Twas the Saturday before Brand Licensing Europe…
Twas the Saturday before Brand Licensing Europe and all was calm.
Well, calm-ish. The wind’s still chasing the last of Storm Amy down the Moray coast, and our living room looks like a cross between a studio, an origami explosion and - partially - a living room. Somewhere under the notes, sketches, samples and half-packed suitcases sits a to-do list with “sleep” still unticked.
Next week we’ll trade the kettle and the hills for the hum of London’s Excel Centre - a place that, for one wild week each autumn, becomes a festival of creativity, licensing and general jollity. Brand Licensing Europe (BLE) is where ideas leap off the sketchpad and onto products that fill shelves, shop windows and homes.
For a small Scottish business like Brilliantly Brave, it’s a chance to share something a little different: a creative business where every design funds mental-health support. The conversation starts with a card, but it never ends there.
We’ll be at BLE on Tuesday and Wednesday, alongside our wonderful agent Sarah from This Is Iris, on stand AD15. Together, we’ll be talking with partners about how Brilliantly Brave’s illustrations can live beyond paper - on mugs, journals, homeware, eyewear, and more - while keeping our promise that every penny of profit helps fund free mental-health training and peer-support groups across Scotland.
The big trade fairs can feel like another world: neon lights, queues of buyers, and more branded tote bags than any human could carry. But beneath the buzz, BLE is about one simple thing...connection. It’s where imagination meets collaboration, where one good conversation can spark an idea that travels.
Some of the products we’ll be showing are real - already sketched, printed, or prototyped. Others still exist only in our heads (and Photoshop files). We call them possibilities with caffeine. But that’s how most things start for us: a doodle, a biscuit crumb, a “what if?”. Every idea shares the same DNA. Creativity that funds care.
“Licensing might sound commercial, but for us it’s the bridge between art and impact,” says Jean Pryde, co-founder. “Each new product helps train another Mental Health First Aider or fund another peer-support session. It’s design with direct consequence.”
That’s why events like BLE matter. They turn abstract purpose into visible partnerships and they help small socially councious enterprises like ours prove that doing good and doing business don’t have to live in different worlds.
And, truthfully, they’re fun. We get to meet brilliant people, spot old friends from previous shows, and probably lose our voices talking about art, empathy, and small business. We also get to watch people’s faces when they realise that a simple card company from Moray can turn design into direct community funding.
So, if you’re wandering the aisles of Excel this week, come and find us or say hello to Sarah on stand AD15. We’ll have our usual mix of bold colours, half-baked ideas, and full-hearted purpose. No sales pitch, just good chat about how kindness can be a business model.
And if you can’t make it to London, we’ll share a few sneak peeks from the stand, the imagined, the in-progress, and the “maybe next year” creations. Because whether it’s cards, cups, or calendars, our goal is always the same: turn something beautiful on paper into something meaningful in the world.
Here’s to storms that pass, creativity that travels, and partnerships that make kindness scale. See you in London.
About Brilliantly Brave
Brilliantly Brave is a purpose-driven greeting card publisher based in Moray, Scotland. Founded in 2024, the business creates beautifully designed cards that celebrate diversity, promote mental wellbeing, and directly fund community mental health initiatives. By channelling 100% of profits into local support services, we're pioneering a new model of social enterprise that proves commercial success and social impact can go hand in hand.
