TOTAL LICENSING CHINA
The award-winning licensing programme of the V&A (Victoria and Albert Museum, London) offers an almost infinite source of design inspiration for a multitude of product categories. The museum continues to grow its product offering and global reach with new activations from licensees and retailers in key territories. 2019 has been a year of huge growth for the programme, especially in East Asia where the V&A team has worked with master licensee Alfilo Brands to push forward ambitious licensing plans, retail collaborations and pop-up stores. Ten new licensees were added in the past year and product ranges include cosmetics, footwear, homeware, luggage and eyewear. The V&A launched its first collaboration with Shiseido with a beautiful range of limited-edition gift sets. Shiseido brands Pure & Mild, Aquair, Ma Cherie and Za used an array of V&A archive inspiration to create gift boxes, each with a uniquely designed gift, from a Japanese-inspired canvas bag, to
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handkerchiefs and headbands based on stunning English furnishing fabrics. The comprehensive marketing and press campaign included photography shot at the V&A using beautiful backdrops such as The National Art Library and inside the world’s first museum café – a visual feast in itself! The V&A’s latest launch in China is with another beauty brand - Lansur. The range includes foundation, concealer, lipstick and an eyeshadow palette decorated with the stylised and flamboyant Art Nouveau portrait ‘Zodiac’, created by Alphonse Mucha.
Other releases include premier fine jewellery retailer Chow Sang Sang, China’s exclusive retailer of V&A fine jewellery, have extended an exquisite crown range, inspired by a ruby silver foil crown from 1863; and Cote d’Or, launching a second series of limitededition chocolate gift boxes this spring and The V&A continues to collaborate with major online retailers in China such as JD.com and Tmall. They participated in the first ever JD.com ‘Super Museum Day’ with Shiseido at the end of last year, to promote the V&A’s
