Named by the London Stock Exchange this year as one of the '1000 Companies to Inspire Britain', and after nearly 30 years in the business, Hawthorn has never stopped growing. With the acquisition of Core Creative, renowned drapes brand Rex Howard and the hugely admired creative technical production business Anagram, it was felt the time was right to amalgamate all of these respected brands under the one name: Hawthorn.
Hawthorn was the brainchild of Martin Hawthorn, who in 1987 spotted a gap in the market for a good quality equipment hire company, to support theatres, dramatic groups, schools and colleges. With great customer service front of mind, he promptly set up shop in his garage in Leicestershire and the rest, as they say, is history.
The Hawthorn brand has emerged from its humble beginnings to its current status as one of the leading independent technical production companies in the UK. With a 150,000 square foot warehouse at its Leicestershire HQ together with satellite sites in Cambridge and London, Hawthorn provide all things technical to the live events industry. Its current offering now consists of a thriving seven day per week hire service, a 75 strong creative technical production team and a specialist permanent equipment installation division.
Martin Hawthorn, who remains managing director of the business, said "After a period of significant and sustained growth, Hawthorn has entered an incredibly exciting new era, making it a natural time to review our brand to ensure it reflects the dynamic, creative business we are today.
"Our aim since merging the four companies has been to create a strong foundation for ongoing growth. Our updated brand celebrates our heritage, quality of service and expertise, whilst providing a platform for us to showcase our creative and pioneering approach to technical event production. Wins including the new Hairspray tour, together with music tour wins such as Mark Knopfler, Steven Wilson, Status Quo, Squeeze, The Charlatans and most recently the New Order UK and European tour, have added to the growth in our dry hire division.
"The projects area of our business which services the corporate live events industry has also enjoyed a growth of 10% over the last 12 months. This is testament to the dedication and hard work of our whole team. I'm delighted to be unveiling Hawthorn's new brand at PLASA 2015 and look forward to our industry colleagues seeing Hawthorn in a new light."
(Jim Evans)
