Information

About.

I am a creative director with 25 years experience in the retail, luxury and beauty markets.

For 9 years, I have led the 20-strong in-house creative team for Hotel Chocolat, having established the brand’s studio in central London from the ground up.

Working closely with the CEO and CMO, I was responsible at board level for the strategic development, concepting and implementation of creative across all channels and markets.

Prior to this, I spent 4 years with Molton Brown, where I created the brand’s luxury core packaging language still in use to this day, also leading art direction and brand campaigns.

Earlier in my career, I co-founded an independent design practice with my husband, producing packaging designs for many global beauty brands, including Givenchy and Yves St Laurent.

Approach.

Brand-led creative vision.
Board-level strategic business acumen.
Integrated (360º) retail approach.

Achievements.

Hotel Chocolat Christmas:
97% product sell-through - the company’s best result.
Product sales up 14% versus pre-covid.
Supported double-digit revenue growth of the Christmas category.
Catalogue scored in the top 2% of all UK ads on persuasiveness (Marketing Week).

Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser:
An iconic product that created a new category.
Grown Velvetiser awareness from 20% to 48%.
Contributed to brand awareness growing from 64% to 72%.

Hotel Chocolat box redesign: Consistent 5 star reviews since launch.

Built a dedicated creative studio and team in London.

Supported the business access to A.I.M (Alternative Investment Market).

Supported the business transition from local to global (USA + Japan).

Supported fast pivot to digital-only model during Covid.

Improved efficiencies in readiness for the sale of the business to Mars Inc.

Skills.

Creative team leadership (both in-house and outsourced).
Luxury, premium and beauty markets.
Brand, product and packaging design.
New product development.
Multi-channel campaign (360º : digital, print and POS).
Retail and environment.
Art direction.
Member of the Operating Board.

Clients.

In-House:
Hotel Chocolat.
Molton Brown.

Contract:
Givenchy Perfumes (Gold Pentaward Winner)
Van Cleef & Arpels Perfumes.
Boucheron Perfumes.
Yves St Laurent Beauty.
Issey Miyake Perfumes.
SpaceNK.
John Lewis.
Typhoon.
Jamie Oliver.

Testimonials.

“Angela has a whip-smart sense of humour, a sharp intellect and curiosity that contributes to the business more widely than creative and design.

As creative directors go, Angela really is best of the best.”

Lysa Hardy, CMO, Hotel Chocolat

“Angela has played a key role in developing the brand as it appears today. She has created beautiful packaging that has delivered some of our highest growth products, pushed the boundaries of our creative campaigns to get customers to stop in their tracks, and played a critical role in the design of our iconic Velvetiser, that has ultimately created a new category.

We are very grateful to Angela for elevating the importance of design within our business - always upholding the highest creative standards in everything that we do, and not being afraid to challenge the status quo.”

Angus Thirlwell, Founder / CEO, Hotel Chocolat.

“Throughout her tenure at Molton Brown Angela led design with un-rivalled flair and remarkable conviction.
She was well informed, detail oriented, original and always operated in a way that broadened thinking, that generated aspiration amongst both the team and ultimately our customers.
She was an essential contributor to the re-ignition of luxury at Molton Brown, I warmly commend her work and nature.”

Nigel Carl Brown. Global V.P. Marketing, Molton Brown.

“Angela has an implicit understanding of the luxury beauty and lifestyle marketplace.
She also understands the importance of commercial balanced against craftsmanship, and has delivered outstanding results to tight budgets and timings.
Angela is a dedicated, knowledgeable professional who very quickly gained the respect of her peers and senior management.”

Meg Mackintosh. Head of Design, Molton Brown.