Natural History Museum, V&A, Van Gogh Museum & Style Library participate in first ever Heritage X Interiors Collab at Brand Licensing Europe

Brands Events

Four of the world’s best-known heritage brands will participate in a new themed installation at Brand Licensing Europe next month. The Natural History Museum, V&A, Van Gogh Museum and Style Library (with Morris & Co.) will be featured in the very first BLE Heritage X Interiors Collab.

Situated in BLE’s Brands & Lifestyle Zone, the activation will showcase the prestigious licensing programmes of these brands focusing on their extension into luxury interiors. 

“Heritage institutions curate and maintain centuries of creativity, from archives of textiles and designs to individual artefacts, world landmarks, historical milestones and iconic works of art. Generating more than $1.17 billion in 2018*, the heritage sector stands as one of the most exciting and authentic sources of inspiration for licensees and retailers,” explained BLE event director Anna Knight.

“The Heritage X Interiors Collab is being introduced to BLE tooffer inspiration to anyone who is interested in designing and/or selling high-end licensed products, whether interiors or otherwise, and has been curated specifically to help them visualise how licensing can both translate into the luxury market and more than hold its own.”

The Natural History Museum will be showcasing a brand new wallpaper collection and the team is excited to see the response to the fantastic collaborations they have been working on during the year.

The V&A will be displaying a collection of key home interior licensed product, featuring furniture from Sofa Workshop, furnishing fabrics from Arley House, interior decoration from Surface View, rugs from Flair Rugs, paint from The Paintmakers, and home accessories from Royal Selangor.

“The V&A is delighted to be part of the new BLE Interior Activation, a great opportunity to showcase the spectrum of V&A home interiors inspired by the world’s leading museum of art, design and performance. From wall art to furnishing fabrics, floor coverings to furniture, visitors will see how well known brands have drawn inspiration from a variety of periods and design styles all from the incredible V&A archives” commented Lauren Sizeland, Head of Business Development and Licensing. 

Van Gogh Museum, located in Amsterdam, is home to the world’s largest collection of works by Vincent van Gogh. The museum’s licensing team has been behind a number of progressive and exciting collaborations with brands, including The Skateroom, Vans and Samsonite.

Laurine van Rooijen, Head of Licensing & Wholesale at Van Gogh Museum Enterprises: “The Van Gogh Museum partners with international third parties to jointly market an eclectic range of licensing products. Our aim is to make Van Gogh’s work globally accessible to as many people as possible. By participating in the Heritage x Interiors at the BLE in London this year, we hope to inspire all visitors. Thanks to Van Gogh’s global popularity, we have already collaborated with a wide range of brands around the world on developing products tailored to their individual markets, i.e. with BN International and Beddinghouse, as examples of high-end and popular products.” 

Style Library, has an award-winning global licensing programme, working closely with carefully selected partners to create beautiful products inspired by designs from some of the finest British brands including the original Morris & Co. archive founded by William Morris in 1861, which will be highlighted in the collab. Visitors to BLE can also view Scandinavian-inspired design brand Scion and British heritage brand Sanderson licensed products on the Style Library stand.

Style Library licensing director Helen Webster said: “We are seeing significant growth in our licensing programme and want to support that by exhibiting at the biggest and most relevant trade event for our brands, which is BLE.”

Helen, alongside her colleague Ellie Walton, will be presenting a session as part of the BLE conference programme called ‘Heritage brands: how they evolve to stay relevant while seamlessly weaving stories of the past into the present’, taking place at from 1115-1145 on Wednesday 2 October.