When we made the decision to up sticks and swap our London base for a new home in the French Alps we were quite nervous. We’d spent 10 years working hard to establish our creative agency in the UK so it felt like a bold move. Would we be able to maintain the many great relationships we’d built with both clients and freelancers? Fast forward three years and we’re in no doubt that the move was the right one.
Since our transition from city to mountain life we’ve not looked back!
Gwyn and I both share a deep connection to sport and the outdoors, so it isn’t really surprising that we ended up where we have!
Any friends reading this will know that I am a bit of an activity addict! Having spent more than a decade competing for Team GB on the international Wakeboard circuit (5x National, 1x European & 2 x World Champion) extreme sports play a big role in my life and continue to shape my outlook and approach, both personally and professionally.
Traveling for competitions had another benefit.
Working remotely while away gave me a great grounding in running a business that didn’t need to operate from the same location as my clients. It meant that when I built up a team of freelancers I could look globally for talent and that put us in a great position when we made the decision to move to France.
Working as a documentary film maker for the past 15 years, Gwyn has directed and produced many exciting nature and science films. From filming Great White Sharks in Australia and Polar Bears in Canada, to the railroad in Alaska and more recently directing an episode of ‘The Nature of Things' with David Suzuki, for which he won a Canadian Academy Award. The international nature of his work means he’s been able to continue directing since the move to France while also doing more writing work for global broadcasters.
Since moving to the mountains, we feel healthier, happier and more in sync with our natural environment.
We now spend much of our free time skiing and snowboarding and are very lucky that our office is based directly at the bottom of a ski slope (that wasn’t planned at all)!
“It’s been really exciting to tackle the new opportunities that come from living in the wonderful environment of the Alps. I’ve always been passionate about wildlife and nature so it’s been particularly rewarding to work with scientists at CREA Mont-Blanc on a short film. Our aim was to introduce the impacts of climate change in the Alps in an accessible way and show how researchers track changes in Alpine ecosystems. We joined them on a couple of field trips to mountain top study sites and it was fascinating and eye opening to see how animals and plants are responding to a rapidly warming environment - well worth lugging heavy camera gear 6 kilometres and 800 vertical meters up to the site!”
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Another highlight for me was accompanying an Arc’teryx ski tour group on a trip into Switzerland. We used a drone to capture their climb up a snow covered glacier and then ski back down. Capturing aerial footage helped us reveal the vast scale of the wilderness and show the efforts of the ski touring group to reach the top and be rewarded by some exciting back country powder lines.”
Putting together our showreel last year was a great opportunity to reflect on the positive changes we’ve made since moving our company and home to the Alps. It was satisfying to include both projects from clients we’ve worked with for years in the UK, as well as many new brands we’ve formed relationships with since our move.
The Alps have opened up a whole new world of adventures to us.
Every day, we feel lucky to be here and especially thankful that we have been able to make this lifestyle choice work for our business too.
I recently read ‘Let my people go surfing’ – a great book by the founder of outdoor brand Patagonia. In the book Yvon Chouinard shares his values and somewhat unconventional approach to business – championing sustainability over sales and encouraging his customers to buy less! One paragraph stood out in particular:
“My values are as a result of living a life close to nature and being passionately involved in doing what some people would call risky sports. I have taken lessons learnt from these sports, from nature, and our alternative lifestyle, and applied them to running a company.”
These words couldn’t align better with our own circumstances and business vision. Time spent outdoors is a key part of our working day at White Triangle.
We take creative inspiration from our beautiful natural surroundings on a daily basis. That’s why building regular, active breaks into our daily routine is a priority for us, not just an after thought. As Chouinard says:
“We all need to surf the waves when they are good or ski the powder after a big snow storm.”
We couldn’t agree more! Achieving a sustainable (and more importantly enjoyable) work life balance is at the heart of our vision for White Triangle. Living in such a connected world gives us the flexibility to find a better balance – we can work remotely and collaborate globally and that’s pretty awesome!
We’re lucky to work with a fantastic network of freelancers worldwide.
We’ve built a team who are not only talented in their creative field, but who share our passion for nature and the outdoors.
We like to get outdoors with our clients too, especially when working on brand development projects. We find participating in a mountain-based activity just before a brainstorming session encourages us to think more laterally and increases our ability to problem solve.
It’s really important to us to work with brands who share our key values. We believe in quality over quantity at White Triangle. When developing your visual identity, our goal is not only to build a beautiful brand, but to build a beautiful brand that will stand the test of time.
We’re very excited for our future and for what the fresh Alpine air can bring to your creative projects.
Blog written by: Stephanie Williams-Caller (Creative Director, White Triangle Agency)
