Kelvyn Gardner License This! 2021 - The Prizewinners
Kelvyn Gardner License This! - 2021.
‘Shining a light on product inventors or designers, the competition is a valuable springboard for those just entering the licensing world’.
Prize-winners 2021: Joel Mercer, Sophie Jonas-Hill, Wayne Lindsay
Joel Mercer, creator of SeedFolk, collects his award for the Kelvyn Gardner License This! 2021 Character and Animation category from Start Licensing's Ian Downes.
Brand Licensing Europe’s Kelvyn Gardner License This! competition is an annual event supporting new brands whose work has not yet been licensed, providing a valuable springboard for new properties. Annual prizes include a free stand at next year’s Brand Licensing - Europes’s biggest licensing event. It’s a pleasure for us at JEHANE Ltd to have been on the judging panel again this year. It’s highly rewarding to see and support the next generation of artists and brands.
Our finalists pitched to a live audience on Friday 19th November at BLE 2021. The competition was tougher than ever this year with strong contestants across the three categories. Chair of the judges and director of Start Licensing, Ian Downes, said: “Congratulations to the finalists who presented very strong, well thought through and commercially mindful concepts. Lots of thought had gone into where the brands fit the market and the licensing potential of them.”
A huge thanks to Ian Downes for being a great host! Thanks also to Ella Haynes at BLE for a sterling job organising us all. Well done to all of our short-listed contestants who did an amazing job pitching their respective concepts and brands @pencilandtie @alinebea @eatdirt #rosieroars
Our 2021 prize-winners are;
Brand & Design Prize-winner 2021 - TEA FOR TATTOO
‘It was Tea for Tattoo, a series of hand drawn motifs bringing together the colour palette and style of traditional blue and white ceramics, with the aesthetic and cheeky edge of old school tattoos that secured the Brand and Design category win. The concept won out over competition from Pencil & TIE and the surface pattern designer, Aline Cervo’s Aline Bea’.
'I really had no expectation of getting through to the final, let alone winning; I made myself apply as I thought it would be a valuable exercise to help me interrogate my idea and build a business plan. The final was nerve wracking but at the same time really enjoyable; to see the positive and supportive reaction to Tea for Tattoo was a huge boost and worth all the hard work alone!' Sophie Jonas-Hill.
Character & Animation Prize-winner 2021 - SEEDFOLK
‘SeedFolk is a lovable range of characters billed as the guardians of the seeds, who care for our native habitats and wildflower seeds. SeedFolk pitched a number of ideas for development of the brand, including a stop animation series and a licensing programme that will keep sustainability at its core. The property has been created by Joel Mercer, co-founder of the independent outfit, Seedlings Cards & Gifts.
“Unbeknownst to human eyes, there is a hidden world of little folk who guard and tend to our wildflowers and seeds. They are the SeedFolk, and this story follows adventures led by Yarrow, a courageous young wizard, and his dependable friend Buttercup, along with friends Mari and her little sister Gold, Clover and Bumble, the wise old Snowdrop, and the king’s daughter, Cornflower – as they set out to protect our native wildflowers.”
“My wife and I developed SeedFolk over the past 6 months, and were delighted to have made the final 3 for the Kelvyn Gardener LICENSE THIS! award in the Character and Animation category. It was an intense competition, and I was very honoured, and relieved to be able to take home the trophy. I am hugely grateful to the organisers and the judges for believing in our submission, and it was a pleasure to attend and see so many awesome brands. Everyone was friendly and welcoming – and we can’t wait to reveal more as we prepare for BLE 2022!” Joel Mercer
Products Design Prize-winner 2021 - MORPH YOUR DESK
‘Wayne Lindsay – the designer behind a desk tidy based on Aardman Animation’s Morph and Chaz characters won the Products Design category for its product that took inspiration from the tension and collaboration epitomised by the pair’s relationship’.
“To have had this opportunity to rediscover my love of Morph (we were both born in 1977) and to play with ideas that honoured the DNA of the character and brand, then to share those ideas with anyone who would listen was good enough. To have the unexpected opportunity to present the ideas in the 'License This!' competition final, was extraordinary. I hadn't thought beyond simply sharing my idea, for me that was creatively rewarding enough. That the judges liked the idea and emotionally connected with it was a huge bonus. So to now have 'permission' and fuel to continue developing the concept and to see what happens next is just amazing. Whether we are comfortable saying it aloud or not, the fact is, we are all creative; we share ideas, make things, dream things. ” Wayne Lindsay
