So, the doors have closed on 2020 and have opened up to what will hopefully prove to be a much brighter 2021.
In a series of interviews, PG Buzz asked a selection of greeting card publishers what their wishes are for the industry, what lessons they have learned from the pandemic as well as a sneak peek into what they have planned for their business for the coming year.
Today, it is Lucilla Lavender, founder of Lucilla Lavender who’s in the hot seat…
What are your wishes for the industry? “Our greatest wish for 2021 is that we can continue to adapt to the new circumstances in which we all find ourselves.
Some of these circumstances are new – the pandemic, of course – and there is an opportunity now to create greeting cards which allow people to communicate new feelings and ideas.
And some of the circumstances that we have to adapt to are not so new – particularly our need to care for the environment. There is so much ground-breaking work being done to allow us to create wonderful cards without the use of environmentally damaging materials already, and we look forward to the continuation of this great work by everyone in the industry.”
Can you share some of your business plans for 2021? “For Lucilla Lavender Ltd, 2021 will be a year of New! We launched two new card categories to our portfolio towards the end of 2020 and we will be working to further expand them. The New Normal range is a light-hearted celebration of the changes that the pandemic has made to our everyday lives and how these changes have very swiftly become our new normal. The new Friendship range is a sweet and heartfelt look at what friendship means in 2021.
We also have a raft of new ranges launching in 2021, including Human Bean as well as a new take on sparkles with our Sparklicious range. These cards really bring the wow factor, without costing the earth! They achieve their fabulous sparkles with holographic and gold foils – no flitter in sight!”
What lessons have you learned from the pandemic? “So many lessons – but perhaps the most enduring will be the importance of retailers. The importance of the big retailers – and the fact that the supermarkets kept going all the way through the various lockdowns, with staff willing to put themselves potentially in harm’s way to keep us all fed and watered. And the smaller retailers – and we think especially of the retailers who sell greeting cards – and how much they were missed by their customers when they were forced to shut down. Never have we been so aware of the great good that all our retailers bring to our lives and we will treasure them even more in 2021.”
Top: Lucilla Lavender, who runs the eponymous company with her co-director Anneke Driscoll.
