“National Trust champions card publishers and designers who have developed their own style that resonates with the public. Our membership of ACID is a further endorsement of how we do not support copying,” stated Bianca Mastrodomenico, National Trust’s buyer of greeting cards, stationery, clothing and children’s products in the wake of the announcement that National Trust has joined Anti Copying In Design (ACID) campaign.
National Trust stocks greeting cards in approximately 180 shops at its heritage sites, ordering from 20+ greeting card publishers direct. In addition, it develops bespoke product ranges often working with greeting card designers, the most of recent of which being the newly launched National Trust 2019 Family Organiser, commissioned with artist Sarah Lovell.
“We discovered Sarah’s work by first seeing her greeting cards range and felt that her charming, wildlife inspired style was the perfect fit to reflect the important work the Trust does as a conservation charity,” elaborated Bianca, who showed her personal passion and commitment to greeting cards by being one of the ‘Dragons’ in the GCA’s recent Speed-Dating with Dragons 2 event.
Previous to joining National Trust, Bianca was part of the card buying team at WHSmith.
National Trust’s decision to join ACID is a mutually beneficial to both the heritage charity and the anti-copying campaign group, acting as strong endorsement against ‘copycat’ products.
“We are delighted that the National Trust is supporting Anti Copying in Design, not only to help protect their own in-house designs but as advocates of the original design of others,” comments Dids Macdonald, OBE, ceo of ACID. “From writers to fabric designers, photographers to painters, the protection of their intellectual property is paramount.”
ACID will help National Trust to protect against any copycat action of those who seek to replicate its IP. National Trust’s own in-house designers develop an impressive array of products that draw on the Trust’s original archive of imagery.
As Laura Vincent, senior retail designer for the National Trust stressed: “It is so important to us as a design team to know that our original and authentic prints are protected. So much research and time goes into sourcing the locations to inspire our designs, developing the print and in capturing the unique stories behind them. It is important that organisations like ACID can help ensure the authenticity of connection to our charitable activities is protected.”
