Design Archives - Giftware blog

August 14, 2018August 14, 2018 gaukorg GIFTWARE

DESIGNGAP DIRECTORY AND YEARBOOK

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Our designGAP Directory is a great way for artists, designers and makers to showcase their products and contemporary collections to an audience of galleries, museums and heritage sites. The GA/ designGAP team distribute the brochure at specialist shows as well as sending out to a large network of buyers promoting our members work.

As with The Giftware Association’s yearbook, the designGAP directory features members from designGAP in an easy to read format that has been used as a unique and comprehensive resource by buyers looking for talent and innovative creative thinking in art, craft, design, fashion, interiors and jewellery.

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Each member is listed alphabetically and features images, contact details and a short bio of the company or maker. Enabling buyers and retailers a quick and easy to use reference for new and exciting products.

The directory has been going for many years in different incarnations and has always focused on the concept of designGAP, representing contemporary artist makers and designer producers from small fledgling businesses to fully established companies. DesignGAP was established by Dr Shirley Frost in 1980 who based it on her personal experience as a designer, artist, lecturer and wanted to help like-minded individuals.

If you are interested or would like to be part of our designGAP directory or to discuss membership and how we can help you, then please get in touch with simone.rose@ga-uk.org or chris.workman@ga-uk.org.

Highlight - Yearbook

Alternatively, The Giftware Association Yearbook is back for another year celebrating and focusing on the products and ranges from our wonderful members. Over the past year we have worked hard to distribute the book amongst the buying community in the home and gift world. We have sent the book to key buyers, presented them out at our Meet The Buyer events and at the many many trade shows, we have already visited throughout the year.

The image led yearbook gives a platform to our members to get in front of new buyers and to get their products projected to a new platform. With a short description linking to members social media, websites and contact details and a choice of layouts the yearbook is a great advertising opportunity and gives our members a chance to shine, and this year we are hoping to go bigger and better with a digital version which we can spread further afield.

Last year the book was a hit with buyers, who appreciated the easy to read layout, the information and the quality of the images with them being easy to have round the office to view products and inspiration. Featuring the huge array of diversity of our members, we had jewellery companies, candle brands to toy manufacturers and everything in between.

August 13, 2018 gaukorg GIFTWARE

GIFT OF THE YEAR NOW OPEN

The Gift of the Year 2019 competition is now open for entries and will remain open until the end of November.

The largest and most prestigious product competition in the gift industry run by The Giftware Association, Gift of the Year celebrates the best products that will be on the market in late 2018 and throughout 2019.

Winning and highly commended products are featured in the beautiful Winners Brochure which is distributed at all major trade shows throughout the year, and to GA retailer members. The top prize, courtesy of Autumn Fair, is a free stand for the winner of the Judges’ Choice award – the winner among winners.

It isn’t just about the winners, though. Nominating one of your products for a Gift of the Year award will give you access to special logos you can use on your website, social media and even in print. The same goes if you are shortlisted, and you may even find your products featured on the Gift of the Year social media channels on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

On top of the publicity that entering can provide, every single entry placed in the competition is put before the panel of judges during the online stage of judging in December. It’s a fantastic chance to put your new products in front of buyers, and every year judges ask to be put in touch with entrants to talk more about their products.

Entries cost £75, or £50 if entrants are members of the GA, JDA, GCA, BTAA or NAJ, and entries after the first cost even less. There is a 20% ‘early bird’ discount cutting those costs even more, and that applies until the end of September. There is no limit to how many products you can enter into a category, or how many categories you can enter a single product or range into.

You can enter online at www.giftoftheyear.co.uk. If you have any questions, you can call the Gift of the Year team on 0121 237 1142.

July 31, 2018July 31, 2018 gaukorg GIFTWARE

DESIGNGAP DIRECTORY

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The directory has been going for many years in different incarnations and has always focused on the concept of designGAP, representing contemporary artist makers and designer producers from small fledgling businesses to fully established companies. DesignGAP was founded by Dr Shirley Frost in 1980, who based the concept of designGAP on the struggles that she experienced when she first graduated. Over the years over 3000 members have helped designGAP become a respected organisation.

As a designer maker, we would like to offer you space in the directory as well as designGAP membership which entitles you a wealth of benefits and information for £75. Attached is literature which outlines the services and benefits you will receive through membership which can help transform your business and help you grow.

Thank you

The designGAP Team

July 27, 2018July 27, 2018 gaukorg GIFTWARE

NEW SPONSORS FOR BCTF AWARDS 2019

Organisers of the British Craft Trade Fair (BCTF) have announced that three new sponsors are on board for the next edition of their prestigious awards, to be presented during the show on Monday April 8th.

Pyramid Gallery, York, Heart Gallery, Hebden Bridge and ACID (Anti Copying in Design), join existing award sponsors The Giftware Association (GA), NAJ (National Association of Jewellers), Greetings Today magazine and DesignGap/ArtGap. The full sponsorship line-up for 2019 is as follows:

Pyramid Gallery will sponsor the BCTF Award for Excellence
Heart Gallery will sponsor the Best Newcomer Award
ACID will sponsor the Post Newcomer Award
GA will sponsor The Giftware Association Award for Excellence
NAJ will sponsor the Award for Excellence in Jewellery
Greetings Today magazine will sponsor the Greeting Card Award
DesignGap/ArtGap will sponsor the Wow Factor Award, with the winner decided by exhibitor votes.

Established in 1982, Pyramid Gallery is an independent craft and art gallery in the centre of medieval York that stocks British sourced art and crafts, specialising in handmade jewellery and British studio glass. Commenting on the new sponsorship agreement, owner, Terry Brett, said:

“Since taking ownership of Pyramid Gallery in 1994, I regard this show as the most relevant and useful to me for sourcing handmade crafts and art of the right quality for my business. The show is always a joy to visit and gives me the opportunity to chat to makers that I have known and represented for many years. Some makers at this event have supplied Pyramid Gallery since 1982.

“I have always had high regard for the BCTF Awards and the opportunity to sponsor a category comes with a great responsibility. It feels to be a great privilege for me. As part of our sponsorship we will offer a gallery exhibition to the winner and runners up. The timing and nature of each artist’s show will be arranged with the winners to suit their needs, as some will require a bigger space than others. We will also publicise the shows”.

Alison Bartram, owner of the Heart Gallery was also very pleased to be involved, saying: “I am delighted to have been asked to sponsor the BCTF Best Newcomer Award and hope that I can fill the big shoes that Angie and Paul (of previous category sponsor, Craft & Design Online magazine) have left for me to fill. It’s an absolute honour and I am really looking forward to 2019. I would love to offer exhibition opportunities to newcomers and nurture them through the process as well. What I can offer depend on who the winner of Best Newcomer is. For example, if we select an artist it could be a solo show, but a jewellery designer would probably form part of a group exhibition in the gallery”.

Heart Gallery opened in 2006 with a clear vision to support artists/designers and makers in the UK and hopefully change the way people shop by seeing how important it is to support and shop locally. Alison has been visiting BCTF to help fulfil this remit for almost two decades. Alison adds: “We have helped to put Hebden Bridge on the map as a town full of independent shops that meant in 2016 we won two awards – Best Small Market Town and The People’s Choice.”

ACID Chief Executive, Dids Macdonald commented: “ACID is delighted to sponsor the Post Newcomer Award at next year’s BCTF event, and we were also delighted that there was such a good response to the ACID seminar on design protection at the 2018 show.”

A representative of ACID will judge the award from around 30 post newcomers exhibiting at BCTF 2019. The winner will receive complimentary ACID membership for a year which includes free initial legal advice on intellectual property and design issues, access to the ACID IP Databank to upload evidence of original designs, along with the full range of ACID member benefits. In addition to this, the winner will be presented with a unique ACID trophy, £100 shopping voucher and an ACID Member Focus promoting their products to the ACID community.

“ACID is very much looking forward to developing our relationship with BCTF”, Dids added.

Giftware Association chief executive, Sarah Ward, explained why she thought it was important to support the BCTF awards, saying: “The Giftware Association, as the voice of the gift industry, is proud to be one of the sponsors at BCTF. We are particularly delighted to have been asked to present our Award for Excellence, which gives our talented designer-makers much-deserved recognition, and gives their products more crucial visibility.

“With a more varied and accessible gift market than ever before, shows that promote strongly design-led gifts, particularly those made in smaller studios, are vital. For the GA, learning more about these smaller businesses and the challenges they face allows us to better help the whole industry face those challenges.

“BCTF is a great show for the Giftware Association to support, which is reflected in our membership base, it’s the smaller, independent micro and macro businesses that need our help and it’s the inclusiveness of this show that supports and builds confidence amongst these companies.“

For more information about BCTF and to register for free (trade only) visit the website: https://bctf.co.uk/

July 19, 2018 gaukorg GIFTWARE

STUDENT STATIONERY DESIGN COMPETITION WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Students from Staffordshire University managed a clean sweep in the inaugural Student Stationery Design Awards, managing to win all three placements – with entries from one hardworking student being chosen twice!

Leanne Haycock, a 3^rd year student in Graphic Design, created entries for both the Portico Design and Paperchase design briefs, and was rewarded by being chosen by both design directors as their placement winner.

“Leanne’s work stood out for being well-presented, well thought out, with two distinct styles and solutions for each brief,” said Iona Purchas, creative manager at Portico Designs in Bath.

Gemma Parris, pattern design manager at Paperchase agreed, saying “Leanne’s entries were certainly the most commercial and we look forward to working with her.”

The entry from Zoe Benjamin, also a 3^rd year student, but studying 3D Design Ceramics, was selected by Nicola Breen, design director for Caroline Gardner.

“Zoe’s design experience, and her entry, which championed the idea of taking a pause during a working day and making writing a letter or note a pleasurable experience – resonates well with the lifestyle products we are developing at Caroline Gardner,” commented Nicola.

This is the first time The Paper Library and Stationery Show London have collaborated to encourage stationery suppliers and retailers to support student design. The competition attracted entries from Universities in Cardiff, Bath, Birmingham and the University of the West of England in Bristol as well as Staffordshire.

“We’re very grateful to Caroline Gardner, Paperchase and Portico Design for supporting this first competition and we’ll continue to back The Paper Library in their quest to develop a placement programme for students and alert them to the opportunities within the stationery industry to use their skills,” said Vanessa Fortnam, head of content & PR, for Stationery Show London.

Debbie Wigglesworth, co-founder of The Paper Library, also acknowledged the three partners saying, “The designers from Paperchase, Portico Designs and Caroline Gardner have been wonderful – their Q&A session with students at the London Stationery Show earlier this year was candid and hugely inspiring. Their support has already encouraged other stationery companies to come forward and register their interest in getting involved.”

Judging 2018 Student Stationery Design Comp

The students will now arrange to take their placements over the summer, with each being asked to record their experience however they wish – via video, diary, planner or blog – so that it can be shared with the next batch of hopefuls.

Any stationery retailers or suppliers who would like to support students, either by offering work placements, or other prizes, are encouraged to get in touch via vanessa.fortnam@stationeryshow.co.uk or debbie@thepaperlibrary.com.

Vanessa Fortnam – vanessa.fortnam@stationeryshow.co.uk | 01666 824624

Debbie Wigglesworth – debbie@thepaperlibrary.com | 07718 619521