Historic Royal Palaces’ Jenny Smyth talks Superbloom, new coins from The Royal Mint and new developments to aid further growth.
The heritage sector – from museums and galleries, through to universities, gardens and stately homes – continues to gain momentum when it comes to licensing, with 2022 having seen some high profile product launches and collaborations.
LicensingSource.net catches up with some of the companies operating in the sector.
Today: Jenny Smyth, licensing manager, Historic Royal Palaces.
“We kicked off the year with a new coin from The Royal Mint – a partnership which has been hugely successful for HRP – with two collections inspired by the Tower of London. The third collection celebrates ten Royal Beasts chosen by King Henry VIII to line the Moat Bridge of Hampton Court Palace. The Lion of England coin launched in February and was followed by another in September, with the series running into 2026.
We also celebrated HM The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee with Superbloom at the Tower of London. The moat at the Tower has been transformed over the summer with a vibrant and colourful display of flowers creating a natural landscape and introducing a new biodiverse habitat in the heart of the City of London. 20 million seeds were planted in spring, and smaller Superbloom gardens have been showcased at Hampton Court Palace, Kensington Palace and Hillsborough Castle and Gardens.
The licensing team were busy developing product to celebrate this momentous event, including a new bespoke tea blend with Harney & Sons and a new jewellery collection with Clogau, which incorporated brightly coloured gemstones to stunningly reflect the colourful florals on display. The floral theme continued to inspire a Lily of Valley jewellery range.
We are undergoing some exciting developments internally to really help grow the business and target our key categories – fashion, homewares, food and drink, toys and games, health and beauty, jewellery, stationery, gifting and collectables, kitchenware and tabletop.
We will continue to support our current licensees and have a new blockbuster fashion exhibition opening at Kensington Palace in spring 2023 which licensees will be able to leverage new product development ideas from.”
This feature originally appeared in the autumn 2022 edition of Licensing Source Book. To read the full publication, click on this link.
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