Art licensing and design company The London Studio, is coming to BLE* with news about its fast-growing portfolio of successful in-house brands and the work it has done to build some of the hit brands of tomorrow for its growing network of talented and diverse artists.
Awareness of The London Studio and its work for both its own brands and the brands that it represents is growing fast. Its success in greeting cards and gifts now extends to a fast-growing list of leading international retailers and licensed publishers. It has also launched a number of specially created lifestyle brands appropriate for apparel, gifts, homeware, stationery and more.
Recent in-house successes include Dreamadelic, a new design brand that brings the dreamlike imagery associated with the innovative and experimental music, culture and art of the 1960s and 1970s together with the flair and wit of the 2020s, producing a unique artform. Dreamadelic has already been licensed to Oxfam for a 2025 square wall calendar and has inspired a range of designer bags launching at New York Fashion week this September with Parisian fashion house Olympia Le Tan. More announcements, including a worldwide social stationery licence, are on the way for this cool and engaging property.
A very different but equally engaging design brand by The London Studio is The Happiness Club, a witty and uplifting series of designs focused on wellbeing and wellness. It has been selling well; recent large orders have come from such major names as Sainsburys, Asda and The Range.
Its sister range, Note to Self, is another appealing concept that puts positive self-help affirmations onto everyday products, giving people mini confidence boosts throughout their day. Over 50,000 Note to Self calendars have been sold this year and The London Studio has also created a bespoke Note to Self collection, licensed to Hal Elrod, the US motivational speaker and best-selling author of The Miracle Morning, who has sold over three million books.
By contrast, the funny and imaginative What Cats Do When We Aren’t Looking is an imaginative take on the mysterious world of moggies when the cat flap closes. Another cat-themed brand, with a slightly different take on our feline friends, is Kitty Cocktails, which combines cats, cocktails, recipes and humour. All these design brands are targeting greeting cards, calendars, paper product, gifts, kitchenware and apparel .
But that’s not all. This innovative art licensing and design company is also pursuing new opportunities through The London Studio Artists Collective, which was formed to bring together, collaborate with, promote and licence exciting independent artists and emerging talent hand-picked by The London Studio. Already six card publishers The London Studio Artists Collective works with have been shortlisted as finalists in ten categories at the Henries Awards, the ultimate accolades in greeting card publishing. There has also been success in the US equivalent, the Louies, with a plethora of artists from The London Studio Artists Collective winning this prestigious US award this year.
From unique illustration and side-splitting humour to inventive photo uploads or gorgeous photography, The Artists Collective has it covered. Recent successes include Designs by Emmy Lupin, an exciting and highly original artist licensed for a series of 2025 diaries and calendars to be launched across Europe by Dumont Kalenderverlag. In addition the distinctive and highly original designs of Jesuso Ortiz, who The London Studio has licensed directly to Woodmansterne, have seen success in greeting card product for principal Woodmansterne retailers John Lewis, Waitrose and over 300 garden centres.
Founder and director of The London Studio Soula Zavacopoulos says: “Both our own brands and the brands we promote for our art and design partners have been developed, managed and promoted with enormous care and attention to detail – and this is now paying off in the shape of some very important deals. We are delighted to see that our faith in creativity and design excellence has inspired some major licensing partnerships, and we are looking forward to discussing our work and the opportunities it can offer with existing and potential partners at BLE.”
*To arrange meetings with Soula Zavacopoulos and her team about both The London Studio and its new standalone company Art of Drag Limited email: soula@thelondonstudio.com or visit stand D200 at BLE.
