Publisher launches second heritage licensed collection in a week
Ohh Deer is bringing its special brand of design to a second heritage licence with the announcement of its V&A collaboration, aiming to engage broader audiences.
In the same week its deal with the Natural History Museum was revealed, the publisher has unveiled four collections – Cottagecore, Neon Floral, Playful Geometric and Scalloped – including greeting cards, giftwrappings, Riso prints and stationery, with the South Kensington-based museum.
“Our hope is that this collaboration will help the V&A engage with new audiences while complementing the fantastic range of products we already offer,” Ohh Deer’s MD and co-founder Mark Callaby said.
“We feel incredibly fortunate to be collaborating with the V&A, an institution with such a diverse array of works. It’s been a joy for us to explore their archives and bring a fresh, Ohh Deer twist to source material.
“We’re deeply grateful to the V&A team for trusting us as a new licensing partner, and our in-house product team, led by creative director and co-founder Jamie Mitchell, has created something we’re very proud of.”
The range of 82 SKUs will go on pre-sale across the Ohh Deer wholesale platforms from today, 6 December, and incorporate neon inks, re-coloured artwork, blending different pieces of work together and special finishes including emboss, spot UV and foils.
Jamie added: “What I love about my job is being able to throw myself into different universes and getting to collaborate with the V&A team has been a dream.
“We wanted to create an offering which carved out its own space within the market, we therefore worked on ways to bring the unexpected to life. Bright bold neons, playful geometric patterns, greeting cards inspired by the cottagecore aesthetic and plenty of things in-between.”
The V&A’s brand licensing senior creative manager Jon Morse commented: “The range presents the museum’s objects through a new lens – dazzling neons and trend-driven cottage-core compositions help us to broaden the appeal of the V&A’s collections. Ohh Deer is constantly pushing the boundaries and their infinite experimentation with print and substrates ensures their collection is truly unique in this category.”
He added that the Ohh Deer team’s “enthusiasm for the V&A’s archives was apparent from the very first meeting and it’s been wonderful to see the assets transformed into new colours and compositions”.
The Ohh Deer collections are in addition to the existing V&A and Natural History Museum licensed collections on offer from the two institutions’ long-term partnerships with Museums & Galleries.
Sophie Bylina-Williams, M&G’s admin and relationship manager, said: “The V&A is a longstanding licence for us, since we bought the company in 2013, and we are very happy to continue to work with them creating strong products that are completely different to what Mark and Jamie are doing.”
She added that M&G has “been aware for some time that this has been happening and are happy to go along with it and understand that the V&A is looking to appeal to a younger audience than the core one we cover at M&G”.
Explaining the differentiation between the NHM ranges, Sophie told PG Buzz: “With the Natural History Museum, Ohh Deer is doing dinosaurs and humour captions, whereas ours are from the archives and all blank birthday and open designs with a few relations but no humour, so quite different. This means we are both offering something completely different.”
