Tin mine blasting and engineering lathe waste seem unlikely inspirations for a career in design – but Phil Gendall’s experiences growing up in West Cornwall had a profound influence.
Chris Chapman is a practical man with a talent for spotting the unlikely opportunity. He’s made a success of making innovative things – from robotic puppets to smart fabrics, from chic eco-homes to making the case for Dott Cornwall – and he leaves a clear impression of having had a lot of fun doing it all.
When Robert Woolf first launched the company in Gloucestershire, the naming was prescient; seven years later SEA Communications is firmly established at Jubilee Wharf, Penryn, close to his favourite Cornish surf breaks.
Matt Hocking is in every sense a local lad made good – born, raised, shaped by and now based in his hometown of St. Austell. But his design agency Leap is anything but a parochial business, winning a string of national awards for both creativity and its commitment to sustainability and global change.
‘Something From Us’ would probably be described as a ‘back of a fag packet’ concept - if smoking had still been allowed in pubs when Tom Tobia and Mark Irlam met in The Dove in Hackney and decided to combine their talents.