2025 Finalists - Santoro
We caught up with Tara Strickland from Santoro, whose whimsical and imaginative designs — the Pirouette Countdown and The Book Café Swing Card — have earned a two finalist spots in this year’s Gift of the Year. With a legacy of creative innovation and a love for storytelling, Santoro continues to enchant customers with their unique, 3D greetings and celebratory keepsakes. Tara shares the inspiration behind their charming creations and what it means to be recognised among the UK’s best in gifting.
Products in the Final: Pirouette Countdown and The Book Café Swing Card
Congratulations on being a finalist! How does it feel to be recognised in this year’s Gift of the Year awards?
Thank you - we have practically been doing cartwheels in the office! Everyone is absolutely thrilled, and we are buzzing to be among so many brilliant brands. It feels great to have all of the hard work and attention to detail we put into our products be recognised within our wonderful industry.
Can you tell us a little about your brand and the inspiration behind your successful product?
Both of our nominated products are a part of our popular 3D Pop Up collection of greetings and celebratory centrepieces! The Book Café Swing Card evolved from a universal love of stories and the warm wistful charm of the famous ‘Notting Hill’ travel bookshop. It’s cosy, nostalgic and smells of paperbacks and pastries – at least it does in our imagination!
The Pirouette Countdown similarly came from the desire to create something innovative, but still familiar and engaging. While we didn’t invent the 3D Countdown, we like to think we gave them a bit of a makeover Santoro-style. We took our award-winning Pirouette concept and supersized it – making it more interactive, playful and more of a keepsake. Customers have loved it so much they aren’t just for Christmas now either, we’ve created more of these celebratory centrepieces to honour other special occasions.
What makes your product special, and why do you think it stood out to the judges?
Being in the industry for 40 years now, we pride ourselves on constantly pushing the envelope (no pun intended) when it comes to quality and innovation – I believe that’s what’s kept customers buying our products for so many decades. Our 3D designs, and our nominated ones in particular, are so much more than just greetings. They’re pop-up surprises, table centrepieces conversation starters and collectibles all rolled into one. We think (hope!) the judges recognised the true passion that goes into making them.
Who is your product designed for, and what kind of reaction have you had from customers so far?
Our products are designed for those who seek out unique, high-quality gifts and maybe need a little mood-boost! There’s definitely a cosy, comforting element to our designs that make them so loved as well. Although these are both newer releases, they’ve had an extremely positive reception from our customers. The Book Café Swing Card has been so popular we’re about to sell out! Additionally, the reaction to the Countdowns has been so strong we’re adding to the range all the time, and set to release even more festive-themes for later this year.
What trends or themes do you think are shaping the gifting industry right now?
Personalisation and mood-boosting designs are big right now. We’re seeing that customers want items that bring them joy or a sense of uniqueness, across all ages! We also love to see a lean towards tactile products that offer a break from the digital world.
How has being shortlisted, and now being a finalist impacted your brand so far, and what do you hope to achieve from the awards?
We’ve definitely noticed a little extra sparkle around our ranges since being shortlisted – buyers are engaging more and customers are cheering us on! Being a finalist gives us a lovely boost of credibility, especially when talking to new stockists or entering new markets with a brand that has been around for such a long time. We’re hoping the awards will help open more doors and open up more opportunities to get our amazing products in front of consumers who maybe still haven’t discovered us yet.
What exciting plans do you have for the future?
Every year is always a big year for us! We have just completed the latest 3D Pop Up designs for our next launch (top secret!), with more themes also on the way for our evolving Pop & Build range. We’ll also be showcasing a lot of these new products and new collections at upcoming trade shows. We can’t give too many details away just yet, so people will have to come visit us or just wait and see for themselves!
What’s the best gift you’ve ever received (or given), and why?
It’s really hard to pick out one single thing, lots of sentimental items spring to mind. Honestly though anything with beautiful packaging has my heart – but if it also smells amazing, even better. I am completely obsessed with fragrance and beautiful bottles!
As Santoro continue to push boundaries in paper engineering and imagination, we’re excited to see what they unveil next. A huge congratulations to Tara and the Santoro team for their well-deserved recognition in the Gift of the Year awards!
Explore the Santoro website to find out more.
