Indie artists’ advocate shuts up shop in change of direction to ‘create for the joy’
One of the biggest advocates for indie greeting card artists’ rights has announced a change of direction, as Angela Chick Illustration closes down its trade arm.
Having run the business for 12 years Angela, who is heavily involved with the grassroots Just A Card campaign supporting indie artists and retailers, has decided on a change of direction.
“Life has been a bit of a rollercoaster over the last few years,” Angela explained. “I’ve been working behind the scenes making some big changes in my life and have been looking at what works and what doesn’t.
“I’ve decided it’s time for me to shut up shop. It wasn’t an easy choice to make. It’s down to a lot of things but, to view it in a positive light, it will give me more time to focus on what is important to me. It will give me more time to focus on commissions, teaching, licensing and creating for the joy of it.”
Only last month Angela was interviewed on BBC Breakfast with Ayesha Corcoran, of Studio Yaya, and Blackbox Nailcraft’s Tiffiny Tremain talking about her designs being copied by online retail giant Shein – which brings together around 6,000 factories in China under its label.
“We’ve all had designs stolen,” she said, “and it’s not the first time or the last. although I really wish it could be! The irony is, I didn’t have the pin in stock that was shown because, after costs went up, I couldn’t afford to keep them in stock. And yet Shein was selling the knock-offs for even cheaper than I could get them from my supplier!”
And back at Christmas 2022, Angela helped comedian and tv presenter Joe Lycett take Paperchase to task over its pre-pack administration deal that left greeting card publishers thousands of £pounds out of pocket.
After going into administration for the second time on 30 January, 2023, the retailer finally collapsed with the closure of all stores, while the brand and intellectual property were bought by Tesco, which now has its own products under the Paperchase name.
One of three publishers who shared the star’s generous £17,000 donation from the sales of his own greeting cards, Angela appeared on Channel 4’s Joe Lycett: Got Your Back special episode with Bow & Bell’s Kelly and Liz and Cat Faulkner who co-own Jelly Armchair – between them they were owed more than £60,000 by Paperchase.
Joe told the audience he’d been “busy pissing people off” as he gets “annoyed about injustice”, and he described the feature as “how goodwill to all men isn’t the policy of a certain greeting card company”.
Having last week announced the closure of the retail side of her business, Angela is selling off her remaining greeting cards, pins and other products through her website, and said: “Thanks sooooooooo much for all your orders and support over the last 12 years! I’m not going anywhere by the way. I’ll still be here posting and sharing my work on Facebook. You’ll just get less salesy posts. Full steam ahead into change and embracing the professional pivot.”
