Allen Lebon goes it alone

The British Council’s decision to axe its exhibition department’s last in-house designer (DW 2 August) has spawned a new consultancy, Allen Lebon, to be launched in September.

One of its founding partners, Marsha Lebon, has been at the council for 12 years. She will be made redundant at the end of this month, and is launching the new company with freelance project manager and researcher Monica Allen, who was the council’s exhibitions head until 1992.

The pair are not going to appoint any more designers “at present”, but Lebon is planning to design graphics for clients in conjunction with freelances and 3D design consultancies which she will appoint.

One of the first clients will be United Arab Emirates. “It’s a big free-standing exhibition sponsored by a big British company,” explains Lebon.

Three further clients are all based overseas. “Obviously, our contacts are abroad because of our British Council experience, but we also want to work in the UK,” she adds.