Mellor hits back over exodus

New media design pioneer Richard Mellor has hit back at claims by his former colleague Felix Velarde that Velarde’s newly launched consultancy has taken most of Mellor’s staff and clients.

Velarde quit as commercial and planning director of Mellor’s Hyperinteractive and was followed by creative director Jason Holland. The two have now launched Head New Media, comprising eight staff – six of whom are from Hyperinteractive.

Velarde claims he and Richard Mellor have not been agreeing on the company’s new media strategy or creative direction for quite some time.

He also claims Hyperinteractive’s design and production team has joined Head “en masse”.

Velarde adds: “Our main clients at Hyperinteractive were Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft and Mars and we have been very fortunate in that they all wanted to follow us.”

But Mellor, a board member of British Design and Art Direction, says: “Felix hasn’t taken most of the staff and clients. The clients [who have gone] are with Jason Holland rather than Felix.”

Mellor, who claims Hyperinteractive now has eight staff, is sanguine about the breakaway: “In this field, talent does come and go – that is the nature of the industry.”

He agree with Velarde on one thing: “Felix and I have not been getting on for quite a long time.”

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