An Interview with Award-Winning Artist Rachel Ellen

I don't think that anyone would be surprised to learn that I love Rachel Ellen designs. From the adorable characters, the fantastic colours that she uses, and the sheer cuteness that she brings to all her designs.

Birthday Ballerina by Sue Bowler CBA

I have created a number if designs inspired by Rachel Ellen balloons and I am happy to report back that Rachel loves them too! At Spring Fair earlier this year, I had the opportunity to interview Rachel (Ellen) Church and find out a little bit more about the artist behind the beautiful Rachel Ellen balloons and accessories.

Rachel Church

An artist success story

Rachel has not always been an artist; she started out as a professional ballet dancer! Starting from a young age, Rachel danced until the age of 31 but realised then that she would not be able to dance forever. It was at this point she turned to something creative! What started out on her kitchen table is now a very successful greetings card and gift company 18 years later.

Designing balloons

When Rachel started designing balloons for Qualatex® a few years ago she thought that it was a brilliant collaboration. With her all-ready very established card and gift range, this proved to be the perfect next step: designing a range of balloons, party-ware, banners and badges.

Rachel Ellen Partyware products

I asked Rachel how she finds her inspiration when designing her balloon range?

Rachel: “I take a lot of my inspiration from my greetings card range. We have always had a good market with children’s age greetings cards”. 

Rachel believes that people like to buy specific age cards for children. Having designed a lot of age greetings cards over the years has helped Rachel to know which characters go well with what age group and says that it is important that the characters suit the age that they are designed for.

Rachel Ellen Age 2 Giraffe Stripes # 23212

Rachel: “All the balloon designs were specifically created for Qualatex. Working around the balloon shape and the badges and foil banners were a spin-off from that”!

Rachel on Glitter!

Rachel Ellen - Age 50 Wow #25836

If you have not seen the NEW Birthday Badges, you might be forgiven for not understanding why I am talking about glitter!

Rachel LOVES glitter! She believes that it adds ’sparkle’ and makes a product very eye-catching when displayed in a shop.

Rachel: “It’s very feminine, and many people comment on it saying that they love the glitter. For me it’s quite important. It works well because all my designs are hand painted and adding glitter is quite subtle, whereas other finishes like gold foil for example is quite heavy. I believe that adding glitter is a good fit and doesn’t ruin the image.

Rachel has designs a fabulous range of ’glittered’ badges that have a unique style that appeals to all ages.

Rachel Ellen Age 70 Happy Birthday #25903

Rachel Ellen products are available Worldwide with their main market being in the UK. The UK is the biggest card sending nation, so it would make sense that it is Rachel Ellen’s main market. Japan follows closely behind as they are very attracted to cute characters, not only for children but for adults too! Rachel Ellen is also very popular in rest of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and across the Far East.

Please be aware that not all Rachel Ellen Balloons and Accessories are available in all locations, so please check your regional catalogue or with your Qualatex Distributor for availability.

Happy Ballooning!

Sue
www.suebowler.com