Hello everyone, I am Frances and I am currently working with the NFLPA in the US, together we have created two peel and stick giant emoji wall decals of Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson, two of the best Quarterbacks in the league. I am hoping to add more players to the range as the season progresses.
My company is called SportingWallpaper and I am a one woman band based here in the UK… So how did I get to be working with the NFLPA.. It is a long story..
In 2013 I worked with Blandford Rugby Club in Dorset to create a ‘one off’ wallpaper for their clubhouse.. I visited them and borrowed old tickets, team photos, programmes, trophies and other memorabilia, scanned them all, returned them and then started to make the one off wallpaper using all of the images.
Once the paper was up, lots of my friends said, can you do one of those for rugby, cricket, tennis etc for my kids bedrooms as there is nothing like that around. This gave me an idea to explore!
I brought loads of England Rugby programmes from ebay. I then taught myself how to make a ‘wallpaper repeat’. As selling wallpaper in rolls is very different to making a one off fit to size wallpaper, as the design has to line up roll by roll on a wall enabling a customer to buy as much or as little as they want.
I designed a repeat and got it printed out as a one off onto a roll of wallpaper….The next step was the scary one! I had to then either stop what I was doing as I had no copyright or permissions or get in touch with the RFU in Twickenham. I remember it was the week before Christmas, I googled who I should speak to, took a deep breath and called them. Bingo, they agreed to a meeting in January to have a look at my sample.
I panicked all over Christmas, and went to see them in January. The great news was that they really liked the idea and gave me access to all of their rare programmes to make and official wallpaper for them. Eventually, it was agreed, printed and ready. Some was put up in Twickenham Stadium, in the shop and the Chairman’s Suite.
By chance that year the NFL came to London and used Twickenham for one of thier games. Great! I thought nothing of it, until about a month later I got an email asking if I would be interested in doing something for the NFLPA who had seen it at Twickenham… WOW obviously the answer was yes although it terrified me!
Panic again, I knew nothing about ‘American Football’. I had 2 months to make a sample as the main man was coming over from the States and I had a meeting to talk to him about it. I met him with my sample and thankfully he loved it… The hard work now started.
I had to research players, get to know the game and decide what to produce.. On top of that I had to find a printer/manufacturer in the US sitting here in the UK.
I eventually found a printer and decided to take a trip to the US.. it was the best decision I have ever made as they started talking about wall decals… I had no idea what they were… they showed me some that they already manufacture and I was sold.
A much easier sell, they are super simple to put up, they are self adhesive, they can be removed from the wall and repositioned. Fast forward a year, I now have my shipment in the UK having cleared customs from the US, and am ready to sell here in the UK to all the lovely NFLUK fans.
They are super cool emoji decals, perfect for kids bedrooms, sports rooms, fridges, golf carts, trucks, anywhere really. I now totally love the NFL season and am totally sold on the game, so much more exciting than rugby, much more of a show too!
The decals are available from SportingWallpaper.com. Please have a look and if you like them I would be very grateful if you could post on social media, my details are below!
Twitter: @sportingwalls
Instagram: @sportingwalls
Facebook: SportingWallpaper Ltd