The Giftware Association's CEO Sarah Ward recently attended one of Lucy Ledger’s creative masterclasses. Held at the illustrious setting of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the masterclass will focus on pinpointing a brand, encouraging new and emerging publishers and designers and learning insights into any creative industry, not just cards and illustrations but gifting too.

Lucy Ledger  is a multi-award winning UK designer, illustrator and artisan, and has been running these masterclasses for three years for new to business and fledgling companies. Partnered with The V&A, Lucy, a qualified teacher has run courses in building and developing a creative brand. Her first two courses were a massive success with both selling.

Lucy says: “After being in business across various creative industries for nine years I know how important it is to cultivate a strong personal style and recognisable brand. I think in the creative industries some new designers can emerge just replicating what is already in the marketplace... I also know how overwhelming it can be for new designers to strive for this ultimate goal so my main aim of the day was to help the businesses with fun, simple and practical steps to either create their own authentic brand or strengthen the one they had.”

For the afternoon session Lucy handpicked organisations and speakers she admires the most to complement and strengthen the message.

Joke Adedeji from G.F Smith started the afternoon session with the background story of the iconic brand and what they are doing to support sustainability in the industry. This was followed by Tracey Arnaud from Progressive Greetings who talked about PG Live and The Ladder Club for the students keen to develop in greeting card publishing. Sarah Ward from the Giftware Association then inspired the students talking about her impressive background and the wonderful support and guidance the GA give their members, this was followed by Henri Davis, experienced Retail Advisor who gave some really valuable information about knowing your customer. After the break Stephen Spencer gave an insightful talk on 15 things not to do at Tradeshows and the afternoon was finished by Sales Agent Ian Bradley who gave a great talk about working with agents to grow your business.

“I was so lucky to have an amazing team of speakers around me on the day that helped make it truly special,” says Lucy. “It was a really wonderful day and I was so overwhelmed with the feedback we got from the students – it was another complete success”

Another date will be announced for September shortly. This date is already half filled from the waiting list for the March course, so spaces will be extremely limited. Follow Lucy on Instagram  www.instagram.com/lucyledger  or visit her website to be the first to know when the tickets go on sale.