Iconic international Design House, The House of Turnowsky, is to launch new collections at Las Vegas in partnership with North American agent The Brand Liaison and European agent Art Ask Agency
The House of Turnowsky will present a spectacular new portfolio of designs at Licensing Expo 2017, where it will launch 32 new collections to the licensing industry from May 23 – 25 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, Las Vegas.
The globally renowned design house, which celebrates its 77th anniversary this year, will exhibit these new collections in partnership with their exclusive North American licensing agency, The Brand Liaison (Booth E-154). On the same stand will be a supporting presence from the House of Turnowsky’s European agency, Art Ask Agency.
Since opening up its magnificent archives to licensing for the first time just two years ago, the luxury design house is celebrating 20 new licensing partnerships in multiple territories – as far-reaching as USA, UK, Germany, Italy, Scandinavia and Russia – across categories that include: textiles, dishware/tabletop products, home décor, fashion accessories, lifestyle products and gifts.
New American licensing partnerships for the House of Turnowsky include: Lifetime Brands for Mikasa, Paper Products Designs (PPD, pictured top left), Turnowsky by Quilting Treasure (Cranston) and Demdaco.
The latest European licenses celebrated by the House of Turnwosky are with: Franco Cosimo Panini, TeNeues, Scandecor, BSB, KV&H, Academya Group, Kunst und Bild, Goldbuch (pictured right), Karto, EastWest, Ecell Global and The Art Group (Pyramid International).
All of the brand’s exquisite designs are available for license and a new digital archive of more than 1000 original artworks is available as a resource for current and prospective licensing partners. A total of 32 collections are available for licensing for different target audiences, multiple territories and a variety of product applications, featuring approximately 15 designs in each collection.
Digitally generated design illustrations have been created by Turnowsky specialists to help new licensing partners visualise how their finished products featuring House of Turnowsky designs might be developed. This interactive showroom can be accessed via the recently launched licensing website with guidance from The Brand Liaison and Art Ask Agency: www.turnowskylicensing.com
House of Turnowsky Chief Executive Kobi Tadmor says: “For many years a lot of brands were asking if they could license our designs, but we kept those ambitions on the back-burner while we focused on securing our leadership position within the greeting card industry worldwide”.
The brand’s greeting cards and other luxury paper products are sold extensively throughout more than 40 markets worldwide via market leading international distributors such as: American Greetings Group, Papyrus, UK Greetings, Kunst und Bild, Scandecor and Franco Cosimo Panini, from the USA, across Europe to Japan and New Zealand.
“In an ever-changing world,” Kobi continues, “we managed to keep growing into new markets for over seventy years, but at a certain point we realised that to stay relevant and keep evolving we had to broaden our horizons. In 2014 we took a strategic decision with a clear vision of developing our design expertise into an international design house and we are now in a position where our extremely successful luxury paper products business can provide the supporting foundation for our licensing venture, along with a huge financial investment from our side.
“Last year we reached an amazing milestone with the global sale of 10 million greeting cards, which was a strong indicator that Turnowsky designs have massive popular appeal across highly diverse and competitive markets. There cannot be many own-brand greeting card publishers that achieved such a sales record in one year. Our extensive distribution network with a well-established brand presence and integrity give us the confidence to move onto the next stage of our company’s evolution.”
The House of Turnowsky has established a strategic business development plan to engage with the process of transformation from a luxury paper products specialist to a brand that can meet any design requirements with spectacular creative flair and immense commercial acumen. It is a design house characterised by outstanding creativity and quality, supported by the strength of the mother brand.
All artwork is developed in house by a creative team of 16, each of whom has a unique background specialism – for instance in textiles or ceramics – with substantial resources directed towards comprehensive trend research and market insight gathered over diverse international territories. This has enabled the House of Turnowsky to develop bespoke licensing collections specifically aimed at the North American market, while others have been created with the UK, Japan and German markets in mind.
The Turnowsky’s North American licensing hub is well represented by The Brand Liaison with offices in New York and Miami. Director, Steven Heller says: “For over 70 years Turnowsky has been a leading design studio and global art brand well-known for its luxury paper products. But as soon as we saw the art library, we knew we wanted to represent this brand. Each design is created with meticulous detail, colors and dimension. Perfect for licensing of the brand, the art and everything that the brand stands for.”
The Barcelona-based Art Ask Agency is responsible for European licensing agreements and other partnerships have been created directly between the House of Turnowsky and their existing clients and more.
Art Ask Director, Maria Strid, comments on the partnership: “The Turnowsky brand and unique design style has been on my radar for about 25 years now, ever since my time as Publishing Director with a multinational company, when I was pitching to acquire the rights. When Turnowsky opened up for licensing and approached us for representation at BLE, London we were delighted with the opportunity.
“We are very excited here at Art Ask to have the opportunity to present this licensing opportunity to the European market. Targeting a broad consumer base there are endless possibilities and opportunities for the brand to grow in licensing. The first year has been a very positive experience getting key partners on board in different categories and territories and we look forward to many more successful years together”.
Kobi continues: “Our strategic business development and tremendous design capacity is in a period of Renaissance and the House of Turnowsky is being transformed into a global design brand. The commercial success of our designs is undisputed. To give a couple of recent examples, PPD’s launch of ceramic gift products featuring our licensed designs was embraced by the upscale gift market and museum shops, and in the tableware market we are thrilled to see the beautiful tableware created by Lifetime Brands for their Mikasa® and Pfaltzgraff® brand products featuring our distinctive artwork”.
House of Turnowsky marketing and business development director, Guy Braun, explains: “Turnowsky is a new generation design licensing brand and I think we are quite unique in this market. Our engagement with global trends has enabled our incredible creative team to develop a unique and unrivalled portfolio which – together with our amazingly rich and comprehensive design archives – brings 77 years of creativity and innovation to the licensing industry for the first time.
“Our collections cover a very diverse range of styles geared towards a variety of consumer demographics. We think globally but we act locally, producing designs that will appeal to specific markets, and have developed our design direction so we are confident enough to launch designs that will be on trend and relevant two years into the future, appealing to manufacturers and retailers. A Japanese agent is being sought for the next phase of our development”.
Visitors to the House of Turnowsky, The Brand Liaison and Art Ask Agency at Licensing Expo can look forward to seeing a breath-taking new design portfolio featuring the new Spring/Summer 2018 collection book and a wealth of creative inspiration and concepts for product developers.
To make an appointment in advance of the show, or for any further information about licensing opportunities, contact:
The Brand Liaison (North America): Steven Heller; steven@thebrandliaison.com / 855-843-5424
Art Ask Agency (Europe): Maria Strid, maria:artaskagency.com / 0034 93 645 2225
For more information visit: www.turnowskylicensing.com
