Manchester Open 2024

Following on from the fun we had at the Kusama show I happily stepped out on Saturday night with friends to see the latest Manchester Open exhibition showing at HOME. The show features pieces from 473 Mancunian artists one of which has been selected to receive the HOME award for a solo exhibition in the Granada Foundation Galleries. The artworks featured are by established professionals, new and emerging talent, graduates, students, enthusiatic amateurs and first time artists - the youngest aged 5. Most of the pieces are excitingly available to buy. 

We hugely enjoyed the show, our only quibble was that we wanted more, just one extra room of art would have made it more impactful. The artwork itself sparked many conversations and it was fantastic to soak up that Manchester culture. Look forward to seeing what the next Open brings, favourites below.

MANCHESTER OPEN 2024 | EMILY HAUCK KARIKA NOVA

clockwise from the top left: days go by created by wiggle room, three chairs in the studio by jane mckeating £400, deposition by danny cameron £4500, ostara quilt by nell smith £325, larger view of the ostara quilt, edgeland arcadia by michelle leigh £5000, compilation of artwork - largest central is anna at home by isobel shore - largest on the left is life to life by sara sara £400 - above that is insomnia by mike thorpe £450

#manchesteropen2024 #HOME #McrOpen2024 #thingstodoinmanchester #freeexhibition #openexhibition #artwork #manchester

London 2024

I'm regularly in London for work but there often isn't much time to enjoy the city itself so I thought this year we'd make a plan to go. The theatre adaption of My Neighbour Totoro returned to the Barbican and it was too good an opportunity to miss. As big fans of the film we absolutely loved it. 

Noticebly the weather in London in February mostly matched the Totoro umbrella scene with plenty of brollies on show at the changing of the guard! Happily we saw the King drive past on his way to the Palace. The open top bus and Thames river boat were big hits with our family giving us some fantastic views of the city. The fossils section of the Natural History Museum was such a big hit that only a bribe of pizza would tempt a departure! Hoping we can do it all again soon.

LONDON 2024 | EMILY HAUCK KARIKA NOVA

clockwise from the top left: a view of the barbican before heading into the theatre - spotted one of the apartments available on the modern house for a small lottery win! a pic of totoro in the original ghibli film with an umbrella (shared here), a windswept pic of me on the thames river boat with a view of the shard, the houses of parliament, a close up of a bird on the walls of the natural history museum, the big ben, a sea of umbrellas outside buckingham palace, view from our fab apartment in mayfair.

#london #holidays #totoro #barbican #naturalhistorymuseum

Spring Fair 2024

It's that time of year, it's February and it's Spring Fair. Fantastic as always to catch up with everyone and talk creatively about upcoming projects. Lots to take in, I wrote a stack of notes through the Trend Talks hosted by The Future Collective. Great to see the Greeting Card Association's impactful stand both tackling Ofcom on their proposal to reduce the postal service and also giving a boost to the more joyful #cardmitment and #sendacarddeliverasmile campaigns. The Giftware Association's Gift of Year gave a fab exhibition for this year's short listed products - personal faves were Pigeon's origami letters and Òir's Soaps, perfect for birthdays and occasions.

A busy event as ever, it was fab to see the latest additions to the Everyday Florentine collection's and Florentine Mini's for Portfolio Cards up on the walls plus some of the Christmas lines I worked on last summer. A fab show all round. Let's hope everyone has a well earned rest this weekend!

SPRING FAIR 2024 | EMILY HAUCK KARIKA NOVA

above clockwise from the top left: a photo of the greeting card association stand, a view of the coach house interiors space, absolutely love the pineapples and lemons themes in this perfectly styled corner of the coach house, the gorgeous òir soaps, the innovative origami postable notes (no envelope required!) from pigeon, a view of the award winning ling design christmas box range i enjoyed working on last summer, snap of this year's signage.

#springfair #springfair24 #thecoachhouse #nec #moda #emilyhauck #emilyhauckcreative #portfoliocards #lingdesign #òirsoap #pigeon #gca_uk #thetrendcollective #giftoftheyear

Florentine Everyday

New Year new photos! It's taken a little longer than I planned to share images of this beautiful everyday collection designed for Portfolio cards. I'm so glad it's finally here on the journal, I love working on Florentine.

Florentine features a rich colour palette with detailed debossed artwork and golden foil. The beautiful illustrations are inspired by traditional Italian papers, specialist letter press art prints and ornate wallpapers. The design style embraces a lux, fine detailed and illustrative approach. Each design is printed in the UK with plastic free foil on environmentally friendly board and is supplied with a kraft or white envelope. Available in shops across the UK.

FLORENTINE EVERYDAY | EMILY HAUCK KARIKA NOVA

above: a selection of designs from the florentine collection I designed for portfolio cards, available to stock direct from portfolio cards. #florentine #birthdays #greetings #portfoliocards #emilyhauck #emilyhauckcreative #emilyhauckcards #sendacarddeliverasmile #justacard #post

Top Drawer 2024

Hello 2024! A return to the Karika journal for me this week with a visit to Top Drawer. On Tuesday my day started with snow in Manchester and changed to sunny (but cold!) blue skies as I arrived in London for Top Drawer 2024. As with previous years I very much enjoyed the RetailFest talks with some familar names from the creative industries Andie Mcdowell of Dahlia Beach, Kirsty Raper of Rebuildagram and Sarah Ward from the Giftware Association.

The Trends section coordinated by the Better Trends Co. was top notch as usual showcasing three looks - Sunset Haze, Have Your Cake and then Summer Solstice. I must have hand bags on the mind as I picked out two companies KIND BAGS and The Somewhere Co as favourites. Another few personal picks were the Japanese sock company Nishiguchi Kutsushita, Donna Wilson's creature creations, then fabric design from Perren Studios. Paper wise I loved the paper decorations from A World of Craft.

Lots of fresh newness for 2024, a fabulous start to the year!

TOP DRAWER 2024 | EMILY HAUCK KARIKA NOVA

above clockwise from the top left: a selection from the 'have your cake and eat it' trend, fabrics from arcana in the 'summer solstice' collection, snowy view from my euston bound train, the 'summer solstice' edit, snap of the wall art from 'have your cake' trend, the 'sunset haze' collection with its mediterranean feel, the better trends co, a view of the olympia.

#TopDrawerLondon #January2024 #trend #emilyhauckcreative

Ditsy Bloom Christmas

Samples arrived and I couldn't wait to share these lovelies, the new Ditsy Bloom Christmas greetings collection created for The Great British Card Company. 

Following on from the everyday bold brights and touches of luxury in the gold foiling of Ditsy Bloom is a fantastic new range of festive captions & relations. It features a classic Christmas colour palette of evergreens, frosty blues and warm reds. The new range similar to the everyday has an illustration style that picks up on traditional ditsy fabrics with their fine details and contrasts this with florid bold text & icons. The collection enjoys our favourite festive trimmings with snowy Christmas foliage and winter berry patterns. The new Christmas designs include icons of snow covered post boxes, gin cocktails, beautifully wrapped presents and delightful ditsy baubles. Each card is packed with a red envelope. Festive Ditsy Bloom cards are now available in the shops and for trade orders from The Great British Card Company. 

DITSY BLOOM CHRISTMAS | EMILY HAUCK KARIKA NOVA

above: a selection of designs from the ditsy bloom christmas collection I drew up for the great british card company collections, available to stock direct from the great british card company. #ditsybloom #ditsy #christmas #greetings #thegreatbritishcardcompany #gbcc #emilyhauck #emilyhauckcreative #emilyhauckcards #sendacarddeliverasmile #justacard #post #cardmitment

Jim's Spectacular Christmas

Along with the Jolly Christmas Postman this festive season we have also been enjoying reading Jim's Spectacular Christmas by Dame Emma Thompson and illustrator of Gruffalo fame Axel Scheffler. A present to us last year, the book tells the story of how the very first Christmas card came to be through the eyes of Jim who is the real-life much loved dog of Sir Henry Cole, the creator of the original Christmas card. It's a treasure of a story to have for the V&A museum where they both lived and wonderful to see the tale brought to life in these pages. 

With the snowy Lapland trees, Jolly Christmas Postman letters and Jim's story of the first Christmas card I'll be well stocked with festive inspiration for next years collections! 🎄✉️🎅

JIM'S SPECTACULAR CHRISTMAS | EMILY HAUCK KARIKA NOVA

above: some pics i took of our edition, jim's spectacular christmas, i love axel's drawing of the first christmas card trimmed with holly- it's instantly recognisable and how cute is jim! for more info visit the v&a blog here

#jimsspectacularchristmas #christmas #v&a #cardmitment #justacard #sendacarddeliverasmile