Papersheep rebrand keeps publisher’s connection to original founder
From bookkeeper to publisher, Sarah Heycock has completed the process by rebranding her business as Papersheep to keep the connection with the company’s original founder.
Having worked with Penny Lindop Designs on the accounts side, Sarah bought the Norfolk-based business, known for its sheep cards hand-finished with wool, when the artist herself retired in 2019, and has spent the past three years learning the ropes.
“Penny built a lovely brand with many more designs and products,” Sarah told PG Buzz, “and we’ve continued to supply and build on her success. After three years of learning, making, designing and managing the business through Covid, I felt it was time to put my stamp on the business by changing the name.
“I wanted a name to reflect both the past and the future and, after a lot of thought, we settled on Papersheep. I worked with a design agency on the branding side of the name change and they suggested the jumping ‘e’ which was perfect for us. A new retail website was launched in October and we have just joined the wholesale website Faire so we’re looking forward to 2023.”
Sarah spent 20 years in the Royal Air Force before joining Penny as her bookkeeper and admits that, while she knew all the suppliers, stockists and how the business worked she was “not a maker of cards”!
Initially assuming someone would step in to buy the business, eventually Sarah decided to do it herself and everything was moved from the cabins in Penny’s garden in May 2019 to a studio in Snetterton, where she now prints the larger cards and pictures herself as well as doing the hand-finishing.
Sarah added: “I have done a lot of learning about card production! It’s been a fantastic journey and new designs are now brought out in a similar style, such as the hummingbird, with the wool giving a 3D effect.”
Papersheep’s offer of stationery, notecards, notebooks, calendars and bags plus the full greeting card range were on show at the recent Country Living Christmas Fair in London and Sarah and her team are moving towards using card clasps so they can cut plastic usage by losing the cellophane bags.
Top: Sarah Heycock and Papersheep’s jumping ‘e’ rebrand
