Time to Meet The Member! We asked Beth Garnett of Beth Garnett Illustration to tell us a bit about their story.
What’s the name of your company?
Beth Garnett Illustration
When was the company first set up?
2017
Where is your business based?
Cornwall
Who set up the company and why?
Beth Garnett Illustration is a one-woman show, and that one woman finally got her show together in 2017. Before that she had been living in Cornwall working as a paper-pusher (pushing paper from one end of an office to another) since completing her MA at Falmouth, and was dabbling in all sorts of creative endeavours in her spare time as a sort of elaborate avoidance tactic. Slowly, a range of silly and sweary cats started to pop up in her work, and asked her what on earth she thought she was doing with her life. So she put them on some badges, a few tea towels, and then a LOT of greetings cards. Since then a whole cast of characters has emerged: lots of women very much at the end of their patience, some birds, badgers and, even at one point, a screaming, hairy armadillo (which is a real thing, and possibly Beth’s spirit animal).
What is the Unique Selling Point of your business? What makes your products particularly special?
Beth’s illustrations connect with her audience through shared experience, and she has developed a loyal following of the equally outraged women on Instagram who enthusiastically welcome her take on life’s more frustrating moments. With an irreverent sense of humour, her designs are frequently as much about the words as the pictures.
Although many of her cards are for an adult audience, her animal characters often have a very particular, slightly unhinged personality which kids love.
Tell us about one of your best-selling greeting cards?
Among her best sellers is a card called ‘Your Can Go Your Own Way’ (designed not long before leaving that paper-pushing job, as it happens….). It’s especially popular as an alternative good luck message for people who are on new adventures or thinking about taking a big leap in life, but like many of her designs, doesn’t really need much more reason other than ‘this made me think of you’
How do you sell your products?
Beth wholesales her self-published cards directly to a growing number of independent retailers and galleries from the South West outwards. She recently had a lot of fun licensing card designs to Woodmansterne Publishing, which pleased her mother no end because there was no swearing on them. She also sells online via Etsy, and takes part in the occasional Christmas Fair.
What do you like most about the industry?
Beth loves the way that more irreverent humour styles have developed in the industry and how much appetite there is now for something a bit weird and wonderful. She also feels there is a much better understanding of what makes normal, every day women laugh: an audience which has historically been a little underestimated in the humour department.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Beth welcomes all enquiries about wholesaling, licensing, collabs and also appreciates cat photos.
You can contact Beth Garnett Illustration via the GCA directory
