Independent publisher teams up with the art brand for a range of greetings cards
KJG Ltd has signed a deal for graphic design and illustration property Snowtap with The Art File, to offer a range of greetings cards based on Snowtap’s natural world-inspired designs.
The collection of 16 cards to celebrate a range of occasions was launched in late July at Harrogate Gift Fair and PG Live, and has already received a fantastic response from The Art File’s customer base. The licensee reports that 10 to 12 of the designs are very close in terms of sales, showing customers are buying into the entire range and then re-ordering, meaning the collection is a real winner with retailers.
Designs in The Art File’s offering include the best-selling ‘Happy birthday you old grump’ design with a polar bear in glasses, as well as ‘Bear hugs’, ‘You’re one in a chameleon’, ‘To a deer friend’ and more, including birthday cards for mama and papa bear, and more general occasion cards including the giraffe message ‘You’re head and shoulders above the rest’. Inspiration for such designs are taken from regular ‘drawing on location’ days to zoos, the park, or even a café, which help keep the artists’ skills sharp and enable them to draw from life.
Snowtap was founded in 2016 by Susy Snow and Gracie Tapner, who studied Illustration and Visual Communication together at university. The company now has over 60 designs combining the instantly recognisable artwork bought to life with witty puns, and featuring illustrations in watercolour, line drawing and hand-drawn typography.
The Art File created its business in 1997 and exhibited at Spring Fair for the first time the following year. Since then, the company has grown to establish itself as a leading independent publisher of greeting cards, stationery and more recently gifts.
Gracie and Susy commented: “We’re absolutely over the moon to have launched our exclusive range of designs in partnership with The Art File and to bring our humorous and extraordinary animal characters to their collection. We’re really looking forward to sharing our playful, illustrative world with big and small retailers alike, and to be part of this exciting new venture.”
James Mace, Sales and Marketing Manager for The Art File, added: “We have been absolutely delighted with the launch of Snowtap to our customers, we launched the collection at PG Live, and Harrogate Home and Gift in July this year, and the uptake has been extremely positive and encouraging. Customers have commented on how much they love the illustrations from Susy and Gracie, tied in with the light and airy humour, this makes a real show stopping collection, we can’t wait to be a part of the no doubt very exciting future for Snowtap, and would encourage any company looking to license these designs to sign them up.”
Kirsty Guthrie, KJG Ltd said: “I am thrilled to have appointed The Art File as Snowtap’s leading greeting card publisher. They have taken the essence of Snowtap and have designed a stunning range of greeting cards, which only eight weeks after launch, are already performing over and above all of our expectations.”
