Our IP experts help artist Gladys cut out doubt and set up shop

Like so many others, Gladys Holliday’s life changed dramatically in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic. After overcoming personal obstacles and with the help of our intellectual property expert Lindsay Gledhill, the Surrey-based collage artist finally launched her online art shop in February.

A fashion textiles graduate who fell out of love with the industry’s more fickle side, Gladys worked in what she calls a regular job in the travel industry, where she made the move from management to marketing. Gladys turned to collage in the evenings to express herself creatively and after finding herself placed on furlough last year, suddenly had more time on her hands to develop her practice. It was only after being made redundant from her full-time job that she got serious about selling her collages.

Gladys creates her fun, maximalist collages celebrating life’s simple pleasures by combining imagery from various sources. At the back of her mind, she was worried about infringing copyright of the images she was reusing. A same-day callback from our adviser Shrey was met with a sigh of relief from Gladys, who was then put in touch with our intellectual property team, headed by Lindsay Gledhill.

Gladys tells us: ‘Lindsay gave me the peace of mind I needed to go ahead and sell my work online without fear of infringing anyone’s copyright. She recommended an intellectual property review of my work, so I knew where I stood commercially. Her feedback was really clear: she told me why my work didn’t actually infringe any copyright, without using jargon, making it easy for me to understand, and included examples which helped.’

‘Having that explanation from someone with that knowledge and experience saying “look, this is how you’re not infringing, and this is how you could be”, ultimately that gave me peace of mind to think this is something I can go ahead with and make my business.’

Lindsay is clear on the value of investing in an intellectual property review as early as is feasible:

‘Whether you’re an artist starting out selling your work online, or an established business with assets to protect, an intellectual property review can help clarify your business strategy. It was very fulfilling to be able to remove the barrier Gladys faced when it came to progressing her online business. Gladys’s work is playful and distinctive, and giving her the green light to follow her dream and succeed in her practice is exactly what we’re here for.’

Following the IP review from Harper James, Gladys has been able to put her marketing skills to good use, go full steam ahead and actually design her own marbled papers and patterns for her collages. We wish her every success with her collage business.

To see more of Gladys’ work, visit her online shop