Raspberry Blossom’s Rebecca Green talks to Greetings Today as she celebrates 10 years of greeting card creation…
Spring Fair 2024 Hall 3, Stand S25
Tell us a little about the background of Raspberry Blossom.
This year we are turning 10! That is 3,652 days of Raspberry Blossom! We can’t quite believe we have hit this milestone.
Inspired by my parents who ran their own jewellery design and manufacturing business when I was growing up, I always wanted to run a design-led business. I have had a keen interest in fashion and colour and, coupled with my love of stationery and greeting cards, I took the plunge following a career in London marketing agencies, when I was about to turn 30 and settling down with my now-husband Mark.
We launched at Spring Fair in 2014 with nine collections and a total of 90 cards. We now offer more than 600 products, have six full-time staff and work from our own warehouse in Leamington Spa. We have a team of freelance staff who pack our products. To be honest it is a real pinch-me moment when you think about where we began.
Describe your style.
It has definitely evolved over the past 10 years but the one thing that has always been consistent is the use of colour in a way that is trend focused. I have always had a keen eye for colour and love how a great colour combination can evoke memories, or change your mood. Colour is very powerful.
Everything I create is hand drawn or painted, I love creating type lock ups and playing with patterns. With all of our products I also try to push the boundary of paper engineering and finishes. When Raspberry Blossom launched in 2014 we had a collection that used GFSmith Colorplan paper stock and had hot foil finishes (against the advice of experienced heads telling me it would be too risky!) and I remember just simply disregarding the advice as I wanted something that felt luxe and stood out from the crowd. That philosophy for innovation has continued throughout our 10 years of existence as well as making sure that our products are great quality. We use wonderful print finishes and create designs that are quirky and playful and stand out on our customers’ shelves.
What about new ranges?
For 2024 we have more than 100 new greeting card additions across five new exciting everyday collections; Modern Life, Nurture, Sunshine, Bow-Wows & Meows-Wows, and Little Joys.
Modern Life is a collection that stylishly finds the funny side of very relatable moments in present-day living, designed with contemporary hand-painted character, bold colour palette and foil finish. Nurture was created during reflection on our favourite collections from our 10 years of design. I love drawing flowers and wanted to introduce a collection with more subtle finishes. The Sunshine collection was inspired by our young nephew Oti, who reached remission following his battle with cancer. It is full of uplifting and supportive sentiments along with a bright colour palette. Bow-Wows & Meow-Wows is a result of our Pawsome collection having a litter of their own! Cute, characterful and mini, these new designs are certainly going to be raising smiles. Little Joys takes our colourful and everyday inspiring designs and ramps up the adorable factor by 1,000%. The designs pack a lot in given their mini size as they feature a creative mix of special finishes, including shiny Spot-UV, emboss and die-cut shapes.
To complement the new Penny Kennedy licensing collaboration we have also launched six colourful flat wraps that are full of vibrancy and bold patterns.
What are your bestselling ranges/products?
Ooh we definitely have bestsellers throughout all of our collections, however I feel like the fastest-selling collections since launching in 2023 are Happiness and Big Love. Though our award-winning Pawsome collection is in most orders (I mean who doesn’t love a cute dog or fluffy cat!). We make sure that all of our collections can merchandise really well together so whether you choose something from our Say What? collection to our Canvas Creations, they look great together in store while appealing to different design tastes.
How do you support your retailers?
Over our 10 years we have always made sure that it is a partnership; our five core beliefs are quality, positivity, innovation, growth and togetherness. We listen to our retail partnerships, conduct surveys and always call to get feedback and as a result are able to create an offering and service that gives our customers what they want.
This year we are launching our super duper point of sale to ensure stores look wonderful and the customers are attracted to browse and purchase the products. There is definitely no boring black spinner but so much joy and colour to match our products. We have really thought about what the customer wants and what will really make our products ping in store!
Will you be at Spring Fair?
Yes – we are also hosting cake and bubbles to celebrate our big 10-year anniversary at 3pm on Sunday 4 and Monday 5 February at Stand 3S25.
wholesale@raspberryblossom.com
