is co-founder of brand design agency, Attik, along with his partner Simon Needham. The business began in 1987 in an attic in Huddersfield after the pair left Batley Art College, and whilst it is still headquartered in Huddersfield, it has expanded to London, New York and Sydney. The money to start up had been earned by pavement drawing at weekends, but it was supplemented by a bursary from the Prince’s Youth Business Trust. Within ten years Attik was earning some £5 million in fees and working for clients such as Sony, Nike, Coca-Cola, Kodak and Virgin. It is significant that many of Attik’s leading clients are brands and businesses that appeal to young people. In 1998 Attik bought another company which specialised in screen graphics for the movie industry and this opened a new window of opportunity. One original ambition of a BMW for both partners within five years had been achieved in three! Attik has always seen itself as very creative, an ‘ideas company’ but it has become a global communications business.

Starting young

There’s always a perception, don’t start business when you’re young, don’t go into a design business, don’t do this, don’t do that.  We were just a bit fed up by all that and I think if anything, that was a real motivation to us.  We were 19, so really very young in the sense of starting a business, but I think what you do have on your side when you are so young is, you’ve got very little fear and it enables you to do things that as you get older and wiser and things come along like houses and families, then you probably take less and less risks, so we decided well let’s do all the risk taking at a young age.  What we thought we’d do, is we’d give it 12 months running our business in my grandma’s attic and we’d see exactly where that led us.