A selection of licensees tell LicensingSource.net about their best sellers in the museum and heritage space and the licensed products making their debut in 2024.
Armelle Poole-Connor, marketing director, Floral Street Fragrances
“Our partnership with the Van Gogh Museum goes from strength to strength, with the launch last year of the second sustainable fragrance in the collaboration. Our Sweet Almond Blossom eau de parfum, which follows the international success of our vibrant and expressive Sunflower Pop fragrance, is inspired by Van Gogh’s Almond Blossom masterpiece and was our biggest global launch to date.
In 2024 we will build on this momentum with an omnichannel strategy that brings together fine art and fine fragrance to engage and delight a multi-generational audience.”
Diane Daley, director, China Petals
“Our partnership with the Ashmolean Museum is our first venture into licensing. It has been an interesting experience so far, and working with a heritage brand has helped to open up some fresh conversations for China Petals. It has allowed us to build another product offering that has an engaging story to tell. We have developed three products so far, all based on designs sourced from the Museum. We like the authenticity this brings.
We are looking to build on these new conversations in 2024 and are confident our Ashmolean product range will appeal to retailers who sell heritage, gift and crafting products.”
Dan Grant, licensing director, Danilo
“Museum and heritage brands work well for our calendar and diary ranges as these institutions have some really strong imagery in their archives. Sales in the genre remain consistent, with many consumers looking to purchase the new version of the calendar or diary year after year.
The two key brands we work with are the RHS and the Van Gogh Museum. The VGM offers some of the most renowned artworks in the world, making it appealing to a wide range of consumers of all ages. The RHS archive dates back to 1804, allowing us to utilise both classic illustrative artwork alongside modern-day photography from the RHS gardens and the world-famous Chelsea Flower Show.”
Lisa Shand, md, Blueprint Collections
“2023 was a good year for the Van Gogh Museum range and sales held up well. The key product drivers in the collection are home office storage items, handbag notebook and pen sets, address books, water bottles and sunglasses cases. Towards the end of 2023, we launched a new collection based around the ‘Vincent’s Flowers’ 50th anniversary artwork, which has had a strong reaction. We will launch further newness for A/W 2024.”
Bryony Dyer, md, Dexam
“2023 was a great year for our RHS licensed housewares. We launched new additions to our very popular Benary Vegetables collection, including oven dishes, and introduced two new kitchen textile ranges: Birds and Gertrude Jekyll.
As we head into 2024 we’re excited to be launching another two new ranges, Hooker Fruit and Cottage Garden, both inspired by drawings from the RHS Lindley Collection. It is a real pleasure to be able to access these archives and bring them a new lease of life via our products. 2024 will also see us move the RHS by Dexam collection into new categories.”
Gary Coggin, sales director, Crème d’Or
“With new launches in Lakeland and John Lewis in 2023, our Natural History Museum range continues to thrive and evolve. When we first started working with the team, our focus was on the iconic dinosaurs, resulting in our bestselling Jelly Dinosaurs line and our Dinosaur Poo.
The museum’s vast collection of design assets has given us an incredible array of artwork to work with, allowing us to cater for different consumer groups. We recently launched a selection of luxury Belgian chocolates in Lakeland, with flavours inspired by some of the botanical illustrations in the Museum’s archives. As we head into 2024, we are looking to work with a wider audience of retailers and evolve the dinosaur range – before the concepts go extinct!”
Emma Coote, brands and licensing director, Beams International
“The Van Gogh Museum is the first museum/heritage property we have brought into our portfolio, with our initial Van Gogh Museum gift packs launching into retail for Christmas 2023.
We couldn’t be more thrilled with how the products performed, rating among our best sellers of the year. We are looking forward to increasing our retail footprint for the brand in 2024 and developing our gift range to include gardening-themed concepts.”
Paul Jenkins, co-owner, Domaine du Météore
“Following their recent launch, we are looking forward to developing the roll-out of our Van Gogh Museum white ‘Sunflowers’ and red ‘Avenue of Poplars in Autumn’ wine cuvées across Europe and the US in 2024. We have also recently partnered with a major wine distribution agency in South East Asia and the wines will be exhibited at their forthcoming trade shows.
In keeping with Vincent van Gogh’s love of nature, we have recently produced a new red cuvée – ‘Naturides’ – which is a natural wine made with indigenous yeasts present on the grapes and produced without the use of sulphites. This is a true expression of our wonderful and beautiful terroir.”
Vanessa Lopez, group publisher and vp, Insight Editions
“Our initial collaborations with the Van Gogh Museum launched last year with a deluxe collection of journals, stationery sets and candles. This year, we’re excited to continue the second phase of that launch, including our first Van Gogh-themed adult colouring book. Releasing 5 March, Colouring Van Gogh reimagines several of his most famous, influential pieces into more than 60 intricate colouring pages. Our partnership with the museum has been fabulous so far.”
This feature originally appeared in the spring 2024 edition of Licensing Museum & Heritage Book. To read the full publication, click on this link.
