This time next week, those of us in the greetings industry will be looking forward to a very special bit of Christmas TV, featuring premium greetings card supplier Woodmansterne Publications.
The Woodmansterne factory, in Watford, Herts, will be the star of the latest edition of Inside The Factory, presented by Gregg Wallace.
Gregg, along with co-presenter Cherry Healy, will be seen following the production of one of the factory’s best selling cards – The Red Stag. Creator of the design, Woodmansterne’s senior designer Amy Eastland, will be shown taking Gregg through the design process.
Viewers will see how the whole process starts with the delivery of 1.2 million sheets of sustainable Italian paper or board.
Gregg, who is more used to producing perfect pasta, will get involved with making the printing plates that will be used to transfer his design using what the show calls the ‘Rolls Royce of printing presses’. The 23-tonne machine is loaded with rich vibrant inks before it starts printing 10 cards per second.
Hot metal dyes are used to press foil onto the cards, before they are cut using a laser-sharp guillotine, which terrifies the intrepid presenter!
Once finished, the cards are sent to the factory’s warehouse, dubbed a ‘giant Christmas card grotto’, which is capable of holding 9 million cards. They are then shipped to retailers in the UK and even as far as Australia and Singapore.
This is not Woodmansterne’s first foray into showbusiness. In 2019, the company appeared on another festive edition of Inside the Factory, revealing how its advent calendars were produced.
Inside The Factory – Christmas Cards will be shown on Wednesday 22 December, 9pm, BBC2.
