The pair worked in a flat above a Chinese takeaway in Reading, Berkshire in the early 1980s:[2] "I wanted to develop a teddy bear that appealed to adults as well as children.
I based Forever Friends specifically on the teddy bear that Sebastian Flyte carried around in Brideshead Revisited.
Brownsword himself agreed to become the CEO of Hallmark Europe, while the new money allowed the whole of card design was updated to include a border.
In 2005, Forever Friends was relaunched with a water colour based look, textured paper on cards and a more modern font.
The Forever Friends range included cards, postcards and stationery, plush bears, framed art, mugs and kitchenware, figurines and bed linen.