Tag Archives: Ian Downes

The winners of the 2021 Kelvyn Gardner License This! competition were announced at Brand Licensing Europe on Friday afternoon after nine finalists battled it out in three pitches full of creativity, inspiration, laughter and emotion. The winners are: Brand & Design Category: Sophie Jonas-Hill and Tea for Tattoo Character & …

The entirety of the Aardman cast of characters are being brought together for the very first time, through the launch of a children’s magazine titled, Colour It! Aardman: Get Crafty. The result of a new partnership between the Bristol-headquartered studio and Signature Publishing, Colour It! Aardman: Get Crafty will celebrate …

Brand Licensing Europe’s popular License This! competition is now opens for entries, as it welcomes a new third award category, courtesy of Mojo Nation, as well as its expansion into the US market. License This! has been helping brands and designers to break into the licensing industry for over a decade and …

Founded in 1683, The Ashmolean is the University of Oxford’s museum of art and archaeology, with world famous collections spanning Egyptian mummies to contemporary art. Recognised as the first museum to open its doors to the general public, The Ashmolean holds its ability to tell human stories ‘across cultures and …

The multi-award winning independent animation studio, Aardman, has secured a raft of new licensing deals for Wallace & Gromit and Shaun the Sheep, spanning a range of core categories, including an officially licensed cheese box. The studio has lifted the lid on a new partnership with the online cheese retailer, …

The ink is still drying on a new deal between the luxury pen maker, Conway Stewart and the famous Oxford institution, the Ashmolean Museum, that will see the development of a series of Ashmolean Pens. The partnership – brokered by Ian Downes and Start Licensing – will see the pen …

It’s like the old Funko strapline says: Everybody’s a fan of something. It’s no secret that adult fandom has become an increasingly important market to the toy industry and pop culture scene in general, but – with limited shelf space among retailers – just how can brands and manufacturers cater …

The weeks are drawing in to the start of this year’s all-virtual Festival of Licensing, and with it the ever popular License This! final is undergoing its preparations to crown the winners of the 2020 offering.  Six brand designers have been shortlisted for this year’s final, with just a couple …

In these unprecedented times for the global community, it’s nice to keep connected – and for an industry as reliant on peer to peer networking as the licensing business, maintaining those connections with our industry colleagues is paramount. That’ why Licensing.biz is kicking off a new series of interviews to …

Popular licensing executives Ian Downes, Paul Bufton, Simon Gresswell, and Chris Isitt will take on the Thames Bridges Challenge this September walking together for Mind in memory of Ian’s son, Calum, who passed away in 2015 aged 19.  The event will see the team cross every London bridge, starting at …