Art licensing and design studio The London Studio has announced a new collaboration with Carousel Calendars and Otter House to produce an exclusive title for Oxfam. Carousel, the largest calendar publisher and distributor in the UK, and Otter House, one of the UK's leading giftware and stationery wholesalers, have licensed the London Studio-created brand Dreamadelic for a 2025 square wall calendar on behalf of charitable humanitarian organisation Oxfam.
It’s a truly unique and striking calendar. Dreamadelic takes its inspiration from the current trend for retro 1960s’ and 70s’ psychedelia design, most notably in posters and record cover designs, but gives it a modern twist. The effect is to bring the dreamlike imagery associated with the innovative and experimental music, culture and art of the 1960s and 1970s together with the flair and wit of the 2020s, producing a unique artform with a wide appeal.
The calendar will be available in Oxfam shops and online from October this year.
As a creative hub that develops its own brands, supports and licenses art and artists in the UK and US, and works with its own dedicated team of talented and highly original artists to support a wide range of projects, The London Studio already has a strong reputation for distinctive and highly creative in-house brands.
As well as Dreamadelic, they include the vibrant Sweet & Wild, the well-being-themed Note to Self, the funny and imaginative What Cats do When We Aren't Looking and the unique designs and positive vibes of The Happiness Club, many of which now appear on cards, calendars and apparel.
In fact Carousel has already licensed The Happiness Club for a 2024 Happiness Planner diary and wall calendar. The London Studio has also contributed art to Carousel’s new calendar for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).
Carousel Calendars is the UK’s largest and most diversified calendar publishing business, offering a huge selection of over 1,000 titles to a range of clients, from large grocers and high street retailers to bookshops and small independents. The company is committed to lowering its carbon footprint and is already carbon neutral for all direct emissions. Indeed, the RSPB calendar, to which The London Studio has contributed, was a finalist at the 2024 B&LLAs in the Sustainability Brand Licensed Product or Range Award category.
Otter House was founded in 1991 in the South West of England. From its early days buying and selling greetings cards, it moved into calendars and gift products while working in partnership with many of the UK's best visual artists and designers. Business has grown through a number of card company acquisitions and mergers and a move into licensed branded gift and stationery collections. Otter House also has a successful charity fulfilment and mail order division.
Sarah Portman, Otter House Charity Director, says: “This is a really special calendar. The exciting, witty, eye-catching Dreamadelic designs are ideal for a product that will truly stand out in the market, brightening up walls in homes across the UK in support of a truly worthwhile cause. The London Studio’s skilled and inventive artists have done it again.”
Samantha Gunn, Lifestyle Buyer, Oxfam, says: “This colourful collaboration between Otter House, Carousel and The London Studio is a welcome addition to our important and popular output of calendars and stationery. Not only do sales help us with our campaigns but the Dreamadelic designs from The London Studio are truly original and striking. I’m sure it will be very popular as a seasonal gift, for record-keeping and just as a work of art.”
Founder and director of The London Studio Soula Zavacopoulos says: “It’s important for us to be always innovating and creating – but it’s also wonderful when our newest work attracts such strong support. Our Dreamadelic art brand has clearly struck a chord with Carousel Calendars and we are thrilled and honoured to be collaborating with a major name in calendar publishing on behalf of Oxfam and its aim of a world without poverty.”
