UNIT Opens Doors in Fitzrovia to Signal New Era for Studio

After seven memorable years based on Great Marlborough Street, UNIT - the largest independently owned creative studio - have opened the doors of their new bespoke designed studio on Berners Mews, Fitzrovia - a move which signals an exciting new era for the company.

The 5 floor 8,100 sq. foot space, which took over a year and a half to build; has been designed from scratch with the sole purpose of ensuring clients and their evolving needs are fully supported.

UNIT’s managing director Daniel Sapiano comments, "This is the metamorphosis of UNIT from a very good post production company to a new all-encompassing, high-end, next generation studio that can work as a creative partner to all our clients. Our vision has been to create a genuinely future focused space that promotes creativity, innovation and the sharing of ideas. We want it to be a destination for our clients to spend time, work and relax in an appropriately designed space. 

It is large enough to cater for any project but still dedicated to every client’s individual needs and means we can offer the very best in VFX, CGI, Design, Grade, Offline, Audio, Sound and Print capabilities across Commercials, Broadcast, Film & TV. We have the newest and most technically advanced set-up in London and with that we are poised for an exciting next chapter”.

Adam Luckwell, UNIT’s owner and founder continues, “UNIT’s key value is creative excellence. The company has been built from the ground up around that value. We believe in breaking the boundaries between disciplines. After the many recent creative hires we wanted to build a space where they could excel, whilst also designing an environment in which our clients can feel at home.   

The new space gives us maximum flexibility, which means collaboration on every project, regardless of its size or complexity becomes seamless. I feel we have struck a perfect balance - the building is full of state-of-the-art tech, whilst we’ve also created a comfortable, familiar and inspiring environment.”

From Grading suites, to Sound suites, Flame, 3D and open plan Design studios, flexible work spaces, as well as a client Bar and Lounge area - the new UNIT home is perfectly placed to deliver the very best creative across advertising, entertainment, long-form and tech projects. 

Meanwhile the team of VFX and CG artists, designers, producers, colourists and sound designers that are at the heart of UNIT all ensure that their client partners are made to feel welcome from start to finish on every project - working closely in this family run company is key to UNIT’s success.

Daniel continues, "The move emphasises our commitment to excellence and to supporting our industry locally. It would have been easier and cheaper to scale down and offshore our VFX work like many other studios do these days, but we are bucking that trend by investing locally in brilliant people and in an environment in which they can flourish.”

Such award-winning talent has served to further elevate the UNIT creative community and offering. The renowned, award winning VFX artist Pete Rypstra, who now heads up the UNIT 2D department has recently led the VFX heavy Knorr ‘Butterfly’ directed by Michael Geoghegan and Bruno Ribeiro out of Partizan, working with MullenLowe. The highly experienced and award winning VFX artist Milo Paterson who was also previously at The Mill has been another key recent addition whose impact was instantly felt and such highlights include Booking.com ‘Flexibility’ working with Booking.com, directed by Josh and Xander at Radical Media. Finally, Matt Lowery is the most recent CG team addition joining as VFX supervisor having worked at Glassworks for over seven years amongst other places. His main character animation work focuses on the creation of CG real creatures & animals.

Meanwhile the UNIT Design Collective was creatively bolstered with the arrival of Tom Wansbrough-Jones whose impact was instantly seen in his role as creative director. Since joining he has been involved in numerous agency and direct to brand projects for the likes of Adidas, Genesis, Casio and Lush. Senior motion designer, Diogo Pinheiro who was a further design team hire brings a deftness in motion design which is complimented with an audio-visuals background and a keen interest for the unusual and experimental.

UNIT’s long form offering has been further strengthened by the very recent addition of executive producer of TV & film Dan Pagan joining from LipSync; having worked for over 10 years in this type of content on such highlights as Peterloo, Showdogs & Fisherman’s Friends.

 

Executive producer Pamie Wikstrom made an instant mark alongside MD Daniel and the team of EP’s. Her infinite experience comes as a result of working for a plethora of high-end, globally established ad agencies, as well as smaller start-ups; from BBH, Wieden+Kennedy, RKYR to The&Partnership, Ogilvy&Mather and most recently adam&eveDDB, bringing such important agency side experience to the whole production team. Meanwhile, producer Semley Wilkinson - who was previously at MPC and The Mill - is another welcome addition to the dynamic production team leading on a number of interesting projects including the recent Coors Light ‘That’s Cold’ campaign featuring the first beer branded rap battles for Channel 4 and The Outfit. Bumble Davis joined as a further executive producer having started agency side before working for FCB, Y&R and The Mill where she worked with some big-name directors including Tom Hooper, Paul Street and Duncan Brown and sees this time as an opportunity to produce some outstanding work.

Adam continues, “As always we are focused on winning and executing the very best creative work, whether it be our recent 2019 BAFTA nominated television work for Britannia or our British Arrows Awards winning work on Greenpeace ‘Ocean of the Future’ working with Ogilvy and directed by Chris Hugall or Erste Bank ‘First Christmas’ directed by Kyra & Constantin working with Jung Von Matt and Passion Studios. Not to mention such recent highlights as Sony Xperia ‘Vue’ working closely with the team at JOINT.  

We are committed to making sure our team work on the most exciting projects possible and to make sure we exceed all client expectations so as to develop truly memorable, disruptive and shareable work – with the latest hires and set-up in our new home we are perfectly placed to do just that”.