Luxury award winning company Sara Miller London has gone from strength to strength in recent years, celebrating founder Sara Miller’s love of playful prints, vibrant patterns and vivid use of colour that are inspired by her adventures around the globe. Since launching, the company has seen phenomenal growth, with licensing partners including Portmeirion and Wax Lyrical as well as Heathcote & Ivory.
“In 2023, we are really excited to be launching Artisanne Noir, a brand new table and serveware collection with Portmeirion, inspired by Moroccan and Middle Eastern dining,” enthuses Sara. “We are also launching our Haveli Garden Collection across gifts, bath and body, cushions, stationery, tins and bedding, with new prints and handbag shapes for A/W.”
Continues Sara: “From the eight licensees we had in 2018, we have now amassed 14 licencing partners and a collection of over 1,000 products. Our expansion into new categories wasn’t hindered by the pandemic, as our unique, vibrant, uplifting designs are full of colour and positivity. We now have licensing deals for categories across gifting and homeware including gifts, home fragrance, handbags, bath and body, stationery, tableware, greeting cards, gift wrap, luggage, watches, glassware, bedding, wallpaper and upholstery.
“Just before the pandemic we started working with the award-winning Shortbread House of Edinburgh, and more recently, in 2022, we created a new home fragrance collection of candles and diffusers with Wax Lyrical.
“In addition, building on the success of our gifting categories, we have grown our homeware category significantly with the launch of our bedding and cushion collection with Ashley Wilde, progressing into curtains and blinds, and an extensive upholstery, fabric and wallpaper collection in 2022, cementing the company’s place in the world of interiors.”
The brand’s distribution has also grown internationally to supply over 60 countries worldwide, with key growth and activity in Canada, Japan and Singapore. In Japan there have been over 30 Sara Miller London pop-up shops over the past few years in stores such as Isetan, Takashimaya, Sogo, Seibu and Hankyu across Japan, as well as a strong presence at the British Fairs, most notably, an impressive display with a dedicated store window at the Odakya department store in Shinjuku, Tokyo.
Looking ahead, Sara says: “We see huge potential in a number of sectors we haven’t explored yet, particularly fashion and accessories, and since becoming a mum of two in the last five years, and having also written a children’s book, I can see so many opportunities for other Sara Miller London products for children,” enthuses Sara.
“It’s so exciting seeing our designs across new categories, but we are also very conscious of continuing to refresh and grow the Sara Miller London collections across our existing categories,” she points out. “With so many partners, brand consistency across so many surfaces and substrates remains a constant challenge for us but is something so important and key, as is the drive to find more sustainable options and work with techniques to reduce waste and make our products as environmentally friendly as possible.”
Commenting on what Sara looks for in a licensing partner, she explains: “We have found some amazing licensing partners to work with so far, and always look for a partner with true expertise in their particular field, with a focus on premium quality, so that we can be confident our designs will always be presented and treated in the best possible way. Communication is also key in working successfully together, and understanding each other’s needs, aims and limits, as is a licensing partner’s relationships with their retailers, which is vital for a commercially successful and long-lasting licensing partnership.”
Top: Sara Miller, founder of Sara Miller London, with some of her licensed giftware ranges.
