Kris O’Kane × Tomos Williams-Mason

Design for places, people and occasions.

Garrulus is a creative practice working across identity, print, digital, events and space. We make thoughtful work with character, clarity and a strong sense of place.

01 Identity02 Print03 Digital04 Events05 Space

A noisy intelligence

The jay is curious, observant and a natural communicator. Garrulus brings together design experience across culture, hospitality, infrastructure and public life.

Selected experience

Work with something to say.

Avalon by The Melusine, a floating restaurant beneath a white canopy at St Katharine Docks

G·09Space / Hospitality

St Katharine Docks, London · Temporary hospitality · 2020

A temporary response became a destination on the water.

Avalon by The Melusine

Created to help an independent seafood tenant expand its capacity during Eat Out to Help Out, Avalon transformed a marina pontoon into a six-week floating restaurant.

Arciv designed and delivered the complete environment, including the canopy, bar, seating layout, turf, planting, furniture and lighting. A practical response to distancing and demand became a destination on the water.

ConceptSpatial designProductionGuest experience

Selected previous experience through Arciv.

Avalon seating arranged on the pontoon beside boats in St Katharine Docks

Avalon table setting with glasses, herbs and a small brass lamp

Guests being served beneath the Avalon canopy

Bartender preparing drinks at the purpose-built Avalon bar

Evening drinks and table lighting overlooking the marina

The bridge arrival and menu board at Avalon by The Melusine

Communal tables, planting and seating beneath the floating restaurant canopy

Barclays: A British Champion exhibition beneath the atrium sculpture at One Churchill Place

G·04Exhibition / Content

One Churchill Place, London · Exhibition and corporate storytelling · 2017

The numbers that matter, made tangible.

Barclays: A British Champion

Arciv conceived and delivered a major exhibition at Barclays’ global headquarters, translating the bank’s history, scale and contribution to Britain into an accessible physical experience.

Drawing on 327 years of history and complex corporate data, the exhibition combined spatial storytelling, physical data visualisation, archive material, artworks, scale models, interactive audio and film.

Creative strategyContent & copyExhibition designFilm & audioProduction

Conceived and delivered by Kris O’Kane through Arciv.

Project film

Barclays: A British Champion

Open on Vimeo

Blue rotary telephone and screen forming an interactive audio exhibit

Detailed architectural model of Barclays headquarters within the exhibition

Stacked red bus models used as a physical data visualisation

Blue city model translating corporate data into a physical exhibit

An executive interview being filmed for the exhibition

A Barclays executive exploring one of the exhibition models

The 2017 Classic Boat Festival filling the central basin at St Katharine Docks

G·10Events / Place

St Katharine Docks, London · Public festival and place-making · 2017

A working marina became a public stage.

St Katharine Docks Classic Boat Festival

For its ninth edition, Arciv produced the St Katharine Docks Classic Boat Festival across three days in September 2017. It was the first in a series led by Kris O’Kane at the marina.

More than 40 historic vessels filled the central basin, from 14 Dunkirk Little Ships to Gloriana and Massey Shaw. Arciv led the complete event: vessel recruitment and liaison, public programming, suppliers, live music, family and on-water activities, production and on-site delivery.

Event directionVessel liaisonProgrammingProductionLive delivery

Produced by Kris O’Kane through Arciv. Photography by Lucy Young.

Flag-dressed classic boats filling the central basin at St Katharine Docks

Young jazz musicians performing beneath the St Katharine Docks event canopy

Festival visitors gathered around the waterside food stalls

A young visitor taking the wheel aboard one of the festival boats

Gloriana in the central basin with paddleboarders and kayakers alongside

Visitors boarding the historic London fireboat Massey Shaw

A live folk and sea-shanty performance beside the marina

SKD 190 anniversary flag flying above St Katharine Docks

G·07Strategy / Heritage

St Katharine Docks, London · Anniversary programme and heritage interpretation · 2018

An overlooked anniversary became a public story.

SKD 190

Looking for an ownable moment in a crowded events calendar, Kris O’Kane identified the docks’ 190th year and created SKD 190, a new anniversary platform built from the estate’s history.

Arciv developed the identity, researched and wrote the stories, and translated them into a site-wide Easter heritage trail: oversized illustrated eggs, shipping-crate displays with physical artefacts, branded flags and a floating event environment.

Creative strategyIdentityResearch & copyInterpretationProduction

Originated and delivered by Kris O’Kane through Arciv. Photography by Lucy Young.

A shipping-crate interpretation installation set against the historic dock buildings

An illustrated wooden Easter egg telling the story of china imported through St Katharine Docks

Bespoke timber crates carrying the SKD 190 identity and heritage interpretation

Tea artefacts and historical interpretation displayed inside a shipping crate

A young visitor taking part in the SKD Easter egg heritage trail

A blue illustrated Easter egg about shells imported through the docks

The SKD 190 floating event environment with branded crate furniture, seating and canopy

G·08Digital / Content

One Churchill Place, London · Digital content-system development · 2021

A corporate screen became a living communications channel.

Barclays 1CP Digital Walls

Creative development for the digital walls in the lobby of Barclays’ global headquarters at One Churchill Place. The work developed a prominent architectural media surface as a responsive, always-on communications channel.

The proposed system organised content into flexible cycles and single- or dual-screen modes, combining time-specific messaging, brand campaigns, sponsorships, ambient moving image, live news, travel and weather. A curatorial framework created clearer, more purposeful sequences throughout the day while reducing the need for constant new content.

Content strategyDigital experienceArt directionContent systemsCuration

Selected creative development undertaken within Strata Create. Development visuals shown.

Blue evening-message concept for the Barclays digital walls

BBC News and Barclays social-content treatment for the digital walls

Translucent blue campaign-content treatment for the digital walls

Travel-status application layered over ambient imagery

Weather application integrated into the digital-wall content system

Dual-screen content mode combining a welcome message and campaign image

Colourful public-information content developed for the digital walls

Welcome-message and live-news treatment developed for the digital walls

Lady Crewe, West Horsley Place and its woodland forming the historical foundation of the Convex United concept

G·01Heritage / Experience

West Horsley Place, Surrey · Heritage-led learning experience · 2021

West Horsley Place shaped the whole experience.

Convex United

Working freelance for Strata Create, Kris O’Kane helped develop Convex United, a colleague learning programme at West Horsley Place. Historical research focused on Lady Crewe, the house’s social and architectural history, its collections and gardens. This revealed a natural connection between its long tradition of gathering people and Convex’s theme of belonging.

The research provided the framework for the experience. Convex’s values were mapped to the fabric of the estate; seven pillars of friendship shaped the workshops and rooms; architectural details, plants, objects and domestic rituals informed the invitation, furniture, wayfinding and guest journey. The house led every creative decision.

Heritage researchNarrative strategyExperience designSpatial conceptContent & copy

Concept, research and development by Kris O’Kane as part of a freelance team for Strata Create. Development presentation shown.

Development page connecting Convex values to the history and fabric of West Horsley Place

Development page for the invitation, house guide and membership materials

Research and moodboard page exploring the character and architectural details of the house

The seven pillars of friendship used to organise the learning experience

Creative development for the Stone Hall, connecting movement, history and planting

Creative development for the historic library and its memory-themed workshops

Creative development for the kitchen using inherited objects, craft and domestic rituals

Live performance during The Architects Underground at RIBA

G·06Space / Event

RIBA, 66 Portland Place, London · Cultural event environment · 2019

A weekly cultural club inside RIBA’s headquarters.

The Architects Underground

The Architects Underground was a weekly live magazine at RIBA, bringing architecture into conversation with music, film, art, fashion and performance.

Kris O’Kane’s work focused on the concept and design of the lounge environment. Spatial layout, lighting, furniture and dressing transformed part of RIBA’s formal headquarters into an informal social setting. It created atmosphere before, between and after the programme on stage.

Spatial conceptArt directionEvent environmentGuest experience

Selected previous experience led by Kris O’Kane.

Project film

The Architects Underground

Open on Vimeo

Launch invitation for The Architects Underground at RIBA

Guests in conversation in the Architects Underground lounge at RIBA

An audience question during an Architects Underground discussion

You Are Not Here graphic installed in the Architects Underground event environment

Guests at the launch of The Architects Underground

G·02Digital / Hospitality

Narberth, Pembrokeshire · Website and editorial systems · 2026

A characterful local pub, made easier to explore.

The Star in Narberth

Garrulus redesigned and rebuilt the digital presence of an independent micropub with rooms in Narberth’s Market Square, translating its informal character into a warm and practical website.

Pub, food and drink, rooms, events, local recommendations and booking journeys are brought together in one coherent experience. Flexible features for guest ales and events allow the team to keep changing content current without rebuilding the site.

Digital strategyWebsite designContent architectureWordPress developmentEditorial systems

Visit The Star

Created by Garrulus for The Star in Narberth. Ongoing.

G·03Editorial / Print

Cover of Inspiring Creativity, Heritage and the Creative Industries

Cover of The Heritage Alliance International Report 2018

The Heritage Alliance, London · Editorial design and print · 2018 to 2019

Complex evidence, given a clear public voice.

The Heritage Alliance Reports

Kris O’Kane designed two major reports for The Heritage Alliance: the 2018 International Report and Inspiring Creativity, Heritage and the Creative Industries in 2019. Together they comprise 78 pages of research, policy, recommendations and member case studies.

The complete editorial system was designed from cover to cover, including page architecture, long-form typography, information graphics, maps, quotations, photography, references and print-ready artwork. A flexible grid gives dense evidence room to breathe while keeping two distinct publications recognisably part of the same family.

Editorial designInformation designPage systemsTypographyArtworkPrint production

Designed in full by Kris O’Kane through Akroterion. Selected previous experience.

Introduction spread from Inspiring Creativity, Heritage and the Creative Industries

International Report spread combining editorial text, a map and supporting graphics

Case-study spread from Inspiring Creativity using a flexible editorial grid

International Report case-study spread with photography and long-form text

Editorial spread showing the report's consistent case-study page system

International Report spread presenting findings and organisational case studies

G·05Digital / Public life

Narberth, Pembrokeshire · Public information and digital services · 2025 to 2026

Public information, made easier to find and use.

Narberth Town Council

Kris O’Kane is Town Clerk and Responsible Financial Officer to Narberth Town Council, with responsibility for the Council’s administration, governance, public records and day-to-day communications. In that role, he has led the redesign and continuing development of its website.

The website is structured around the journeys residents actually need. A bilingual entry point leads to meetings, documents, public notices, reporting routes, councillor information and community services, supported by accessible navigation and plain-language writing.

Behind the public-facing design, Kris developed a structured WordPress publishing system using Advanced Custom Fields and custom code. Meetings, agendas, minutes, meeting packs, notices, policies, finance records and councillor information are entered through purpose-built fields. These processes create consistent layouts, reduce duplication and make routine publishing quicker and less prone to error.

Information architectureUX writingACF systemsCustom WordPress developmentGovernance publishingAccessibilityContent governance

Visit the Council website

Selected public-service experience. Undertaken in-house by Kris O’Kane in his role as Town Clerk, not as a Garrulus client commission.

These case studies include Garrulus commissions and selected previous or in-house experience led by Kris O’Kane. Project roles and status are stated individually.

Earlier studio experience

BarclaysBlackstoneCamper & NicholsonsThe Heritage AllianceRIBASABMillerSonyTransport for London

The practice

Two perspectives. One curious bird.

01 / Co-founder

Kris O’Kane

A designer, producer and communications professional with experience spanning cultural events, corporate communications, spatial projects, public life and independent hospitality.

02 / Co-founder

Tomos Williams-Mason

Brings an exacting editorial eye and a shared fascination with British visual culture, language and place. This helps Garrulus find the telling detail that makes work memorable.

New work and collaborations

Let’s make something worth talking about.

hello@garruluscreative.com