20 years of Abstrakt - what changed, what didn’t, and what’s next.

When Marc and I started Abstrakt, we weren’t thinking about anniversaries or milestones - we were thinking about fixing a problem we genuinely believed needed solving. We wanted to build an agency that felt more thoughtful, more intentional and more collaborative than what we had experienced ourselves in our previous roles - on the agency side and the client side respectively.

We didn’t set out to build a 20+ year old company. We set out to build something that mattered, something we believed in and something that allowed us to do work we genuinely loved.

Two decades later and many of our contemporaries, both the established agencies that we looked up to and the ambitious start-ups that launched around the same time, are no longer here. We are. And that’s something worth pausing to reflect on, and to celebrate.

In the beginning, Abstrakt was much smaller and simpler. The two of us focused on what we knew and we focused on doing it well. We took pride in building relationships and delivering quality work. Proving ourselves, winning trust and earning credibility, one project at a time.

The early days weren’t easy! 😅

We started with a second-hand iMac, an old PC laptop, and a lot of faith and blind optimism! Like most agencies who are born from the skills of their founders, neither of us had run a business before. There was a lot to learn and a lot of mistakes to make, and we've learnt from all of them! 

What drove us was the belief that agencies could, and should, do things differently. That quality should outweigh everything else. That clients deserved more than just delivery; they deserved care, thinking and partnership.

Much of that early conviction has only strengthened over time. Some of it has evolved, as we and the business have grown and matured. But the intent - to build something thoughtful and principled - was there from the start.

The last twenty years haven’t been a straight line. They’ve been a rollercoaster with real highs and lows along the way. 

It’s been marked by a series of decisions and adjustments that have changed our trajectory. None of these shifts were easy and we had to take many many leaps of faith along the way.

As the work grew and the projects became more ambitious, there were moments that stretched us beyond what we thought we were capable of. We had reached a pivotal stage in the agency’s maturity and it had become clear that if we wanted to move forward and meet the ambitions we had set for ourselves, we needed to intentionally step into the next phase. We made the decision to move to the city and begin building a team.

It was then that the Universe intervened and crossed our paths with Nikki and Jamie. We saw the potential in them and they believed in what we were trying to achieve. It didn’t just refine what we did, it accelerated the journey of redefining who we were. The boldest move came when we chose to niche down into pure website design and development, aligning fully with our growing team’s strengths, expertise and ambition. Walking away from the comfort of a full-service model and turning down projects and clients that didn’t fit, required real resolve. It meant trusting our instincts and committing to a clearer, more focused future. It was scary and it was risky but it was absolutely the right move for our agency, team and clients!

With hindsight, these inflection points matter more than any individual win. They forced us to sharpen our thinking, elevate our positioning and become far more deliberate about the kind of agency we wanted Abstrakt to be.

The Abstrakt of today is not the Abstrakt of 2006, and that’s entirely intentional.

Over time, we’ve refined our offer and become much clearer about where we add real value, and just as importantly, where we don’t. We are more focused now. More strategic in our thinking and more selective about the work we take on and the partnerships we build. In our early years, we said yes to almost everything. Today, we understand that focus allows us to be awesome at what we're good at, rather than be just OK at everything.

Specialising has allowed us to go further. To build deeper technical expertise and to think more critically. We have moved from simply delivering websites to architecting digital platforms that support growth.

We’re proud to be recognised as one of the UK’s leading Craft CMS agencies, a platform that aligns with our belief in flexibility, precision and thoughtful execution. More recently, we’ve expanded our capability into bespoke Shopify builds, responding to the rapid growth of B2C ecommerce while continuing to strengthen our position in B2B. 

What truly defines Abstrakt today is the way we combine strategy, creativity and technical expertise into cohesive thinking. We don’t just design and develop websites, we help organisations clarify how they show up online and how their digital presence supports their wider ambitions. We’ve moved from being a service provider to being a strategic partner. 

In 2024 we achieved B Corp certification. That was a proud moment for us, not because of the badge itself, but because of what it represents. It formalises something we’ve believed for a long time - that businesses can, and should, be a force for good.

We’ve always been drawn to purpose-driven organisations and businesses that care about more than just the bottom line. Over time, we’ve become more intentional about the companies we partner with and the role we play in helping them grow. Supporting organisations that are making a positive difference aligns with our own ethos and the kind of impact we want Abstrakt to have in the world.

For all the evolution, refinement and repositioning, some things have remained constant.

Relationships have always been at the heart of Abstrakt. From the earliest days, we wanted to build something collaborative - an agency that worked with clients, not simply for them. That still underpins everything we do. Some of our client relationships span many years, growing and evolving as their organisations have grown. In some cases, the individuals we’ve worked with have moved roles and taken us with them. That kind of longevity is only possible with trust, honesty, a shared ambition and a genuine commitment to doing the right thing, even when it isn’t the easiest option.

Our values guide our actions, our choices and our decision-making. They always have.

• Be bold. Be you.
• Big ideas. Shared ambition.
• Known for going the extra mile.
• Work hard. Take pride. Stay humble.
• Confident clients. Continued credibility.

These aren’t taglines to us, they’re standards. They shape how we show up for our clients, how we show up for each other and how we measure success. They’ve evolved in depth over the years, but the intent behind them has never changed.

No business reaches 20 years on its own. Twenty years is built on people and we’ve been fortunate to work with some exceptional ones.

We’re grateful to the team members, past and present, who have shaped Abstrakt with their talent, energy and commitment. What started as two founders has grown into a group of specialists who care deeply about what they do, and that evolution is something we’re immensely proud of.

We’re also thankful to the clients who have trusted and believed in us over the years. Many have challenged us to think bigger, dig deeper and raise our standards and those partnerships have pushed us forward in ways we couldn’t have achieved alone.

We’re even grateful for the moments that didn’t go to plan! 😅

The projects that tested us. The decisions that felt uncomfortable. The setbacks that forced reflection. In hindsight, those were often the experiences that shaped us the most.