The first 10 years or so of my career where spent mostly working alone
from spare bedrooms of various homes I lived in around the London area.
Eventually I plucked up the courage and purchased my dream office in
Richmond Surrey ( 20 minutes outside of London ) and so 15 Worple way
would become the home to my new company A1 SET LTD. The building was
perfect for my needs with four floors and plenty of light. I had
organized the four floors into separate departments with the nerve
center on ground floor and the most fun room ( the model making room )
in the basement. At last I had around 6 times the amount of space I had
worked from thus far in my career and this meant that I could now start
employing assistants to help me draft and make models. Generally there
where just me and perhaps two other people rattling around in this huge
space but at least when we became swamped with work I was able to
accommodate a small army of assistants ( the record work force was me
and six others ) Before I knew it I was a boss and that title never sat
well with me so I always tried hard to keep the atmosphere fun and
although we worked damn hard we also relished lunch in the pub across
the street or a silly afternoon joking and dancing along to the cd
player ( while we where waiting for moments of creative genius ) many
shows where designed in 15 Worple way not least Millionaire and Idol.
THE JIM HENSON STUDIOS HOLLYWOOD .. when I moved to L.A. I closed down
a1 set ltd ( re opening as AW SET INC ) and sadly sold my beloved office
in Richmond. I was on a mission to find a new office home and found the
perfect spot at the Henson studios. I have had a life long association
with Jim Henson, firstly as a fan, then professionally working on a
Henson show straight out of college and several other projects over the
years ( I even designed the Muppets first appearance at the Hollywood
bowl ) it felt right, very right to set up shop at the Henson studios
and I would often bump in to Jim's son Brian on my way to the zerox
room. The Henson studios was originally the Charlie Chaplin studios, it
is a beautiful petite charming lot where everyone knows each other and
my office was an old writers bungalow right next to the music recording
studios of A and M, one morning Sir Paul McCartney was sunning his knees
( pants rolled up ) on the steps up to my office and most famously one
Sunday I was working alone with my office door wide open singing ( badly
) a Gwen Stefani song, I was to say the least alarmed when I turned
around and Gwen Stefani was standing in person at my door way laughing
at my attempt to murder her song.
I was at Hensons for three years prior to my most recent move to Vegas
where I have come full circle again based out of a spare bedroom. I
still work with many assistants but the way we conduct our work has
changed massively just in the last few years as now 99% of my work is
done on a computer and I very rarely make 3D models anymore. With the
Internet age I am able to send drawings back and forth between several
assistants as we all work remotely from different states and
sometimes-different countries.. Progress and technology has allowed down
sizing, but I miss the camaraderie and the silly afternoons dancing in
the office trying to make the work force laugh.
In 2012 I decided to open a formal office in las Vegas. Situated right
behind the famous Caesars Palace just 2 minutes from the Las Vegas
strip.