John Lewis and WHSmith reveal new faces on the card-buying front
There are new and moving faces on the buying front in the greeting card world with a number of changes at John Lewis and WHSmith.
Jason Billings-Cray is the new name at John Lewis and Waitrose, having jumped in at the deep end with a visit to PG Live on only his second day as the buyer for everyday cards and collections.
“It was a great opportunity to introduce myself to publishers, meet colleagues, and get to know the wide variety of products out there,” Jason told PG Buzz.
He’s been with John Lewis for seven years, starting on curtains, then cushions, before moving to the Christmas Shop, and now cards and collections with Jason joking “there’s a theme there, only C products so far!” as he takes over from stationery and card buyer Claire Taylor, who is moving to housewares to replace former card buyer Lisa Rutherford, who is taking a sabbatical.
Jason added: “One of my favourite areas in Christmas was paper, wrap, crackers and cards so I’m delighted with the move and excited to delve deeper into the wonderful world of cards.
“I studied history of art and contemporary art theory at university, studies that I loved, combining my interest in art and all things visual with analytics and theoretical observations. This is why I love my job as a buyer, I’m very visual in my approach, attracted to great design and colour, combined with a desire to edit, curate and build the perfect assortment for the JL and Waitrose customers.”
The demise of Paperchase has seen senior buyer Carlo Marinelli move to WHSmith Travel as buying manager, where he’s working alongside buyer Louise Chambers and merchandiser Lauren Moore, while in the WHS Retail side Scarlett Ford has joined as a new card buyer to work with buying manager Claire Castle and assistant buyer Christina Worthy.
And the new WHS-owned Curi-o-city retail chain now has Clare Morant as buying manager for cards, assisted by Stephanie Bassant.
