Creative publisher RED’s generous gesture earns orders and fab window display
Here comes summer at indie retailer Alphabet Soup – helped by the talents of Real & Exciting Designs’ founder and creative genius Sarah Curedale-Raynor.
For Sara Ellis and Sue Freeman, co-owners of the greeting card and gift store in Great Missenden, placed two orders at PG Live on the condition that Sarah let them have the lovely paper flowers she’d made herself by hand for the stand.
And with permission from RED’s now-owners Debbie and Alan Williams, who also run M!nt and Museums & Galleries, the deal was done with the display finally going into the window last week.
“It’s a bright summer window for this hot weather,” Sara said, “the beautiful paper flowers look lovely in the window so it’s a big thank you to Sarah at RED.”
She explained that they were on the RED stand at the show looking to order for the first time, and business partner Sue said she loved the flowers.
Sara added: “We told them if they wanted a home for them after the show we’d have them. We had a bit of a laugh with them and Sarah said if we put the orders in we could have them – and they arrived with the cards, which was lovely. She’s very clever, and very creative – and the cards have been selling very well for us too so it’s a win-win!”
Sophie Bylina, relationship manager for the trio of publishers, explained: “We’re always happy to go the extra mile for our lovely customers and, if that means giving them part of the stand, that’s fine!
“It’s actually not the first time this has happened, at PG Live in 2019 Denise Laird at Glasgow-based Spirito fell in love with the huge gold leaves and parrots Sarah had made for the stand, so we shipped them up to Scotland for her window!”
