Blue Eyed Sun

Blue Eyed Sun - gorgeous greetings cards

Queens Award

  • Blue Eyed Sun presented with Queen's Award for Export

    blue eyed sun queen's award 2016

    Queens Award Celebration 2016Blue Eyed Sun Ltd, a handmade greeting card company selling direct to retail, has been officially presented the Queen’s Award for International Trade by the Lord-Lieutenant of West Sussex.

    The presentation took place at their new factory in Burgess Hill and was attended by the High Sheriff of West Sussex, the Mayor of Burgess Hill, the Chairman of West Sussex County Council and the Chairman of Mid-Sussex County Council.

    “We are thrilled to have won this prestigious award and were honoured that such a distinguished group of local dignitaries came to celebrate with us, along with many wonderful customers, suppliers, family and friends of Blue Eyed Sun. This award is an amazing tribute to the dedication and hard work of our fantastic team.”

    - Jeremy Corner, MD of Blue Eyed Sun

    Guests enjoyed a tour of the publisher’s new production and distribution facility, which the company recently acquired in Victoria Road, Burgess Hill. Founded by artist Jo Corner (from a tiny bedsit in Brighton in 2000), Blue Eyed Sun has grown to sixteen staff  and sells tens of thousands of handmade cards every week in over 20 countries around the world. UK customers include Fortnum and Mason, Paperchase John Lewis, Waitrose, Fenwicks and a host of design-led independent retailers. Their international expansion has been particularly impressive in the last four years.

    Jo and Jeremy attended a special Queen’s Award event at Buckingham Palace in July where they presented her Majesty the Queen with one of their 90th Birthday cards. The Queen has received over 100,000 cards celebrating her ninetieth birthday year.

    The UK greeting card market leads the world in terms of design, with £1.7 billion in annual sales (up 5% on the previous year). British consumers buy more cards per person than any other country. Cards are sold in one in six retail outlets in the UK.

    Read about Blue Eyed Sun's visit to Buckingham Palace

    Watch a short video about Blue Eyed Sun's export success

    Learn how to grow your export sales

    Queens Award Presentation 2016

  • Blue Eyed Sun meet the Queen

    Jeremy Corner and Jo Corner at Buckingham PalaceBlue Eyed Sun founders, Jo and Jeremy Corner, recently attended a special event at Buckingham Palace in London that was held for the select companies who won Queen’s Awards this year.

    “It was an incredible honour to meet the Queen and to present her with one of our 90th Birthday cards and tell her a little bit about Blue Eyed Sun. The reception was attended by the Duke of Edinburgh, The Princess Royal , Princess Eugenie of York, The Duke of Gloucester, The Duke of Kent, Prince Michael of Kent and Princess Michael of Kent, who we were also lucky enough to meet. It was a fun and exciting evening.” - Jeremy Corner, MD.

    Blue Eyed Sun was awarded the Queens Award for International Trade in recognition of their continued export growth over the last three years.

    "Our Queen's Award is testament to the hard work and dedication our fantastic team and the wonderful partnerships we have with our fantastic distributors in the many countries we export to around the world.” - Jeremy Corner, MD.

    The award was especially significant for Blue Eyed Sun in the year where the Queen is celebrating her ninetieth birthday and has received over 80,000 greeting cards congratulating her on reaching her birthday milestone.

    Read more about Blue Eyed Sun's Export Award Win

    Read about our visit to Downing Street

    Advice on winning awards

    Blue Eyed Sun - 90th Birthday Card

  • Blue Eyed Sun wins Queens Award for International Trade

    Queens Award

    Her Majesty The Queen has been graciously pleased to approve the Prime Minister's recommendation that Blue Eyed Sun should receive a Queen's Award for Enterprise in International Trade this year. The award is in recognition of exceptional export growth in the last three years.

    The Award was conferred on 21 April 2016, Her Majesty's birthday.

    Jo and Jeremy Corner, Blue Eyed Sun’s owners, have been invited to HM The Queen's Reception at Buckingham Palace in July 2016 along with other Queens Award winners.

    “We are thrilled that the Blue Eyed Sun team has been recognised for their hard work in growing internationally with this highly prestigious and coveted award. It’s an honour to be flying the flag for greeting cards especially in a year when the Queen celebrates her 90th birthday and will certainly be receiving many thousands of cards as part of her celebrations.” - Jeremy Corner, MD.

    Thanks to all of our wonderful export customers, distributors, suppliers, UKTI and our amazing team at Blue Eyed Sun who have all helped us to win this award.

    Learn more about exporting in our talks with UKTI at trade shows

    See recent talks on how to export greeting cards with the GCA

    Watch this short video by Sage as part of UKTI Export Week which features tips on exporting:

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