Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Homeware and giftware supplier My Gifts Trade is at the centre of a new collaboration between charity Marie Curie and British brand i like birds.
Launching at Spring Fair 2020 (in Hall 8 on stand C60-C71; B70-C71), My Gifts Trade’s new licensed collection – which includes home textiles and accessories, ceramic products and a decorative pin – will feature a daffodil and blue tit design created by i like birds founder Stuart Cox exclusively for Marie Curie.
My Gifts Trade will donate 10% of the proceeds from every product sold to the charity, which provides care and support to people with terminal illnesses and their loved ones.
Marie Curie is a charity very close to Stuart’s heart, as he explains: “Years ago I was made homeless after leading a bit of a reckless life and falling out of touch with my family for years. When I started to find my feet again, I got back in touch by sending my mum some illustrations to somehow let her know that everything was alright.
“Two weeks later she was diagnosed with a super rare cancer of the spine and we were told she did not have long left to live. She managed a year – the last part of which was in a hospice, where they managed to turn what should have been the worst days of my life into a beautiful celebration of her life. The hospice let her go out in a gentle and graceful way, with views of the birds from her window, so it’s a cause close to my heart and not a charity collaboration that’s been plucked out of thin air.
“Within a year I also lost one of my brothers and my dad, and the illustrations were stuffed into a drawer because I was unable to look at them. Years later they were found by a friend who suggested I get some printed as cards, so he could sell them in in his café. I went along with his idea and the café went through over 1,000 in the first month! [Stationery chain] Paperchase soon got wind of this and approached me.”
Today Stuart’s illustrations of British birds and flowers appear on an array of licensed products, including a highly successful giftware and homeware collection developed in partnership with My Gifts Trade.
Joanna Mazzotta, product development & creative at Marie Curie, said: “I was very attracted to Stuart’s designs. They are simple yet beautiful and the bold fun graphic added a design style we’d not explored before. I thought they’d marry well with incorporating the daffodil – our emblem – and tell a story about how important and joyful nature is for patients at the Marie Curie hospices.”
For more information on My Gifts Trade visit: https://www.mygiftstrade.co.uk/
