Bewilderbeest and Peartree Heybridge clinch licensing deals with L&P
Major giftware and homewares firm Lesser & Pavey has double-tapped into greeting card creativity with several of its newest launches based on licensing agreements with publishers Bewilderbeest and Peartree Heybridge.
“To say that PG Live 2022 was a really good show for us to visit is somewhat of an understatement, as it was there that we spotted both Bewilderbeest and Peartree Heybridge and immediately saw the potential of translating several of their brands onto collections of gift and homewares products in time to catch the Christmas market,” L&P’s director Jonny Greves told PG Buzz, having visited the June trade show with managing director Julian Hunt.
And they wasted no time, with the resultant products from the licensing collaborations with both publishers launching officially at the recent Autumn Fair.
For Iain Hamilton, founder of Bewilderbeest, the tie-up with Lesser & Pavey continues something of a purple patch for the newbie publisher, as his quirky, humorous cards are not only featuring in the finals of The Henries awards, but he himself is also a contender in The Lynn Tait Most Promising Young Designer Or Artist category to boot.
“The Lesser & Pavey licensing deal was a pretty unexpected but very welcome outcome from PG Live,” commented Iain. “We’d been considering licensing, but thought it might be something we would look into more seriously next year. Then Jonny and Julian arrived on the stand, seemed very keen on our designs and we agreed to meet the week after PG Live.
“When we went through our designs with them, they ended up picking more designs than they initially planned, and next thing we knew I was sending various image files over!”
Translating the 2D designs on to different products, such as mugs, mats, and tea towels, Iain said was fairly straightforward, adding: “Adam at Lesser & Pavey, their art ninja/head of design, adapted most of our designs for us – I barely had to lift a Photoshop finger! It’s great that Lesser & Pavey has licensed newbies like us, and hopefully I’ll come up with more nonsense for them to print on to various homeware.”
Each item in the collection features one of Bewilderbeest’s sometimes-absurd illustrations and captions. The range includes notebooks as well as fine china mugs, ceramic coasters, drinking glasses, laptrays, sets of tablemats and coasters as well as cotton tea towels.
While Bewilderbeest is a relative newcomer, Peartree Heybridge is one of the most established brands in the sector, with its Camilla and Rose collection by artist Sarah Boddy, being a humour mainstay for many retailers, a status reinforced by it reaching this year’s finals in The Henry Cole Classic category, for ranges that have stood the test of time.
As well as Camilla & Rose, Lesser & Pavey has also licensed designs from Peartree Heybridge’s Just Saying, Unravelled Sports and Bee-tanicals card brands, which are all created by Sarah and now feature on an extensive range of giftware and homeware, including notebooks, fine china mugs, ceramic coasters, drinking glasses, laptrays, tablemats, coasters, andcotton tea towels.
Peartree Heybridge director Louise Martin commented: “We’re very excited with the prospect of our brands extending into new products and are always looking for potential connections, especially from the trade shows where we can be seen by so many more people. This year PG Live was a great networking opportunity for us and we look forward to other new relationships developing.
“Working with L&P has been quick and easy, the guys are very straightforward to deal with and we have relied on their product expertise to translate the cards on to new products.”
Top: L&P’s Jonny Greves on the Autumn Fair stand
