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Coppernob Card Craft in the USA
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Coppernob Card Craft in the USA

A Wolverhampton couple who have invented a revolutionary craft tool are showcasing it at a major exhibition in the USA - with help from UK Trade & Investment.

Husband and wife team Peter and Josie Low set up Coppernob Card Craft - named after a family nickname for auburn-haired managing director Josie - at their Wednesfield home two years ago.
They designed and are now marketing the Multiscore & Fold (M & F) Scoreboard - a portable white plastic moulded board that enables card crafters and scrapbook makers to score lines onto cards, make complimentary greeting cards, presentation boxes, envelopes, pop-outs and frames, and emboss lines horizontally, vertically and diagonally.

Coppernob Card Craft won the bronze medal in the Craft Category at the British Invention Show in 2004 for this innovative board. Also available is the Crease Mouse companion scoring tool and two Design CDs showing customers how to achieve a range of shapes and designs.

All the company's products are manufactured locally in the West Midlands UK.

Josie and Peter are working with UK Trade & Investment international trade adviser Terry Wood, based at the Black Country Chamber & Business Link, to develop their overseas business.

They were selected by UK Trade & Investment as one of 16 British companies to exhibit at the Craft and Hobby Association's show in Las Vegas from the 30th of January, 2006, to the 2nd of February, 2006. UK Trade & Investment is paying for the exhibition stand and subsidising their travel costs.

Josie said: "This is a fantastic opportunity for us to reach the largest market in the world for the craft sector. More than 10,000 buyers, including the major US chain stores, together with retailers, distributors and individual buyers, will be there.

"A year ago, we would never have dreamed of doing this, because it would have been too much for us to handle, but Terry and our external mentor Ian West have given us so much good grounding and confidence that we decided to go for it."

Josie and Peter enrolled on UK Trade & Investment's flagship Passport initiative at the end of 2004.

Support available through Passport includes a free export health check; attending an export workshop; assistance in formulating an international trade strategy and matched funding to help implement this strategy; quality training and mentoring advice; access to the full range of UK Trade & Investment services and membership of the Midlands World Trade Forum, the regional export club.

At present, Coppernob Card Craft exports about ten per cent of its M & F Scoreboards, to customers in Australia, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Spain and Ireland. This figure is expected to increase substantially in the next year.

International trade adviser Terry Wood said: "This is an example of a small, innovative company succeeding in a very competitive marketplace. They have significant UK sales and have commenced in export terms with business from several overseas markets. The opportunity to exhibit in the USA at a major show should open the largest market in the world for their products."

ISSUED ON BEHALF OF UK TRADE & INVESTMENT BY JOANNA KAIL, GOVERNMENT NEWS NETWORK WEST MIDLANDS TEL: 0121-352-5513 (UK); FAX: 0121-352-5533 (UK); E-MAIL: joanna.kail@gnn.gsi.gov.uk

For more information about how UK Trade & Investment can help your business expand into new markets abroad, contact the international trade team at the Black Country Chamber & Business Link on Tel: 0845-113-1234 (UK).
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