ABOUT ME

Originally from Cambridge, now living in London. My career started all thanks to the Royal Society of Arts when I won their award for packaging design. This led to a short work placement within the John Lewis HQ design team – a shock to the system having to be fully suited and booted straight after university. I did however keep the waistcoat.

Thought it was high time I rendered myself as a LEGO® mini figure with laptop and cafetière accessories. Limited edition, 1 of 1.

Seemed to go well though - it lasted 8 years. And it was a great time to join the business too as it grew into the confident brand it is today. Our team designed everything from their first home catalogues to Waitrose packaging. But, despite the profit share bonus, 25% discount and Partners’ dining room (roast lunch £1.19), it was time to leave. This was partially because I'd gained a stone in weight (puddings 19p), but mainly to broaden my career and client experience.

After some agency hopping, experiencing the good, the bad and the ugly (mentioning no names, it's a small world), a fantastic opportunity was proposed: “Help build a retail-focussed team within Tag Worldwide.” Starting with a team of 5 in 2010, we quickly grew to become a busy studio with pitch wins, while also helping to grow existing accounts. We create everything from impactful retail campaigns to product launches, pitch-winning presentations and global POS toolkits.

Postman’s Prime Chunks - RSA Award
A classic packaging design brief for a range of pet food packaging. My concept took our family experience of owning a dog who took particular exception to postmen and so ‘Postman’s Prime Chunks’ was born. Taking styling cues from Royal Mail stickers, envelopes and tubes, I even made startled postman-shaped biscuits from modelling clay. I was delighted to have won the award.

A few years later, I was fortunate enough to be given a place at the RSA judge’s table, sitting on the very same panel who gave me that packaging award. (I could completely sympathise with the finalists at interview stage). I was later invited to join the Fellowship of the Royal Society of Arts.

Personal work
As with many designers, I started with a pencil and paper and resisted the Mac until my final year at university. More recently, I moved to the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil. Some perceive their use “cheating” - but in my experience, it simply accelerates and amplifies skills learnt over the years. It also happens to be much cleaner than using traditional materials which very much appeals to my tidy side.