From the attic to the Palace

James Sommerville
Co-founder and Creative Director - ATTIK

Soon after graduating from Batley School of Art in 1986, James Sommerville co-founded ATTIK in his hometown of Huddersfield, England. With a grant from the Prince’s Trust and a good deal of ambition, James and partner Simon Needham set up shop in an attic bedroom in the house of James’ grandmother – the very room the company would be named after. They bought themselves the then-revolutionary Apple Mac and set about evolving the design sensibility that would eventually gain them a trip to Buckingham Palace.

In 2004, Simon and James were invited to the royal residence to be honoured, in an audience with the Queen, for their contributions to British (and global) design. It pleased the Queen no end to learn that the £1,000 grant James and Simon had received from her son’s trust was the starting point for an exploration in progressive imaging that, like a work in progress, continues to surprise and provoke the world of design.