Thursday 22 February 2018

Ultra Violet Pantone 2018

When Pantone's hot new colour for 2018, Ultra Violet, was announced late last year - half the design community cried 'Yes!' while the other half (me included) said Wait.. what, um er.. no thanks. For me the colour purple is still mired in the realms of cheap chocolate, teletubbies and some awful design on DIY shows. However after some persuasion I have to admit that I'm coming round to the idea.

Pantone explains "we are living in a time that requires inventiveness and imagination" and that Ultra Violet could take our "awareness and potential to a higher lever". Having loved Pantone's 2017's Greenery colour and the ease of which we could design with it, I can see the challenges of using Ultra Violet, especially in greetings. It's going to be tricky and will need that "inventiveness and imagination" to place with those seasonal colours - valentine's red, easter yellow, father's day blue etc. It could nonetheless make for a fresh new take on the escapism and constellation trends (though we have possibly reached peak unicorn?).

We are now starting to see the work of designers who have taken on the purple. I'm quite excited to see a new light on violet and where this creative colour goes. Here are a few purple picks:



above clockwise from top left: battersea 9 square greeting card from ohh deerpf-mb 014 from malissa brown pressed and folded, moon journal book from oliver bonas, large form gift bag from oliver bonasmy darling husband card from lagom, frida kahlo print from artisticsideoflifehappiness mothers day card woodmansterne from john lewis, elephant greeting card from lagom, you can do anything but not everything card from oh squirrel, centre: party hats design from papier.

#pantonecolouroftheyear2018 #pantone #ultraviolet #purple #stationerylove #paperlove 

my purple premonition

Thursday 15 February 2018

Equality + Powerful Words

With the release of Paperchase's new Fierce Female collection, this week seemed like a good time to talk about the latest trend appearing on the high street, Equality & Powerful Words.

It's been quite a year, the #MeToo campaign brought women together to support each other in face of sexual harassment and abuse. There was the release of the Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls book creating a new wave of children's literature with girls as the focus. John Lewis then took a big step by removing gendered labelling on children's clothes and at the start of this month we celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Suffragette movement.

It's great to see this forward thinking movement now arriving in greetings and stationery. Here are some favourites:

EQUALITY + POWERFUL WORDS EDIT - EMILY HAUCK KARIKA NOVA

SaveSave above clockwise: she believed she could card from oh squirrel, feminist pendant flag from paperchase, that's my girl jolly awesome card from paperchase, feminist journal from anthropologie, suffragette votes for women poster from bookishly, slay all day jolly awesome card from paperchase, bad girls throughout history book from anthropologie, the future is female slogan ruled notebook from paperchase, nailed it greeting card from rifle paper co.

#paperlove #stationerylove #equality #powerfulwords #feminist #feminism

Friday 9 February 2018

Spring Fair 2018

Well, that was a busy day at this week's Spring Fair, barely time for a brew! It was lovely to catch up with everyone and talk about exciting new projects (more on that soon!).

Hall 3A was awash with talent. I spotted a few new faves in the greetings debut area, edgy graphics from I ended Up Here, contemporary illustration from Card Nest and trend inspired cards from Meraki. Great to have the latest from Raspberry Blossom and Stormy Knight too.

A fab show all round. Let's hope everyone has a well earned rest this weekend!

SPRING FAIR 2018 - EMILY HAUCK KARIKA NOVA

above: collage of images from the early start watching the sunrise over the m6 to roaming round the halls of the nec.