Business name: Whittle Design Studio

Office location: Penzance

When was the business founded: 2016

How many employees: 2

Business Cornwall: How is the business best described?

We are a husband and wife multi-disciplinary design team specialising in graphic design, illustration, surface pattern design, branding and digital design. We work from our home studio in an 18th Century cottage near Land’s End, where we work with local, UK and international businesses.

Business Cornwall: Why was the business founded?

We formed Whittle Design Studio because it was a natural progression to combine our skills in graphic design, illustration, surface pattern design, branding and digital design under one roof, thus the name Whittle Design Studio. We have both been involved in the design for over 20 years, so we have a wealth of knowledge to draw from. We wanted to create a business that we could develop as a family business and explore the wider creative spectrum. It’s not unusual to find us working on a large-scale branding project one week and illustrations and surface pattern design for fashion and homewares the next. This diversity in our work helps us bring new creative ideas to the table and keeps our work fresh and exciting.

We relocated to Cornwall two years ago, the same time we launched Whittle Design Studio. We wanted to establish a business in Cornwall, where we could work with fantastic clients and enjoy the benefits of coastal living. It’s also a fantastic place for our children to grow up and for us to achieve a better work life balance.

Business Cornwall: How does the business compare to competitors in the industry?

We don’t try to compare ourselves to competitors in the industry because what’s the point? Every design studio has a different culture, are different sizes or specialise in certain markets. Their success is relative to their size and we are happy to keep our business small and agile. We don’t want to be a large studio, instead we are happy to keep it just the two of us working with clients who understand and value design and the impact great design can have on their business. We are also happy to collaborate on projects with other design studios, artists and designers.

Business Cornwall: What are the business’s plans both short-term and long-term?

Our short-term and long-term plans are pretty much the same, to further establish ourselves in Cornwall, working with amazing clients who want something a ‘little bit different’. We would also like to work with clients outside of Cornwall. We already work with clients across the UK, Europe and the US and being based in Cornwall with the excellent Internet connectivity we enjoy, means we can compete on the world stage. We also have some exciting in-house projects in the pipeline, which we are developing and will be launching soon.

Business Cornwall: How does the business define success?

For us success is not measured by how many awards we have, the size of our team or even turnover, it’s based on our client’s success, the type of projects we get to work on, the great feedback we receive and being able to enjoy working together as a husband and wife design team at our home studio minutes from the beach, should we need to get some fresh air and nail that next design brief.