Elmwood London seniors leave to form The Cabinet

Three former senior Elmwood staff have formed new consultancy The Cabinet, which officially launches next week.

Cabinet logo
Cabinet logo

Elmwood London managing director Elliot Wilson, creative director Adam Ellis and deputy managing director Andy Paul form the group, taking on the roles of strategy director, creative director and managing director respectively.

Wilson says, ‘We’re all at similar stages of our life and we’re all worked at great and big agencies. We worked together for three-and-a-half years at Elmwood, and have seen the London office grow from 12 people to a studio of 40. We thought if we could do it for someone else we could do it for ourselves.’

The new consultancy will be based in Oxford Street, central London.

The Cabinet name looks to indicate the idea of ‘artistry and craftsmanship’, says Wilson, while also referencing a political cabinet, implying ‘building a consensus to get a message out’.

Wilson adds, ‘Cabinets are incredible containers of beautiful things, so it’s a name that encapsulates our approach. Hopefully we’ll be working on the diverse brands we have traditionally worked on – mainly corporate, consumer and retail.

‘It’s diversity that gets us up in the morning and keeps us excited, so we’re really making sure [we create] strong, strategy considered brand design.’

Cabinet designers
Cabinet designers

The Cabinet logo features a red cockerel, drawn by Ellis. The mark is inspired by the discovery that the current Cabinet’s Whitehall home is sited on what used to be Henry VIII’s cockfighting pit.

Wilson says, ‘They’re proud, confident beasts that announce the day, so we thought having an icon that represented that would be great.’

The Cabinet says it has so far won two pitches, though it will not disclose the names of the clients. According to Wilson, the consultancy has a five-year plan, and hopes to eventually grow to a similar size of Elmwood’s current London office, comprising around 30 or 40 staff in a ‘close knit, band of brothers’ environment.

Jonathan Sands, Elmwood chairman, says that group chief executive David Godber will be covering the managing director role on an interim basis until a replacement for Wilson is appointed.

Former head of product and service design at Virgin Dee Cooper has joined the London office as non-executive director, and an as-yet-undisclosed creative director has also been appointed, who will join in September.

Sands adds that the London team is currently looking for a new, larger studio space to help accommodate the growing staff numbers.

He says, ‘As a footnote I truly wish the Cabinet every success and I have no doubt that they will achieve good things. David, Greg and Panna Patel who is also back at Elmwood after a decade away (latterly running Willams Murray Hamm) are driving the five year vision for the studio set out at the beginning of the year which will see us move to new larger studio’.

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Comments
  • tim reading November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    looks great!
    do they have a website yet???

  • Ads Ellis November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Thanks Tim, the website will go live tomorrow lunchtime, http://www.thecabinetagency.com thanks for your positive comment we really appreciate it.
    Hope you enjoy the website…Ads (Creative Director, The Cabinet)

  • Paul Brand November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Loving the branding. Very excited about seeing the website go live this afternoon. Congratulations all round.

  • Ana Petak November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    LOVE the cockerel! And the branding in general, at the risk of sounding nuts, looks so “tasty”. Cooking up something good over there.

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