As sales of high age cards continue to soar in the industry – with 70th birthday captions doing especially well this year – there is one celebrated octogenarian whose birthday card could find its way into the record books if enough people sign it.
To mark the 80th birthday of Bradford-born David Hockney (pictured above), Hallmark Cards (also based in Bradford) has lent its support to the city’s Council’s quest to honour the world famous celebrity by attempting an official Guinness World Record for the most signatures on a greeting card – and urges those in the greeting card industry to get involved too as the card needs to include over 22,000 signatures.
The giant card, which measures 180cm by 120cm wide, has been designed by Hallmark Cards using inspiration from Hockney’s famous artworks to create the number 80 as a collage.
Commenting on the involvement in this special card, Kate Van Spall, art director of trends at Hallmark UK said: “As a Bradford-based company we were thrilled to be asked to be involved in the creation of a card for Hockney’s birthday.”
She explained that the card design is made up of “numerous postcard size images reflective of the style of David Hockney that our in-house design team created during a ‘Hockney Power Hour’.”
As it stands the Official Guinness World Record for the most signatures in a greeting card is currently held by the Dubai Police force with 13,288 signatures. However an attempt by Staffordshire County Council with around 21,500 signatures is still to be ratified, so the Hockney card needs at least 22,000 signatures to be in with a chance of the record, but these can be signatures made online as well as in person.
With the final push for signatures now on, those in the greeting card industry can also be a part in this record attempt. Anyone can wish David Hockney a happy 80th birthday by signing the card online with a message by going to at https://goo.gl/HFiD92. It only takes a few moments.
Various card signing events have already taken place – including at Bradford’s Cartwright Hall Art Gallery (which houses a permanent David Hockney Gallery), but there are plenty more lined up. Festival goers to next weekend’s Bingley Music Live will be able to pen to paper for the artist, plus the week after pupils at Bradford Grammar School (where David Hockney attended, having won a scholarship to go there) will be able to sign the card on their way into lunch. Then on September 9, the card will be on show in the Broadway Shopping Centre in Bradford on September 9 for shoppers to sign.
