Arriving with a great thud of loveliness, the physical copies of Progressive Greetings’ January issue landed at the start of this week, while the digital version is now available to read online…go on, treat yourself!
The year has started with a bang, helped by Christmas having proved a winner, for indies especially with the ‘shop local’ rally call feeding into the festive tills.
PG’s News pages are crammed full of industry happenings from the retailing, publishing and trade supplier fronts. (Click to pages 12-13)
Having recently acquired the Northamptonshire-based Mooch group, Cardzone is most definitely ‘in the zone’ for growing the specialist multiple’s estate by another 20 stores this year, taking it to over 200 shops. (Click to pages 60-61)
Another retailer with the bit between their teeth is Stoke Newington’s Earlybird, with co-owner Heidi Early full steam ahead on her plans to protect the special ‘Stokey’ high street community. (Click to pages 72-73)
‘Bean’ Parkhouse, owner of The Bean Hive in Kettering (and Falmouth) is also all abuzz about her local community (Click to pages 76-77) while a quad of other retailers reveal some of their best-selling lines in What’s Hot. What’s Hot (Click to pages 84-85)
With the dawning of a new year comes the urge to embrace the new trends and drivers that will affect our buying habits. PG January has this well and truly covered. Pigment’s trend maestro Hannah Allan shares what she feels are six key life themes for this year that will be reflected in greeting card designs (Click to pages 56-57).
Meanwhile, in the first of a two part series, some leading artists agencies and picture library execs each reveal a trio of design trends. (Click to pages 80-81)
Chiming with our ‘growing’ interest and appreciation of the world about it, it is not surprising that the following for talented printmaker, Angela Harding (whose designs are published by Art Angels and Flametree) continues to expand, especially with her new book, A Year Unfolding, hitting the best sellers list. (Click to pages 74-75)
Another celebrity gracing the pages of PG this month is Nadiya Hussain, who has cooked up a winning recipe for a range of greeting cards with Woodmansterne. (Click to pages 64-65).
And the feast for the eyes continues with an extensive Innovations section that’s bubbling over with brand new launches from publishers. (Click to pages 46-47)
As ever, PG columnists, David Robertson and Cardsharp dish up plenty of food for thought. Retailer David, (Click to pages 30-31) suggests that after all the uncertainty we have lived through that now is the time to put a new ‘Olympic’ training plan into action.
Cardsharp has been ‘pigging out’, considering some of the advertising messages being sent out by Moonpig are a bit of a kick in the teeth. (Click to pages 32-33)
There are also views galore from a handful of GCA Council members, having been put on the spot as to what they feel have been the major challenges as well as opportunities for the greeting card industry. (Click to pages 36-37).
And with diversity quite rightly high on the agenda, Jenny Baker, director of Out of the Box shares how her publishing company has set about giving greater recognition to the many who live with disabilities, both physical and hidden. (Click to pages 44-45)
The sharing of opinions continues with members of Creative Card Collective, the new membership hub for creatives musing on whether how welcoming our industry is as well as what could be done to improve matters for freelance artists and designers. (Click to pages 66-67)
All this and more in the pages of a lovely glossy magazine. Wouldn’t you like to hold it in your hands so you can flick through and read it wherever it takes your fancy?
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