Contender Group to represent Kim Parker Home ® in the U.K.

High-end US design brand comes to the UK

LONDON-- Monday, 23 June 2008

Contender Entertainment Group, one of the UK’s fastest-growing media businesses, has signed a representation agreement with US-based textile designer Kim Parker. The company will license her award winning brand Kim Parker Home“ in the UK.

Kim Parker is an internationally acclaimed artist, lifestyle designer and author whose stunning signature floral prints have garnered three British design awards and extensive press coverage on both sides of the Atlantic.

The brand, first launched in the US in 2001, took the artist’s bold, vibrant flower patterns to a lifestyle range of designer rugs, dinnerware, giftware, bedding, bath, fabrics, decorative pillows, stationery and wall art.

Kim Parker’s list of successes is extraordinary: a bestselling bedding and bath range at Bloomingdales; three British design awards for her rug “Mums and Asters” for The Rug Company; three tableware and giftware collections for Spode; a new art and design book tilted: Kim Parker Home: A Life in Design, published in 2008 by Harry N. Abrams Books; wall art collections distributed internationally by Editions Limited; and her new children’s label Kim Parker Kids“, which is represented by Scholastic Media.

This may seem to be a departure for Contender, known in the main as a company with a background in theatrical and home video distribution, TV production and distribution, and licensing and merchandising, with an emphasis on the pre-school market. However, as Contender’s Head of Licensing and Merchandising Andrew Carley points out, what drives Contender’s business is identifying attractive licensing opportunities – and that definitely applies to Kim Parker Home“.

Carley says: “Kim Parker’s designs are works of art in their own right but she has proved that they can transcend their origins without diminishing their quality or appeal. Hers is a design brand that is more than able to take its place alongside the best in the market. We are delighted to have the opportunity to license Kim Parker Home“ in the UK.”

Felipe Porto, Licensing Manager at Kim Parker Home“, adds: “Contender’s years of experience in the licensing business, along with their enthusiasm for the Kim Parker Home“ range and evident desire to ensure that it is licensed in a sensitive and appropriate way, makes them the ideal partner to bring the brand to the UK. We are looking forward to a long and fruitful partnership with them.”