Craft Focus - June/July 2020 (Issue 79)

13 INDUSTRY NEWS Crafter’s Companion partners with Silversurfers Crafter’s Companion is partnering with Silversurfers for a series of live craft-a-long shows to help entertain their community during lockdown. Silversurfers is the UK’s largest online community of people aged 50 plus with 275,000 website members and 907,000 Facebook members. The collaboration with Crafter’s Companion offers the Silversurfers members engagement with the weekly show live on the Silversurfers Facebook page every Friday at 9am. With the current crisis, Silversurfers is even busier than ever with members self-isolating. The Silversurfers team are liaising with members to provide comfort and company both on their Forums and Chat and on their Facebook site. Sara Davies MBE, founder at Crafter’s Companion, said: “We’re so thrilled to be working with Silversurfers and bringing a crafting experience to their community. A lot of people are turning to craft at the moment as a way to escape and relax. With the live shows, we can engage with the audience too, which really adds to the community spirit of Silversurfers.” Martin Lock Silversurfers chief executive said: “We’ve been absolutely delighted at the huge response from our Silversurfers members with thousands enjoying Sara’s Friday shows and hundreds of comments on our posts. Our members love crafting, and our Silversurfers Facebook posts reflect this.” GMC Distribution signs new client publishers Impact, Interweave & North Light Books GMC Distribution is pleased to announce three new client publisher imprints are joining its growing list of books and related products and are now available to purchase. The client portfolio already includes Sterling Publishing, The Taunton Press, Leisure Arts, Tuva Publishing and selected Penguin Random House US imprints. Impact, Interweave and North Light Books titles’ will be available to all UK customers and non-exclusively in Europe. Impact is a publisher for learning how to draw manga, draw comics, draw fantasy, cartoons and all pop culture art. Fans can learn manga drawing tips that will help their characters pop off the page, and create detailed fantasy scenes and monstrous dragons with this wide selection of art books. Interweave is a well-known art and craft book publisher and its goal is to celebrate diversity and create equal opportunities for all crafters. The company is committed to creating content that represents a variety of backgrounds, inclusive yarn pattern sizes, diverse range of experiences and skill levels. North Light Books publish a great list of art books and they provide readers with the skills they need to create the art they love. Whether it’s improving their painting and drawing skills or giving step-by-step techniques for beginning and experienced artists there’s something for everyone in all media, from acrylic to watercolour and everything in between. GMC is a leading distributor, selling an extensive range of books across both traditional trade and specialist craft and gift markets. GMC’s sales director Michael Robb had this to say; “We’re delighted to welcome Impact, Interweave & North Light Books to the fold and we look forward to introducing our customers to their strong range of contemporary titles. These new lists significantly increase the range and depth of our art and craft books offer to our customers.” To request a GMC Distribution catalogue or any other information, please contact: Paul Eckersley Paul.Eckersley@thegmcgroup.com o r visit the website www.gmcdistribution.com