular with all ages.

These beautiful delicately lasercut cards have been great sellers.

Ever popular, many customers spend a happy half hour laughing while selecting these. And they are at a good price point.

School exam gaffs; one of our best sellers.

Vintage black and white quirky photographic pictures.

The Orwell Press

General

Canns Down Press Museums & Galleries

Across The Board Classics and The Art Of Print General

Right: 'Cley Owl' by Jeremy James published on cards

by The Orwell Press.

Humour

Photographic

Contemporary

Art

Giftwrap

Cambridge Imprint

General Letterpress Cards Regional

Lots of bright and fun images.

A contemporary take using the traditional method of letterpress.

Emma’s watercolour scenes on notecards called Norfolk in a Box are great sellers, and so are her Norfolk tea towels.

An imaginative selection of contemporary and East Anglian artists, including Bawden and Ravillious. The publisher is a firm favourite of ours.

Always lots of outstanding new images by contemporary artists.

A large and interesting range of classic and contemporary art cards.

Vibrant and striking contemporary quality paper proving to be exceptionally popular with our discerning customers.

Lesley Dunne, owner of Feathering Your Nest, Rayleigh A medium shop in a town high street with a loyal locals and varied customer base.

Category

Name of Publisher

Product/Name Range

Comments

Everyday

Caroline Gardner

Across The Board

Mint

Cool Britannia

Humour

Holy Mackerel

Erica Sturla

Contemporary

Jelly And Bean Hearts Designs

General Mad Dots

Art

Wraptious

General

Handmade/ Hand-Finished

The Handcrafted Card Company Cinnamon Aitch Glick Miss Shorthair, Lisa Angel, Shruti, Katie Loxton, Junction 18

Spread The Word

A huge range 0f beautifully crafted designs, in a soft colour palette, that are always on trend.

There’s a lovely feel to the cards and they cover every occasion.

A huge range of funny gentle humour that appeals to all ages.

Fun retro cards.

Bang on trend designs in lovely colours with foiled dots and crystal hearts and bows, on beautiful board.

Katherine Williams, Liz Chaderton, Sophie Cunningham, Robert Farkas… awesome artwork from some emerging cool artists.

A hot pink women's range that’s full of girlie fun, prosecco and bling.

Elegant embellished little cards with hand-drawn delicate pictures.

Beautiful collections of wrap and bags. ...to name just a few! A woman can never have too many scarves! We sell them all day long.

Right: A beautiful new addition to Caroline Gardner’s Hey You range.

Below: Full of pink and sparkle, The Handcrafted Card Company’s Spread The Word range.

Giftwrap Ancillary

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Piccadilly Across The Board Scarves

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Victoria Robinson, director of Wishes Cockermouth, Cockermouth, Cumbria A large shop in a historic market town with a loyal locals and tourists customer base.

Category

Name of Publisher

Product/Name Range

Comments

Everyday

Cherry Orchard

Down Memory Lane

Humour

Pigment

Midget Gems

Contemporary

Holy Mackerel

Erica Sturla

Traditional

Jonny Javelin IC&G

Velvet, Days To Remember Across The Board

Second Nature

Yours Truly

Greenleaf

Large scented envelope sachets

Hallmark

Itty Bittys

Still as popular as they have always been! The new 2016 designs are great, with customers coming in specifically asking for these.

So many of our customers spend time reading and laughing at our Pigment spinner - it’s become a ‘go to’ spinner!

The numbered anniversary cards are particularly popular - a fresh change from a typical anniversary card.

All Jonny Javelin cards are fantastic sellers in our shop. The publisher has got ‘it’ just right!

Another brilliant company whose cards across all its ranges sell well for us. The broad range of titles is excellent, and the popular milestone ages for relations now have their own stand in the shop.

An excellent value hand-finished card range with great colours and finishes - they stand out on the card racks.

These are excellent pick-ups at the till point, and a talking point in the shop as they smell so good! We get customers coming back for repeat purchases on these and we’ve not had them very long!

These little guys now have a following in our area, with many customers collecting them, particularly the Star Wars characters!

Right: The force is strong with Hallmark’s Itty Bittys small plush characters.

Handmade/ Hand-Finished Ancillary

Becky Abbiss, owner of With Love, Oakwood, Leeds A medium card and gift shop in a busy city suburb with a loyal locals and visitors customer base.

Category

Name of Publisher

Product/Name Range

Comments

Everyday

Wendy Jones-Blackett Paper Salad Mint

General General Knit & Purl

Portfolio

General

Paperlink

Paper Rose

Dinner Party Years, Pants and Colourful Mind NAF

Beautiful cards suitable for all occasions.

Lovely bright colourful and cheery cards.

Great cards for those ‘difficult to buy for’ sends.

A varied range of cards that appeal to a broad spectrum of customers.

Slightly risque humour, but the designs keep the customers giggling!

Dialectable

Regions

Mark Sofilas

Across The Board

Paper Rose

V&A

Blue Eyed Sun

Fleur

English Graphics

General

Bexy Boo

Scrabbly Neons, Wooden Wishes Hang A Heart General

Right: A large size Hang A Heart card from Tracey Russell.

Below: A flittered pooch from English Graphics.

Humour

Art

Contemporary

Handmade/ Hand-Finished

Tracey Russell Janie Wilson Children’s Giftwrap

Special Delivery Cards Rachel Ellen Penny Kennedy

Ancillary

Artebene Woodwick Candles

Across The Board Jigsaw Cards Emma Bridgewater, Sara Miller General Candles

Accurate and funny observations that seems to really relate to my customers’ sense of humour.

Designs featuring some great Yorkshire sayings.

Very vibrant watercolour artwork of local and Yorkshire scenes.

A lovely range of designs in various sized cards.

Beautiful new jeweled designs that have been flying out of the door.

The collection has some quirky titles and a really glitzy range of dog and cat designs.

Our fastest ever selling Valentine’s and Mother’s Day cards. The open, age and occasions cards are doing incredibly well too.

Large cards with a wooden heart, various titles and very cute images.

The wedding and anniversary cards with the jewelled hearts are so simple but just so sophisticated and beautifully designed.

Bright stand-up animal cards; the love for these cards never fails.

A jigsaw with a matching card that can be posted.

At the higher-end price point but customers just love the wrap and bags.

Great rollwrap and boxes in a mix of designs retailing at good prices.

We introduced this candle range last year and have been really impressed with the repeat sales. They smell divine and crackle while they burn.

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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L

LYNN’S LINES

L Going The Extra Smile

On the ball comments by retailer and publisher Lynn Tait of The Lynn Tait Gallery.

Nobody is going to pretend that either card retailing or publishing is a walk in the park. The dynamics of both has dramatically changed in both parts of our industry over the years, with competition coming from all directions.

And these days it's not enough to have the ‘next big thing’.

Customers in all industries - hotels, restaurants, holidays or retail purchases - have their expectations on the ceiling and if they receive bad service they are not frightened of venting their dismay on social media, eBay and a multitude of other websites.

Of course this is a good thing because it does mean that suppliers have to raise the bar.

So as a business operating today how do you keep ahead of the game?

There are a myriad of things you can do to ‘go that extra mile’ for your customers and a lot of these things won't break the bank.

A supplier’s catalogue came through the post today stating ‘No minimum order, everything carriage paid’. Although I am a big buyer I don't like to be dictated to as to how much I should spend. Lots of big companies have £100 carriage paid because they know once you get started you will easily reach that figure, but I still see it as a barrier. Even if you place a very tiny order a supplier is going to make a profit, averaging out all the orders you will place with them over the years.

We also live in an instant society - you order the item online, you blink, it arrives.

Recently, I was late ordering stock for the Easter holidays and saw my suppliers’ agents very late on. Some companies were really great and did double somersaults to get quite big orders out to me very quickly (I always ring and thank suppliers for good service). On one occasion the agent photographed the order, spoke to the warehouse and the stock duly arrived pronto in time for the Easter Bank Holiday.

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PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

On the contrary, another company some time ago, when I asked on a Tuesday for a delivery on Friday replied that they couldn't promise it. Why? I suspect they didn't want to pay the extra postage for next day guaranteed delivery! It was 18 months before I ordered again from them. You remember those who go that extra mile.

There have been a number of queries on my shop’s deliveries recently and it makes such a difference when the company representative is polite. I have had the two extremes. One was: "Do you know how many thousands of accounts we have and I'm not used to dealing with things like this." This was the response I received having pointed out that the Easter stock I ordered in July was then only delivered two weeks before Easter, which I didn’t think was really acceptable!

Below: Service with a smile, a card from U Studio.

Bottom: Pretty teacups on a Swing Card from Santoro.

Another company didn't listen and just started arguing with me! Someone at the end of the phone can make or break a company.

I made a huge mistake recently by not noting the delivery time of some urgent stock, and the supplier tried to deliver before the shop was open. I was mortified and immediately rang to apologise. The person on the phone was so charming and tried to arrange a delivery later that day. This gift company was Joe Davies, no wonder it has a fine collection of best service awards.

Everyone likes a freebie and it is a nice gesture to have offers at fairs and free gifts. It was Santoro's anniversary last year, and a beautiful hamper of Italian goodies arrived in appreciation of my support over the years. The same company also gave me a beautiful bespoke wooden dresser to display its stock, which is something that works for Santoro and for me.

Card spinners are the same. In 30 years of retailing I have never bought a card spinner or a display unit from a company as I believe the company is effectively reserving a space in my shop for their product. I recently bought a range of cards from The Art File. The cards

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LYNN’S LINES Left: Every year Lynn arranges an amazing Christmas grotto in her shop.

Below: Before PG Live, Olive and Belle sent out a personalised letter, brochure, card samples and chocolate bar to entice people to its stand at the show.

Bottom: Part of visiting Old Leigh on Sea in Essex is to pop into Lynn’s shop.

came in half dozens with a free spinner. I put that spinner in a high profile position and within a month I was reordering. Now if I hadn't been given that spinner I probably wouldn't have been so diligent to reorder, but I wanted to keep the spinner full of the publisher’s cards. It’s a win win.

When we go to hotels or out to restaurants often what makes our visit memorable are the ‘little touches’. This is what we remember. It might be the bar man remembering our drink and our children's names; the towel in the bedroom folded to look like a swan and a chocolate on the pillow.

Even the little bottles of lotions and potions in hotels are a nice gesture.

As I write this I am looking forward to PG Live, which delivers these ‘little touches’ in bucket loads. For the exhibitor there is plenty of handholding as for many card publishers it is their first trade show, and for visitors and exhibitors alike there’s as much free tea or coffee as you can drink, the amazing lunch and the opening night party. This certainly encourages retailers to have a lovely day out of their stores.

As a shop we have to offer lots of ‘value added’ to encourage customers to return and tell or bring their friends. We do this by making it a fun place by creating a Christmas grotto, arranging competitions, involving local schools and raising money for charity with fun initiatives.

And when we make mistakes I always ask my staff to give customers more than they expect by way of an apology.

A few weeks ago we had a problem with our bank card machine as there was a tiny bit of paper roll stuck. We didn't realise that was the problem when we had to put a payment through, which didn't print out a receipt. We were able to contacted the customer whose card was debited and gave her a cheque for £20 (her bill was actually £18) plus we included half a dozen Wrendale cards that she had admired when she was

shopping. Instead of being annoyed with us she was pleased and understood that mistakes happen.

There are always going to be human errors but it is how you deal with them that will win you customers or lose them. Mistakes are always an opportunity to show what sort of company you are. Our motto is “exceed their expectations”, not what you think you can get away with.

Just before PG Live I received a number of invitations from card publishers to see them at the show, but what I really cherish are the personal ones. One of these was a lovely parcel from card publisher Olive and Belle

which included a personally written letter, brochure, sample card and a bar of chocolate.

Now that's what I call TLC and value added. Of course, I put them on my list to visit at PG Live.

So, if you are going to the trouble of sending something to a customer or potential customer, make it memorable!

At the other end of the scale, I have an ongoing dispute with a company that I have been buying from regularly for over 25 years.

My spend with the company is about £4K to £5k a year. The rep comes once a month and merchandises the stands. But this time he missed my two busiest months in the shop November and December – and he arrived in January!

We are located in a tourist area so January is dead in the store; we only open four hours each day during the week at that time of the year.

The rep came in when one of my staff was at lunch and the other was creating shop displays. When I saw he had left all of the brochures for the new stock launching that month I asked my staff whether he took an order. "As far as we know no," they replied.

There was no order left or signed for!

Imagine my surprise when the next weekend £400 worth of old stock arrived (some was even discontinued products) from the company. I have now spoken to four people in the company to try and sort it out.

It's been very stressful and I'm on the verge of closing the account. The treatment I have received from the company, apart from one lady who said she would let accounts know there was a dispute, have not helped at all.

It does beg the question, is this company doing so well that they are happy to lose my business? I have been regularly ordering with this supplier every month for over 25 years!

But this recent treatment does not make me feel valued as a customer and I loathe the fact that the rep took the mickey. I can't believe how short-sighted some companies can be.

Moreover it would have taken so little to appease me and keep me as a customer.

But onto happier notes. Today was one of the best days of weather we’ve had in Old Leigh for ages, and for me it was one of the best days of business so far this year. Everyone was in such a good mood. It was also pay day for most people so they were all out enjoying themselves. For customers coming into our shop it is part of their outing and so it is up to us to help make their visit a memorable one.

All those little touches add up to that extra mile and I for one would rather make sure people leave with a smile on their face rather than a grimace or a frown.

Enjoy clocking up those extra miles of smiles!

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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t: 020 8993 5966 f: 020 8993 1396 w: www.retroco.com e: info@retroco.com

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PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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• Greetings Cards and Gift Wrap • Stationery • Soft Toys • Figurines • Giftware and Accessories

Method of Sale: Direct to Retail Carte Blanche Greetings Ltd ® Tel: +44(0)1243 792600

www.cathtatecards.com

cbg.co.uk

@CarteBlancheGrp

Witty, gritty, switched on humour.

Cards and gifts with a real difference.

Unit 1, 45 Morrish Road London SW2 4EE Tel: 0208 671 2166 Fax: 0208 678 1119 info@cathtatecards.com

Caspari Ltd Linden House, John Dane Player Court

East Street, Safffrron Walden Essex, CB10 1LR Tel: 01799 513010 Fax: 01799 513101 Email: info@caspari.co.uk www.CaspariOnline.com

Products: Everyday cards - birthday, blank & occasions, ch harity Christmas cards, gift wrap, bags, tissue, ribbon, hankies, napkins, paper plate, candles, placemats, crackers,invitations, placecards, notecards,diaries, address books, journals, advent calendars and bridge gifts.

Method of Sale: Direct to Retail

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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DIPINGO DESIGN

Market leaders in Humour, Art, Photographic, Occasions

Colneis Marketing York House, 2-4 York Road, Felixstowe, Suffolk IP11 7QQ T: 01394 271668 F: 01394 275114 E: colneiscards@btconnect.com

and Relations cards offering a full planning service with merchandising and retail

Bespoke design service for retail products

Online Shop www.colneisgreetingcards.com

development opportunities.

The UK No. 1 in Licensed Greetings etings Overr 30 licens nses including: g: D Disne y, Peppa Pig, Hello Kitty Kitty, y, Mr Men n a d Angry Birdss and t: +44 (0)1264 388400 e: enquiries@gemma-interna national. ti co.uk w: gemma-international. onal.co.uk

www.dipingodesign.co.uk

CARDS • WRAP • PARTY • GIFTS

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Colour House Graphics

GRASS ROOTS INTERNATIONAL

G RA SS R OOTS IN TE R NAT ION AL A U.K owned Greeting Cards Publisher.

Our everyday ranges for all occasions and relations include traditional, contemporary, cute, humour and photographic designs. We also have a full range of Christmas and Spring Seasons.

All products are designed and printed in the U.K on the finest quality board.

York House, 2-4 York Road, Felixstowe, Suffolk IP11 7QQ T: 01394 271668 F: 01394 275114 E: colourhousegraphics@hotmail.com Online Shop www.colourhousegraphics.co.uk

BRA N DS “Write from the Heart� brand includes; Corsage, Sentiments, Champagne, Celebrations and Jelly Beans.

M E THOD OF SA LE Direct to Retail

Beautiful greeting cards from contemporary British artwork

www.dryredpress.com

U ni t s 4 - 4A Val ent i nes Bui l di n g Ra c e c o u r s e B u s in e s s P a r k A i nt r ee, Li ver poo l , L9 5 A L Tel : 0151 52 3 9600 Fax : 015 1 523 494 9 e -m a i l : s a l e s @ w ri t e f r o m th e h e a r t . c o . u k

from the

T +44 (0) 1273 241210 E info@dryredpress.com

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64

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

www.greatbritishcards.co.uk

G RA SS R OOTS IN TE R NAT ION AL WATERWELLS DRIVE, GLOUCESTER GL2 2PH UK TEL: 01452 888999

7

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) CHARITY GREETING CARDS

Eye catching, luxurious Gift Wraps, Gift Tags, Gift Bags, Roll Wrap, Tissue Papers & Ribbons for all occasions Glick, Unit 1 Allenby House, European Industrial Park, Knowles Lane, Bradford BD4 9AB Tel: 01274 655980 email: sales@glick.co.uk www.glick.co.uk

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.

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

LING DESIGN The UK’s leading privately owned publisher of Greetings Cards and Stationery. ...The home for

...and the UK home for

Cards made with love...

and

Products: Greetings cards for all occasions, Christmas and Spring Seasons cards, gift wrap and bags, charity cards, social stationery.

Bespoke service for charities and other fundraisers.

Ling Design Ltd 14-20 Eldon Way, Paddock Wood, Kent TN12 6BE Tel: 01892 838574 Fax: 01892 838676 Email: enquiries@lingdesign.co.uk Website: www.lingdesign.co.uk

Silk Screened Retro, Pop & Classic Cards Inspired by Music and 1960’s American Advertising.For all Vinyl & Rock n’Roll lovers

L E T U S TA K E YOU BAC K

60 years

Your Number One Supplier of Numerals, Name, Relation & Age Labels for Greetings Cards.

Huge selection with immediate delivery. Buy direct or from o your wholesaler..

Listan Labels 3 Isis Court, Wyndyke Furlong, Abingdon Business Park, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX1 5JN Tel 01235 465489 Fax 01235 532118 www.listanpublications.co.uk sales@listanpublications.co.uk

For further details please get in touch.

info@vincentmcevoy.com

+44 (0)7779 578340

To appear in the Product Directory please contact Warren Lomax on 020 7700 6740 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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Three great publishers, all under one roof, contemporary, graphic, humour, cute and photographic ranges with a fantastic range of occasions and relations cards.

Key brands: V&A, Portobello, Spirit, Daisy Patch, Sugar Pips, Marzipan Toybox, Born to Stitch, Idols, Life, Sweet Tooth, Brights.

Method of sale: Direct to retail, Export and Licensing.

Riverside House, Centurion Way, Riverside Business Park, Nottingham NG2 1RW Tel: 0115 986 0115 Fax: 0115 986 0116 Email: sales@paperrose.co.uk Web: www.paperrose.co.uk www.artgroupcards.co.uk

Products An exciting and innovative range of quality Birthday, relations, special occasions, art and humorous greeting cards. Full range of Christmas and Spring Seasons merchandise. Comprehensive collection of handmade cards.

Pizazz gifts.

paperlink... the home of fabulous cards!

356 56 Kennington Rd L London SE11 4LD T 020 0 7582 8244 info@paperlink.co.uk paperlink.co.uk www.paperlink.co.uk

Brand Names Pizazz, Pizazz Gallery, Say the Word, Carousel, Meadow Sweet, R&R for Men, What a Picture!

Cloudesley House • Shire Hill Saffron Walden • CB11 3FB T: 01799 520200 F: 01799 520100 www.nigelquiney.com

Suppliers of humorous & Su contemporary Birthday, Christmas, Spring Seasons, Occasions & Relations cards

originalposter.com

Brands include: Bottomline, Bestie, Wrinklies, Hat Trick, Route 69, Bangers & Flash, Humdingers, Lacie, Sassy, Stay Wonky, Patisserie, Tinklers, Made With Love, and many many more!

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.

Method of Sale: Direct Paperlinkcards @paperlinkcards

We merchandise regularly, so you don’t have to.

THAT’S WHY WE’RE ORIGINAL!

01932 267 300

To appear in the Product Directory please contact Warren Lomax on 020 7700 6740 66

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

PRODUCT DIRECTORY

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TM

The Playful Indian cards are a unique fusion of the east and west. Simple and quirky, they have made many people smile...so what are you waiting for, put a smile on someone’s face today!

holy y cow! it s it’s your birthday

Greeting Cards that are unique & special with creative wit.

Looking for top-notch agents to join our expanding team.

rosierobins.com 01992 536461

Uk publisher of Greetings Cards with an extensive range of quality Birthday, Relations, Occasions and Seasonal product...

available from

LING DESIGN

Mr Figgis, when we say parents invited, we usually mean to sit and watch!

Our Brands: The Crazy Side of Life, Laughter with Animals, Sporting Fun The Funny Side of Life, Twiddly Winks.

Dad - I thought you said I could be the, one to tell him you re out

M etho do f sale: Dire c ttoRe ta il 1 4 -2 0E ld o nW a y ,P a d d o c kW o o d , K e n tT N 1 26 B E T e l: 0 1 8 9 28 3 8 5 7 4F a x :0 1 8 9 28 3 8 6 7 6 E m a il: e n q u irie s@ lin g d e sig n .c o .u k W e b site :w w w .lin g d e sig n .c o .u k

Design-led Stationery, Gifts, Calendars, Diaries and Cards Brands Laura Ashley, Roald Dahl, Lily & Val, Vintage Ladybird, Caroline Gardner, Monsoon, Born to Shop, Flash Gordon, Boofle and many more.

Our In-house design studio and established supply chain enables us to offer bespoke services. tel: +44 (0) 1225 329494 email: sales@porticodesigns.com website: www.porticodesigns.com

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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

DIRECT TO RETAIL & EXPORT

Brands: Designer Collection, Feelings, Impressions, Inspirations, In Touch, Isabel’s Garden, Paper Wishes, Planet Happy.

Method of sale: Wholesale Distributors

Simon Elvin Limited

striking contemporary cards designed by nicole

Wooburn Industrial Park, Wooburn Green, Bucks HP10 0PE Tel: 01628 526711 Fax: 01628 531483 www.simonelvin.com mail@simonelvin.com

0781 5811158 info@redberrycards.co.uk

TEL: 01480 435562 FAX: 01480 450599

www.redberrycards.co.uk The UK’s leading publishers of highest quality handmade Greetings Cards.

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

Talking Pictures Cards

14-20 Eldon Way, Paddock Wood, Kent, TN12 6BE

Tel: 0845 450 1815 Fax: 0845 450 1816 Email: enquiries@talkingpics.co.uk Website: www.talking-pictures.co.uk

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Sensations International Ltd Unit 6, Quad Road,East Lane Business Park,East lane, Wembley,MIDDLESEX HA9 7NE Tel. 0208 3854470 Fax: 0208 385 4471 Email: sales@sensationsinternational.com 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: Direct to retail.

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PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

w: www.tomcatcards.co.uk e: tomcat@tomcatcards.co.uk t: 01243 837300

www.tracksltd.com UNIT 2, 12 BLACKSTONE RD, STUKELEY MEADOWS IND EST, HUNTINGDON, CAMBS, PE29 6EF

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● PRODUCT DIRECTORY

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To appear in the Product Directories simply contact

Warren Lomax on:

020 7700 6740 or email on warren@max-publishing.co.uk

01923 200600 | www.woodmansterne.co.uk

Top-notch British Greeting Cards for Thoughts that Count

PRODUCT DIRECTORY

or contact

Tracey Arnaud on:

07957 212 062 or email on tarnaud@btinternet.com

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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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

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ENVELOPES

FOR A LL YOU R EN V ELOPE N EEDS! Largest range of in- stock colours Over 400 Bespoke Envelope Sizes 8 Sizes Permanently in Stock

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Stock & Bespoke Cello Bags Peel & Stick Envelopes p Bespoke Service on Request

ORDER ON LINE AT: www.regentenvelopes.com 01274 583000 sales@regentenvelopes.com

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

01274 220 220 www w.wrapid.co.uk sales@wrapid.co.uk PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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Quality Bespoke Envelopes!

From 5,000 quantity to many millions we can produce excellent quality envelopes for you.

Plain, printed, coloured & textured finish.

100% recycled & FSC available.

Please call us on 0843 5066684 with your enquiry or visit our website

www.ukenvelopecentre.co.uk We will be delighted to help!

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• Litho printing • Digital printing • Embossing • Die-cutting • Flittering • Foiling

FLITTERING

• Folding • Packing

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

PRODUCTIONS

Producing greeting cards for over 30 years 188 Forstal Road, Aylesford, Kent ME20 7DB

t 01622 710 759 www.offsetproductions.co.uk

PRINTERS

PJ Print (London) The Capitals only Greetings card printer Guess what what ?

We now offer a short run digital print service to the greeting card industry

LITHO OR DIGITA GIT T L, TA L WINDLES GR GROUP ROUP AL LWAYS MAKES M THE RIGHT HT PRINT IMPRE RESSION. RE

That’s handy if you only want 100 copies

PJ - PRINT E-mail: sales@pj-print.co.uk The Print Works Colville Road, Acton London W3 8BL tel 020 8993 5160 fax 020 8992 8421 www.pj-print.co.uk 72

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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Specialist UK and Global manufacturer for the greeting card industry

Digiitall P Di Priint S Speciali i list for the greeting card industry What we offer: • Greeting cards • Artworking and design • Short-run print • Pick, pack and distribution • Promotional items • Bespoke gifts

To discuss how we could work with you contact Simon King Tel: 0115 928 7766 Email: sales@sherwoodgroupuk.com

www.sherwoodgroupuk.com

• Marketing literature • Exhibition graphics • Stationery • Brochures • and more...

To discuss ho we could P

07974 4 133735 paul.watson@sherwood dgroupuk.com Hadden Court, Glaisdale Parkway, Glaisdale Drive West, Nottingham, NG8 4GP

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YOUR MANUFACTURING PARTNER FOR VALUE ADDED PRODUCTS English speaking production team, prices quoted in # sterling... and only 3 days delivery to THE UK...

Really... and there"s no VAT to pay or customs procedures either...that's a great deal!

• Hand made and hand finished greeting cards • Boxed sets and acetate packs of cards / envelopes • Giftwrap and tag packs • Individually open and closed wrapped cards • 'Pop up' and cardboard engineered products • Notelets and social stationery • Specialised printing on plastics & lenticular For production enquiries, estimates etc., please contact our UK Agent:

Rob Pearson 07710 132 232 rob@solutions-polska.com

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FSC accredited (BV-COC-002485). Audited member of SMETA. Printing to ISO12674-2 standard.

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The Professional and Caring Approach..

• LITHO PRINT

• DIE-CUTTING

• EMBOSSING

• DISTRIBUTION

• DIGITAL PRINT • FOILING •

FLOWRAPPING

• FLITTERING • PACKING • INSERTING

Tel: 01274 531828 Contact Chris Sharman. Email: chriss@herbertwalkers.co.uk

www.herbertwalkers.co.uk

... to 3rd Party Warehouse, Distribution and Hand Finishing needs.

With over 25 years experience in the Greeting Card and Gift Industry, we specialise in providing a very fast yet efficient and friendly service to all of our customers.

Our close links to the port of Felixstowe allowing excellent access for both UK and overseas business.

We would be happy to talk to you and provide further information please contact either: James Smithies on 01449 778360 e: james@setinhand.com Tracy Davies on 01449 778363 e: tracy@setinhand.com Please visit our website at www.setinhand.com for further information.

Your Success Is Our Success

LB Warehousing (Women in Transport & Logistics Finalist)

S AME DAY order turnaround A CCURATE fulfilment and same day turn round V ALUE ADDED only as you sell the product E XCLUSIVELY Greeting Cards D EDICATED Account Managers With an excellent reputation we work as an integral part of your TEAM bringing much more than fulfilment.

Our costing structure is SIMPLE and TRANSPARENT.

We specialise in providing high quality print for short to medium runs, incorporating multiple images. Go to our website for prices, alternatively call or email us for a bespoke quote.

T

01274 305832

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info@hellocards.co.uk

W

www.hellocards.co.uk

We carry out ALL aspects of hand finishing and assembly and provide whatever ADDITIONAL services YOU need Our select team of outworkers carefully hand wrap any size or format of cards urgently, OVERNIGHT! We CARE about your product as much as you do. Attention to detail, QC Issues and IT supported by a comprehensive paper trail for all stock movements are our hallmarks.

Our CAN DO approach means that WE solve your problems.

Outsourcing your warehousing operation releases your time to CREATE/MARKET/SELL/ MANAGE/GROW THE BUSINESS YOUR BUSINESS IS OUR BUSINESS, please visit our web site and see what OUR customers say, then to find out more call Lynda Raymond and perhaps we can arrange to meet and discuss your needs I am sure that we can help.

LB Warehousing, Units 1, 2 &3 Wayside Warehouses, Toseland, Near St. Neots, Cambridgeshire. PE19 6RX Tel 01480 880800 Fax 01480880900 Mobile 07889 399341 lynda@lb-warehousing.co.uk

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DISPLAY AND SPINNERS

UNIVERSAL

SHOP EQUIPMENT GREETING CARD DISPLAYS

• Manufacturers of

quality Display Units for over 25 years

• PVC Interlocking Tiers • High Impact 2mm Edging

• Vast range of colours available

• From one unit through to full shop refits

INNOVATIVE DISPLAYS TO MEET YOUR NEEDS www.universalshopequipment.co.uk Tel: 0151 546 4525 (Showroom) Tel: 01929 550085 Email: sales@westminsterwire.com Web: www.westminsterwire.com

Home of the Wire Spinner Stand

The Wire Spinner is proven to be the most cost effective method to display and enhance products.

We also offer sheet metal, wood, acrylic and cardboard solutions or a combination of materials.

WANTED

CALLING ALL GREETING CARD PUBLISHERS We could buy your old images even if they are several years old. Turn your used and discontinued greeting card image concepts into cash.

Fair price paid immediately.

CUTTERS COLLECTIONS LTD 92 STATION ROAD, WILLINGHAM, CAMBRIDGE, CB24 5HG

FORFURTHER INFORMATION REGARDING THISMUST SEEEVENT PLEASECONTACT TRACEYON 01234740051

e: denniswoodruff@btconnect.com PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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