Case study
Sophie Jonas-Hill - LicenseThis! Award Winner
Sophie Jonas-Hill won LicenseThis! 2021 with her brand ‘Tea for Tattoo’ – a collection of artworks inspired by tattoo art, traditional ceramic painting, and British tea culture.
Since completing an MA in illustration at the University of Falmouth in 2021, Sophie Jonas-Hill has created a range of brands, from her tattoo inspired ‘Tea for Tattoo’ to horror-inspired re-imaginings of fairy tales ‘Dread-Time Stories’, through to the animal tea parties of ‘Bizzarro’. Sophie works in a range of media, often layering pen and ink onto acrylic boards to achieve her characteristic translucent glowing effect.
After turning one of her ‘Tea for Tattoo’ pieces into a tea set for a friend, Sophie was inspired to enter the world of licensing, and shortly after won the Brand and Design category of Brand Licensing Europe’s LicenseThis! Competition in September 2021. As one of the judges of the competition, Larkshead MD Clare was impressed with her unique style and spotted the commercial potential in Sophie’s modern take on vintage inspirations.
After signing a Representation Agreement with her in July 2022 we have helped Sophie to further develop her brand and have helped guide her in creating her first style guide, for which we have developed a segmentation strategy.
In June 2022, Sophie signed a licensing deal with Trademark Products to release a line of T-shirts featuring Sophie’s Dread-Time Stories range under her apparel design label The House of Inky Moon. Due to the success of the line at retail, we have since worked closely with Sophie and Trademark Products to further extend the range.
As the winner of LicenseThis! 2021, Sophie was awarded a small stand to exhibit her artworks at BLE 2022, and we supported her throughout her first show, chatting about her and her brands to licensees and retailers, introducing her artworks to the wider licensing community.
Concurrently, Sophie was collaborating with ‘Tomorrow’s Ghost Stories’ - the ultimate celebration of all things Gothic and alternative, by creating bespoke artwork for the 2022 festival and thus generating additional awareness for her brands. This successful collaboration is continuing in 2023.
Sophie Jonas-Hill’s stunning and individual collections have already enjoyed a great deal of interest from across the licensing industry. We are excited to continue working with Sophie to further develop her brand and extend her product range. Please contact us if you would like to know more.
