We visited Cadel at his home on a Tuesday morning in February 2022. We wanted to have a sit down, a couple of coffees and a chat with the creative himself – and he was kind enough to let us!

We recorded our conversation to give you real quotes throughout this ‘Behind the Scenes’ feature.

A bit of background-

Cadel went to Uni in 2014, doing Graphic Design for 3 years, but he believes that you learn a lot more from working in the industry itself that you don’t learn there. “It was a bit too essay’ey and I didn’t really like that bit…”

After those 3 years, Cadel went to work for a t-shirt design company, where his designs were used for the likes of River Island clothing – but what he was drawing was not in any means similar to what his style is now. Think leopard print lips!
Unfortunately Cadel was made redundant from that position…but, he sees it now as his saving grace.

“When we were in Tobago, literally 2 weeks after being made redundant” he chuckled at this saying that it was like ” we’re still going!” . “It was there that I  decided to give it a shot and do it – might as well – got nothing to lose now… and it kinda went from there.” Cadel slowly started to practice a more rustic/artisan style to suit his natural aesthetic, which you can get from how him and his partner have decorated their home.

Cadel’s cat came to visit (who was meant to be shy by the way) whilst we were talking, he interrupted at one point by clawing at this t-shirt. After a short break, talking about his cat, Cadel continued to tell me about what he’s been up to since launching his design studio –

He’s worked with a number of businesses so far such as; Re Burn , Opal Living , Wilde & Wonder Floral and Wilderness Kitchen Cornwall – to name a few!
“Opal Living was slightly different – a beachy, boho candle homeware shop. It was fun because it involved pastel colours, so that one was quite nice”

We had a look through his portfolio, where he sketches some of his designs, and he explained that he hand draws his designs, then uploads them into Photoshop to turn them into digital files.

On the image above, there are a few designs that Cadel had conjured up for a recent client that he enjoyed working with called The Galley . They’re a Deli and Cafe, based in Norfolk, who also offer accommodation of a 2 bed apartment above called “The Crow’s Nest” .  Therefore, the branding that Cadel did for this particular client had two different logos – The Galley uses a lovely leaf drawing and The Crow’s Nest , a delicate feather.

Whilst speaking about some of his memorable projects, I asked him “What has been your favourite job so far then?” to which he (very quickly!) replied…

“Obviously One Oat!” – needless to say Cadel knows what to say. Of course, we’re biased but the branding really is stunning.
I explained to him that I struggled with giving up the branding job (as I also do graphic design and marketing work), but this is where it’s so important to choose the right person for the job – and I can confidently say that Cadel is that person. I am a very colourful, bold person and my work represents that, but One Oat is meant to represent the countryside that we’re surrounded by and our values of eco consciousness, so having rustic charm was a necessity. “I think we got the best of both worlds though didn’t we, with the fox being rustic, the patterns a bit bolder and the font!”

So the question is now “What do you want for the future?!”
Cadel went on to say that he really enjoys working from home, which we can appreciate because his office is a lovely space…
“I think I’d like to actually expand the shop, selling my own prints and stuff which I’m looking into doing fairly soon” – he’s also very recently launched some pre made branding packages which I asked him to explain in his own words: “Yeah, so basically not everyone’s budget can extend to a full custom package so these options fit the gap of still having a bit of a thoughtful brand.”
One of the options, called “Meadow Kiln” includes a custom monogram which could be your individual abbreviations, for example “MK” for “Meadow Kiln” – so your company name or even initials etc. You can also have 3 hand drawn shop graphics as well.
These options will still show some brand identity, without breaking the bank. Prices vary from around £500 – £700 but you can make certain additions if you wish. This is ideal for small business start ups!

A special thank you to Cadel – we are forever grateful for all of his talented hard work and look forward to seeing more from him in the future!