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Allsopp’s Fables
And Truths
She has inspired the nation to blow the cobwebs off
their sewing baskets and get crafty, she has shared
her house nous on buying property and now her
name is adorning a range of licensed products from greeting cards to bed linen.
PG enjoyed a homespun heart to heart with
Kirstie Allsopp, as she prepares for her appearance as
a keynote speaker at Spring Fair this month.
“I love greeting cards. I have my card drawer full of them.
Rather than being bought for specific reasons, I buy cards
when I see ones I like and then select from these to suit the
person. I specifically like the New Yorker designs - they just
don’t date and will always be relevant,” reveals Kirstie Allsopp,
the nation’s favourite ‘crafting mummy’ who also knows a
thing or two about property buying, antiques and now, thanks
to a licensing arrangement with Cardmix, about greeting card
production too.
It is tricky to trace it back
to the defining moment when
Kirstie Allsopp became a
household brand; when her
patchwork personality of no
nonsense advice, stitched
together with a passion for
patterns and crafting, inspired
the modern day generation to
hanker for pastimes of the past.
But having risen to
prominence from TV series
such as Channel 4’s Location
Location, Location (and its off shoot series)
and, most recently through Kirstie’s
Handmade Britain, it seems timely that the
Kirstie Allsopp name is now gracing an
array of products through a licensing
programme that is being managed by
BBC Worldwide.
“My whole trajectory has always
revolved around people’s homes; interiors and design,” says Kirstie,
shying away from using the term ‘career’. “Being involved in these
products now is part of that.”
With her father, Lord Hindlip being a former chairman of
Christie’s, her mother Lady Hindlip, an interior designer, and Laura
Ashley (and Cath Kidston for that matter) sharing the family tree, it is
easy to come to the conclusion that Kirstie’s comfortable
relationship with home interiors is in her genes. And this is
something upon which she built, having worked for designers Nicky
Haslam and Jane Churchill before spending four years as part of the
Country Living magazine team before 13 years ago breaking into
Above: Two designs from Cardmix’s TV as a presenter of the hugely popular
Kirstie Allsopp range.
property and craft shows.
Left: Happy at home.
Kirstie For Knowledge?
Kirstie Allsopp will be visiting the Spring
Fair on the Monday afternoon of the show (February 4 2013).
She will be spending some time on the Cardmix and the
Blueprint stands, but she will also be 'taking to the stage' in two
of the show's feature 'theatres'.
When And Where:
12pm - 12.45pm Hall 6/7 - Trends Briefings and Seminar Stage
1pm - 2pm Hall 4 L12 - on the Cardmix stand
2pm - 2.30pm Hall 4 K38 – on the Blueprint Collections stand
3.15pm - 3.45pm Hall 2 - Gift Box Demonstration Area
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Face To Face
For Kirstie, the move into
licensed merchandise, first through
giftware for M&S (produced by
Peter Black) then bed linen and
kitchen textiles (both from Ashley
Wilde) and now, launching at
Spring Fair, greeting cards (from
Cardmix), stationery and gifts (from
Blueprint) - and other
collabarations in the pipeline - is
another strand of involvement with the design world.
“I can sell snow to the Eskimos - buying and trading is easy for
me - but until recently I just didn’t have a clue about manufacturing
- how you take snippets of my favourite fabrics and translate them
onto, say greeting cards,” admits Kirstie.
The greeting card and
giftwrap designs from
Cardmix, as well as the other
licensed products, all have
one element in common –
they all are based on patterns.
Kirstie is no ‘solid block
colour woman’ she is a huge
fan of florals, spots, stripes,
tartans - often all together.
“If I can help to do one
things with these products it
will be to share my passion for
patterns!” says Kirstie boldly.
Above: Kirstie in ‘hands on’ mode.
Left: Kirstie’s love of patterns will be obvious in
the products developed.
Added To The Cardmix
Cardmix’s publishing director Millie Boyd has
been in her element delving into Kirstie
Allsopp’s treasure trove of prints to create a
stunning collection of 12 greeting cards and
giftwrap, which are being launched
at Spring Fair.
Millie believes that one of the
reasons Kirstie resonates so strongly
with the British public is that she
inspires people to be creative. “Her
ideas are accessible to all... you don't
necessarily need to spend huge
amounts of money to create
something special, you just need to
let your creative juices flow and be
resourceful,” says Millie.
As for translating the essence of
Above and right: A taster of Cardmix’s
Kirstie Allsopp card range.
Kirstie Allsopp into greeting card designs,
Millie reveals that “the overall inspiration for the range is Kirstie’s love
of prints, colour and craft. The overall effect is a crafted range which is
not only on trend, but feminine, fun and colourful.”
Explaining the development process of the collection’s creation,
Millie says that the starting point were sheets of Kirstie’s various prints
(maybe taken from dresses she owns or home textiles in her
collection) – which range from pretty florals to the more graphic.
“From these we cut-out and crafted objects such as birds,
cupcakes, butterflies etc. These paper cut-outs were then placed
within patterned borders, shaped with pinking shears, which in
themselves are obviously a sewing/craft tool!”
Blueprint On Kirstie
The Spring Fair International marks the
official launch of Blueprint Collections’ range
of stationery, bags and gift products that are
produced under licence with Kirstie Allsopp.
“This is a significant launch for us; one that
befits the significance of Kirstie as someone
who is known and trusted by and is popular
with a large section of the British public,”
commented Helen Webster, marketing director of
Blueprint Collections.
Above: Blueprint’s Kirstie
Allsopp collection includes
Helen is in no doubt as to why
stationery items as well as
Kirstie is so popular with the
stylish practical products
British public.
such as phone covers and
“Kirstie’s popularity stems storage boxes.
from her no-nonsense and straight-talking
approach to people, their interests and problems
(so unlike many of our politicians and celebrities).
Also, the impression you get from Kirstie is that she
does indeed know what she is talking about or at
least will have an opinion on it; She is a real person.
All of this, plus her obvious passion for whatever
she is doing at any given time, is very entertaining
and can be reassuring in our current world.”
What’s in the range?: Blueprint’s Kirstie Allsopp range includes
several useful ‘practical but stylish’ items including a set of storage
boxes, a magazine rack, a recipe journal, jam jar labels, giftwrap tape,
shopping bags and phone and tablet cases as well as stationery items
such as notebooks, jotters and a pencil case.
Having inspired millions of people to take up crafting and
‘make their own’ through her TV series, does she not feel it is a bit at
odds with persuading people to buy these readymade products
branded with her name?
Compared to some of the accusations that have been
thrown at Kirstie over the years - one of the most outrageous
being that she was responsible for the housing crisis, such
was her influence through Location, Location Location - she
relishes the opportunity to justify the licensing partnerships
she is building.
“It’s great if I can inspire people to have a go at crafts, but
we are all such busy people leading such busy lives that we do
not always have the time to make things from
scratch. As I see it, these are products that
are useful and if they make us feel cheerier
then that surely has to be a good thing.”
Some Kirstie Revelations:
What was your recent Christmas buying tactics?
“I buy for 74 people at Christmas, so I always adopt a theme. This year [2012]
I went for all scarves, the year before was ceramics.”
What is your favourite era for interiors/design?
“It would have to be the Victorian period, but not the ‘dark Victorian side’.
What I love is the combination of the Indian influence that was in
evidence, as well as the tartan mania, the velvets, the lace, the braiding and of course so many of the Christmas traditions were during that time.”
Is the homespun theme here to stay?
“I think so. People have always been into crafts, but it has been bubbling under
the surface. It is now being acknowledged and has come out of the closet!”
What is something you do every weekend?
“Every weekend we tend to go to antique fairs and car boot sales – I bought
11 pictures at one last weekend!”
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