‘I would hazard a guess that you are one of the best people in the world at doing this.’ This glowing praise came from ‘Dragon’ Sara Davies as she, like the four million television viewers, was wowed by one of our fellow Somerset residents, David Hawcock on BBC’s Dragons’ Den earlier this year.
Being renowned in the paper engineering industry, David was approached by the producer of the hit TV show and asked if he would like to step into the limelight and showcase his outstanding skill to the nation. Having previously created pop-up paper books for animated movies including Paddington 2 and Mary Poppins Returns, David was thrilled by the prospect of being able to share his latest unique business concept for pop-up classic games such as chess and row of four, ‘Initially, I was asked to pitch to the Dragons’ Den producer over a zoom call which all went really well, then you are invited to Manchester for filming, and yes, that is as monumentally stressful as it looks!’
David’s home is in Bath, with an in-house bright studio overlooking the city with the Cotswold hills in the far distance. His naturally well-lit desk sits in front of a large window, his creative space enhanced with a comfy sofa, framed memorabilia of past projects adorning the walls, and proto-types of future projects gracing the remaining surfaces. ‘My profession involves a lot of desk work, I’d love to be able to work outside if I could, but unless there is zero breeze…’ He signals how the paper he works with would blow away and it is as he does this that I can’t help but marvel at the ingenuity of what he has achieved by using a product which to the majority of us is one dimensional. ‘I never could have imagined that I would stay in this field for as long as I have but quite simply, I just like making things.’
Whilst studying for his degree in graphics and photography, David began entering the world of paper engineering after watching a visiting lecture by Dutch paper engineer Ron Van der Meer. ‘He was a big personality and he was having such a lot of fun, I would definitely say he was my initial inspiration.’ Without any official courses available to hone this niche skill, David is completely self-taught and realised that in order to make a career in such a specific field he had to create his own ideas. So, after many years of freelancing in pop-up book publishing, he began to capture his creations on video which naturally led him down a path into the world of animation. ‘It made me feel really good to think that my work was now featuring in advertisements for companies such as Kellogg’s, Qatar Airlines and Compare the Market. From this, came the call from the makers of Paddington 2 and that really was tremendous!’
Having always been behind the camera for his previous commissions, heading to the Dragons’ Den recording studios in Manchester was to be David’s first experience of being the focus of attention. ‘The atmosphere before the show is incredibly tense. The day starts at 6am at a hotel for breakfast and then an hour later you’re in the green room where you get called for a couple of walk throughs, but there’s absolutely no chance of meeting the Dragons beforehand! The production team are all unbelievably nice, incredibly upbeat and there’s such a friendly atmosphere but of course all of the contestants are tense about the situation. When I got called for my recorded pitch, I was told by the producer to watch for the traffic light in the lift area to go green, apparently lots of people are so nervous that they miss it, I laughed and told them it’s so obvious I wouldn’t miss that, but of course, the nerves kicked in, and I did in fact fail to see it!’
Despite David starting off his pitch really strongly, he did have a minor blip forgetting to mention how much money he was seeking for investment. ‘Before I went into the recording, I binge-watched episodes of show. I noticed that Sara Davies always smiles warmly at the contestants so I told myself to focus on her but still, my mind went blank. Thankfully, Deborah Meadon threw me a life line and asked me how much money I was asking for, that prompt got me back on track. As viewers you have no idea how long the pitch process really is, I was actually in the Den for 2 hours, but only 15 minutes was edited and aired!’
With four dragons all trying to out-bid one another for David’s business the tables soon turned with the tycoons all vying for the inventor’s attention, with Peter Jones taking the lead, ‘David, you said something that really resonates with me. You said that you’re really good at what you do. It just so happens that I’m really good at what I do too and that’s why I’m going to make you an offer…I’d love you to accept now and then we can move on!’ David wasn’t going to seal any deals without hearing from the others. ‘David, I think you’re a genius in your field and I can see way beyond a chess game. I’m going to match Peter’s offer.’ said Touker Suleyman. With both Deborah Meadon and Sara Davies also making competitive offers it wasn’t long before David was turning to that famous wall in the Den for a moment of reflection, ‘It all happens so quickly, I couldn’t really process it in the time. It was extraordinary to receive all the offers. I accepted a deal with Peter and Touker.'
After the show was aired, the sales of David’s pop-up games sold out. ‘I spoke to my web company, Tall Hat in Bath, and on the advice of the Dragons Den team asked them to stress test the website in preparation for the positive reaction from the show. We had over 30,000 visitors to the site within 10 minutes of appearing on the TV! We sold out completely and have been fulfilling back-orders since.’
And what about the future? ‘I’ve had several zoom calls with Peter Jones’ team, we’re still negotiating over the final details but I’m busy building new products. I’ve made a new micro-travel Chess set as well as a Harry Potter themed wizard Chess set too. There’s also been another film offer but I’m afraid I can’t talk about that – yet! When I’m not engineering with paper, I’ll either be out on my kayak exploring our Somerset rivers or diving along the West Country coastline, that’s where I get my inspiration!’
