The Tache team is all smiles about a new collaboration with the iconic Smiley brand launches at Top Drawer, all as a result of last year’s PG Live exhibition.
Among the madness of PG Live last year, Smiley’s CEO Nicolas Loufrani (son of the brand’s creator) and brand maestro Daniel McGeehan made a beeline for the Tache Crafts’ stand to chat to the publisher’s co-founders, Pennie Bryant and Frank Nicholls.
As Pennie recalls: “My initial thought when they told me who they were and their interest to collaborate with us was ‘how perfect!’ Tache is all about fun and colourful designs that are aimed to make you smile – even our slogan is ‘Designed to make you smile’. The excitement of the collaboration alone has put big smiles on our faces. How can you not want to smile all of the time when you are working with happy faces.”
Working with Smiley was actually a very personal journey for Pennie, with the Smiley icons taking her back to childhood. “Funnily enough my Granny has been a Smiley fan for as long as I can remember – she even used to have Smiley keyring, which I stole and now use for my keys! Don’t worry, be happy has been a family saying since I was little and the song with same title is one of mine and my Grandad’s all-time favourites. It’s almost like this collaboration was meant to be!”
Tache Crafts will officially unveil its new Smiley greeting card range at Top Drawer, which opens this Sunday (Jan 14) and runs until next Tuesday (Jan 16), with two walls of its stand (Z38) dedicated to the new range. An extension to the range will launch at PG Live on 5-6 June.
Working with Smiley has whetted Tache’s appetite for further collaborations with Pennie saying “we’d love to work with colourful, happy and playful brands and designers on new ranges in the near future. Smiley has a really exciting partnership with the classic brand Rubik’s, so if we play our cards right we might be able to work with them on a Rubik’s themed range. Think of all the lovely colours!”
