Three Generations Unite to Launch Small Family Business – a New Kind of Creative Collective

Small Family Business (SFB), has launched as a self-funding start-up with founding clients and a clear mission: to bring relationships, trust, and care back to the creative sector in an industry that has become too big, expensive and slow-moving at the expense of values, community and flexibility.

Elliot Harris, until recently Global Executive Creative Director at Havas London, has founded SFB, which is made up of three different generations of the Harris family.

The family consists of Elliot Harris (Founder and Creative Director), working alongside daughters Eva Harris (Founder and Brand Partnerships Director) and Tallulah Harris (Founder and Production Director) and his father in law Billy Mawhinney (Founder and Creative Director)

Eva recently partnered with former Vogue editor in chief, Edward Enninful OBE on the launch of his new Media and Entertainment company EE72, and is a prolific people person with a specialism for talent, brand partnerships, and sustainability. Tallulah has produced for the biggest and best in beauty and fashion, including Charlotte Tilbury and Victoria Beckham, a formidable creative force, action oriented, always delivering with humility and love. Billy is a 40-year industry veteran, formerly BBH and JWT, known for his experience, creativity and calm wisdom.

Combining the talents of a Millennial, a Gen Z, a Gen X and a Baby Boomer, SFB believes the future of creative work lies not in size, mergers, or sprawling networks, but in close relationships and shared values. The four founders will work with a trusted family tree of creatives, designers, editors and other industry talents, including extended family members Sir John Hegarty (BBH Founder/Investor) and Mark Lewis (Dean of the School of Communication Arts)

Elliot Harris said: “Advertisers are choosing to spend their money in different ways and in different places, and that’s a big part of our offering. It’s about where we show up in the media landscape, helping brands to stand out or to take a back seat as editorial originators of projects. We’re not trapped in the model of selling time to clients and pushing an all-you-can-eat buffet of ideas: we’re putting a premium on the thinking, the creativity, the product that we put on the table. It’s doing what we’re great at with the people we love.”

Small Family Business launches with its first client Sunrise Beverages, which manages a portfolio of independent-minded premium and local beer brands from around the world including Efes, Orion, Gipsy Hill, Curious, Portobello & St.Peters. SFB is also working with a luxury car company on a docu-series project.

Cigdem Kurtulus CCO of Sunrise Beverages added: “As an independent company ourselves, we are delighted to be working with Small Family Business, one which shares our values and our commitment to craft and caring about what we put out into the world.” Cigdem had previously worked with Harris in her role at Reckitt where together they were responsible for the multi award winning ‘Me, My Autism and I’ work which won a D&AD Yellow Pencil, Gold Cannes Lions and the Channel 4 Diversity and Advertising prize.

Small Family Business isn’t just a name — it’s a way of working and a reminder that creativity, like family, works best when it’s built on care, honesty, and doing right by one another. The Harris family will together bring “Craft and Graft”- a blend of heart, hard work, and creative intuition – to the business, as well as doing right by the whole community, which includes working with SCA. Continuing a long-standing relationship that spans over a decade, built by Elliot as a trustee and mentor of the school, and wanting to continue to promote and support a diverse pipeline of talent coming into the industry and using the school as an incubator for briefs and development of client projects.

Elliot Harris added: “Clients don’t want bloated structures or layers of cost. They want strong human creativity, honesty, and people who care as much as they do. That’s what we promise.”