Aardman: Made in Bristol, With Love
There’s something special about the city of Bristol. In recent years, it’s frequently been touted as one of the best places to live in the UK, often popping up on property programmes and newspaper articles as THE place to be, a city filled with creativity and independent spirit, permeated with a relaxed and open attitude that allows ideas to thrive and opportunities to come knocking.
In 2013, such an opportunity came knocking for me when I answered a job advert from Aardman. Having grown up in Bristol, I’d long been a huge fan of the company. While Peter Lord and David Sproxton - Aardman’s founders - were busy setting up their animation studio in Bristol in the mid ‘70s, I was taking my first steps and learning my first words just a short distance away, unaware of the part Aardman would play in my life decades later.
As Aardman grew, so did I, enjoying my earliest introduction to the world of art from the wonderful Tony Hart – accompanied, of course, by the Aardman-created Morph, a character I was happy to learn was Bristol born and bred, just like me. Fast-forward to 2013 and that serendipitous opportunity saw me landing a job at Aardman – and looking after some of the studio’s best-loved characters as a social media manager, including my childhood favourite Morph.
The connection I have to Aardman isn’t just professional – it’s embedded in my experience of living in the city and seeing it evolve over the years. Today, I can’t imagine Bristol without Aardman – the studio is, quite simply, part of the city’s DNA, an early trailblazer for the creative spark and imagination that defines it. Aardman’s unique way of looking at the world and telling stories has lured some truly exceptional people to this corner of the West Country who have made Bristol their home, helping to establish the city as a place that thrums with creative expression.
When I was growing up, I always sensed my hometown had something other cities didn’t, with its vibrant, independent high streets (I grew up moments from the legendary Gloucester Road, often referenced as the last great high street in the UK where independent coffee shops thrive and chain stores are conspicuously few and far between), world-famous street art and defiantly different music scene. I came of age as the Bristol Sound made its mark on the world, with the Wild Bunch, Massive Attack and Portishead ushering in a distinctly unique musical style that couldn’t have been born in any other city.
There’s also a rebellious, almost anarchic streak that runs through the city’s identity, visible not only in the activism that has taken root here, but in the iconic street art of one of the city’s most famous sons, Banksy. All these elements come together in Bristol to create a heady mix which seems to infuse the city with a sense that anything is possible.
When I left university, I settled in London with the aim of pursuing a career in the media. But as a naturally introverted creative, the cut and thrust of London life eventually took its toll and I came back to Bristol. By this time, Aardman had transformed from the small studio that had created my favourite childhood characters into an animation powerhouse, with numerous awards to its name and an enviable reputation established off the back of the hugely successful Wallace & Gromit franchise and the noughties classic, Chicken Run (the highest-grossing stop-motion animation of all time.)
When I first stepped through the doors of Aardman’s HQ, located at Bristol’s thriving harbourside, it’s no exaggeration to say I could literally feel the creativity in the air and the deep connection Aardman has to the city. Simply put, I just can’t imagine Aardman being located anywhere but Bristol. Aardman characters have a warmth and handcrafted feel about them (they come complete with visible thumbprints, a charming mark of the care and creativity that goes into making them) that seems to reflect the city’s way of doing things a bit differently to everyone else.
I think there’s something truly wonderful about the symbiosis between Aardman and Bristol, particularly as Aardman has not just been integral in establishing the city as a centre of creative excellence, but it has helped bring art to the public via the phenomenally successful Gromit Unleashed and Shaun in the City Art trails, raising millions of pounds for Bristol Children’s Hospital in the process.
In 2018, Aardman become employee owned, protecting the special culture that our founders have so carefully nurtured over the years. This means that everyone in the company has a voice and can participate in shaping Aardman’s future. The EO model is, in my view, totally aligned with the independent spirit that characterises Bristol and ushers in a truly exciting new chapter in the Aardman story.
Today, I’m a senior social media manager at Aardman and I have the wonderful job of representing some of the characters that played such a special part in my childhood, and nurturing online communities that reach way beyond Bristol to locations across the globe. I get to see how much joy we bring to people of all ages and backgrounds, and how our Bristol studio has inspired a generation of animators, who, wanting to follow in the footsteps of their animation heroes, have found their way to our studio and now work with us to bring new stories to life via the art of stop motion.
We have a tagline on our website that says ‘Made in Bristol With Love’ which encapsulates the important part Bristol plays in Aardman’s story. Just as I’m proud to say I’m made in Bristol, so too is Aardman.
