As the orders placed at PG Live last week are now making their way onto retailers’ shelves, PG Buzz shares the views from Paperchase’s senior buyer Natalie Alexander, House of Cards’ co-owner Miles Robinson and Amanda Oscroft, co-owner of Love It (in Stamford and Bury St Edmunds) reveal their top product picks from the show.
To re-live all the fun of the fair, click onto the PG Live 2019 photo gallery from which all the photos can be downloaded (https://maxpublishing.shootproof.com/gallery/pglive2019/).
Natalie Alexander, senior buyer of cards for
Paperchase: “I loved the energy of PG Live, everyone was really enthusiastic about their newness and it was great to meet existing and new suppliers.”
Natalie’s top picks: “So many of our existing suppliers had some fab new ranges, but we also spied some real potential in the Springboard area. A particular highlight was giving our Golden ticket to Type and Story, It was lovely that Niccy Iseman, founder of the company, was so excited when we produced the ticket!”
Miles Robinson, co-owner of House of Cards, small group of six card shops based in the Home Counties: “We’ve never been so looked after at a trade show as we are at PG Live – just one of the things for us that means it stands apart from other shows. All of our team really enjoyed the show. It has such a great buzz and positive vibe, which is especially welcome when retail is tough as it at the moment.
Of course always great to see new publishers and emerging trends, as well as seeing how existing suppliers are upping their game.”
Miles’ top picks: “At this year’s PG Live the publishers’ whose ranges really stood out for us were Paper Salad, Louise Mulgrew, Doodleicious and Poet & Painter.
Of our existing suppliers we were delighted to see some great new designs from Bexy Boo, Lucilla Lavender, Redback, Second Nature, Tache, Tracks, Woodmansterne and of course Wrendale.”
Amanda Oscroft, co-owner of Love it, Stamford and Bury St Edmunds: “Another wonderful PG Live. We were in card heaven for a day! We wouldn’t miss it for the world.
We had barely stepped through the door when we were offered a sit down on the beautiful Paper Salad stand where we were fed strawberries while we opened a new account and placed our first order with them! With Prue Leith looking on and smiling at us, it was one of many special moments at the show!
We thought the Springboard part of the show was particularly good as there was so much young original talent. The only downside is the limited space we have in the shops as we could have filled it with at least half a dozen new companies from there.”
Amanda’s top picks: “As well as Paper Salad’s ranges, we loved the beautiful stand of Lucy Ledger, especially her absolutely stunning original designs featuring crystals and their meanings for the birthday month.
After a delicious lunch chatting to a woman who had come all the way from Peru we placed an order with Patrick Hickey from The Rusty Pencil. His cards were so very funny and made us howl with laughter so we decided to spend our Sunshine ticket with him on his debut at PG Live, which put a huge smile on his face.
The largest order we placed was with Redback Cards. They not only have the funniest cards in Cloud Nine, Holy Flaps and Good Things, but are the kindest, most caring company we have ever come across. They check every order has arrived, they send freebies every so often, they are so grateful for every order and make us feel like we’re their best customer ever. Everyone at Redback, from the lovely owners Chris and Kate to the reps designers and Samantha in the office are such a pleasure to do business with.”
Top: (left-right) Paperchase’s Natalie Alexander, House of Cards’ Miles Robinson and Love It’s Amanda Oscroft.
