SMART TOYS & GAMES ACQUIRES ALL JIGSAW PUZZLES Belgian puzzles and games company Smart Toys & Games has acquired of All Jigsaw Puzzles and welcome the team to the growing Smart family. All Jigsaw Puzzles is a puzzle manufacturer based in Devon, England with a mission to share the endless possibilities of puzzling. With a large customer base for white label puzzles and a successful ecommerce division, the business has its own range of over 300 puzzles working with national brands such as A-Z Maps, The National Gallery, and quirky artists such as Tim Bulmer and Mike Jupp. The acquisition by Smart, known for award-winning brands including SmartGames, IQ, Happy Cube, The Genius Square, GeoSmart and SmartMax furthers the growth and presence of the Company in the UK after the 2022 acquisition of The Happy Puzzle Company. Smart’s global CEO, Rolf Vandoren said; “Many of the great puzzles produced by All Jigsaw Puzzles will add to our evergrowing base of products that puzzle fans enjoy around the World. We also now have the added benefit of a European based manufacturing facility to bring local production opportunities to our customers as part of our product portfolio.” www.smarttoysandgames.co.uk SOCIAL STATIONERY DEAL FOR ACCLAIMED ARTIST PARTNER OF THE LONDON STUDIO Designs by Emmy Lupin, an exciting and highly original artist represented by art licensing and design company The London Studio, have been licensed for a series of 2025 diaries and calendars to be launched across Europe by Dumont Kalenderverlag, one of the leading calendar publishers in Germany, in late 2024. In total, Dumont commissioned 14 Emmy Lupin images for its 2025 social stationery collections. Already available to the trade, the diaries and calendars will be on sale to the public, both online and at physical retail, including kiosks, groceries, card shops and department stores, across Europe from Q4 2024. Dumont’s strong presence in Germany and France means it is likely to see a particularly good response from these markets. The deal was brokered on behalf of The London Studio by independent licensing sales consultant Maggy Harris of BlueSkye Licensing. An internationally successful designer based in Nottingham, Emmy Lupin’s work is inspired by looking at life through a female lens – with a bold use of pattern and colour, and a decorative, handdrawn style. In fact this deal rounded off a highly successful 2023 for Emmy Lupin, who was also recently commissioned by USbased fashion retailer Nasty Gal to illustrate and design a cowgirl-inspired collection for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Almost as soon as Nasty Gal promoted the range to its Instagram following of 4.7 million people in November online sales skyrocketed: in fact the whole collection has already sold out! More recently a line of Emmy Lupin friendship-based cards has appeared exclusively at Trader Joe’s, a national chain of neighbourhood grocery stores popular in the US since 1967. Emmy’s illustrations have also been commissioned by many other high-profile clients including Adidas, Sega, Galaxy (Mars Confectionery), Adobe, Vans, Three UK, TikTok, Claire’s Accessories, Hewlett Packard, Stylist magazine, Fujifilm, Trader Joes (USA), Berlin University and more. She also illustrates books for major publishers such as Macmillan, Hardie Grant and Simon & Schuster. Emmy has around 33,500 Instagram followers. 10
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