This year at Brand Licensing Europe (BLE) Imperial War Museums (IWM) will unveil a new collaboration with Wayne Hemingway and the HemingwayDesign team.
Premiering at BLE ‘The Spitfire Collection’ by HemingwayDesign for IWM will be the first in a series of licensee designs between the museum and design house. For this range Wayne and the team have taken inspiration from the iconic Spitfire plane, creating unique and memorable designs that can be used on a number of products.
David Fenton, Head of Retail and Brand Licensing, comments: ‘It is thrilling to work with the HemingwayDesign team and the designs they are creating will add new impetus to our licensing programme’
Wayne Hemingway says: ‘I have a great affection for IWM and their commitment to design thinking shines through clearly in the recent refurbishment of IWM London. It is also impossible not to be in awe of the huge collections. The team has had a ball going through the archives’
The designs will be launched to mark the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain and IWM Duxford air show in September where it will be possible to experience the spectacle of 20 Spitfires taking off from the historic airfield and then flying in mass formation.
Last year IWM marked the centenary of the First World War and opened brand new First World War Galleries at its flagship branch IWM London. A licensing programme was developed four years ahead of this major national commemoration and the museum now has numerous licensees who use its unrivaled collections to inspire very special licensed product.
To date IWM products have achieved great success. The Kimm and Miller product range ‘Victory is in the Kitchen’ was popular in Sainsbury’s and the Garden Centre Group and has been nominated in the Gift Category at the Licensing Awards 2015. Products are also on sale in major high street retailers with the toiletry range designed by SLG was the bestselling male toiletry range in Marks and Spencer last Christmas. A partnership with The Caledonian Brewery will continue into 2015 with a new beer inspired by Second World War pilots launching at Brand Licensing Europe.
