North West Christmas convo: Chris Mather of Mather & Co

Christmas is almost upon us and it’s been a well and truly exciting year for the North West business community.

With many of the region’s businesspeople no doubt looking forward to grabbing a glass of wine and putting their feet up, allowing themselves to slip into a post-roast dinner snooze while pretending to listen to the kids, at Bdaily we thought we’d bring you closer to the personalities behind some of the North West’s most exciting enterprises.

Today’s festive catchup is with Chris Mather, managing director of design consultancy Mather & Co.

What did your business achieve in 2015?

2015 has been a great year for Mather & Co, not only have we been celebrating 20 years in the industry but we have also welcomed new members to our ever growing team.

We have been successful in a number of competitive tenders which have led to the opportunity to work on number of high profile projects such as the Belgian Beer Palace in Brussels, The Royal Mint Experience and Silverstone Motorsport World. We have also continued our relationship with existing clients including new work at The Mere and Chelsea FC.

What were some of the bigger challenges you faced this year?

Each project comes with its own challenges. Working abroad means there are not only language barriers to overcome but things that would seem small issues such as time differences and supply chains have to be considered.

Some of our international projects require specialist products such as display cases to be supplied from UK and then shipped to site. This can often take almost as long as the production itself.

Does your business have anything exciting planned for 2016?

2016 is set to be a very exciting, and busy, year in the Mather & Co studio. We will open 6 projects in the first half of the year alone including The Royal Mint Visitor Centre and the Norwegian Olympic Museum. The opening of the Olympic Museum in Lillehammer will coincide with Youth Olympics Games being held in the city.

Do you find any other North West businesses or their owners inspiring? If so, who?

The North West has a wealth of inspiring companies and this is true of the rest of the UK. We have had the pleasure of working with many architects, designers and suppliers based in the North West.

We often find ourselves working halfway across the world on a project with a design team that are based just down the road - The Olympic Museum was created by a mainly UK based team with the majority of the team being based in the North.

It’s important to us as a company to support local suppliers and with the help of initiatives like GREAT Britain campaign from UKTI it seems like the rest of the world is starting realise what we know already, Britain is great!

Give us one tip for a budding entrepreneur

Surround yourself with the right people. Everyone has their own strengths, you can’t do everything yourself and having a strong team that you can rely on will help you reach your goals.

Where’s your favourite village/town/city in the North West, besides where you live?

Manchester is such an exciting and vibrant city. After the difficult times during the recession the city seems to be thriving with new restaurants, attractions and sensational architecture.

The development in the city has also resulted in some great exhibitions and visitor attractions. The National Football Museum has attracted over 1m visitors since it opened, contributing over £16.8m to local economy. The Whitworth Gallery opened to critical acclaim and was awarded the ArtFund prestigious prize of museum of the year and the iconic central library has been restored to its original glory.

Manchester has definitely earnt its place as the UK’s second city!

What would be your dream job?

Is it cheesy to say that I thoroughly enjoy my job? I think you have to have a passion for what you do every day. No day is the same as the next and it’s not without its challenges, but it does have its rewards.

Not everyone gets the opportunity to watch the Grand Prix at Silverstone, meet Belgian Brewers and film with John McEnroe as part of their job.

Do you have a favourite Christmas song?

We have an unwritten rule that it’s not officially Christmas until The Pogues’ Fairytale of New York is played on the radio. We heard it playing yesterday so I think it’s time to get out the tinsel and Christmas jumpers…

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