The Spectrum years
About Me
My fascination with computers began as a child when my dad taught me to code on the Sinclair ZX Spectrum and, later, the BBC Micro. He eventually began working for a Commodore 64 magazine, testing games and code. Officially, it was his job, but I was always nearby, helping wherever I could and absorbing everything.
Cumbria IT
2005
That early curiosity became a lifelong passion for technology, coding and understanding how things work. After the birth of my fourth child in 2005, I decided to turn that passion into a business and founded Cumbria IT. I have been designing websites, developing applications and solving unusual technical problems ever since.
The serious rooms
Over the years, my development work has included projects for the Post Office, the Ministry of Defence and government departments such as the Department for Work and Pensions. This experience taught me how to build dependable systems, work within demanding environments and approach every project with security, usability and reliability in mind.
Ink and paper
2010
In 2010, we acquired First Impressions Printers, bringing design and print into the business. This later evolved into Inferno Studios following a complete rebrand.
Fast cars
2017
My other lifelong obsession is cars. In 2017, I got slightly carried away with some vinyl and created a vehicle design for myself. Other people liked it, began asking for their own, and what started as an experiment grew into a collection of more than 200 vehicle graphics kits—from sunstrips and custom decals to complete rally-inspired designs.
The Box
Eventually, it made sense to bring everything together under one name: Mod Box.
The “Box” is my unit in Kendal, but the name also sums up what I do. I don’t just modify existing things—I create new ones. That could mean developing a website or application from the first line of code, building a complete brand, designing and producing a vehicle graphics kit or helping transform an ordinary camper van into something genuinely unique.
AI
Artificial intelligence has fascinated me since long before the current AI boom. Years ago, I was developing chatbots for Messenger that helped businesses answer customer questions without needing someone online 24 hours a day. The technology has changed enormously since then, but my fascination with it hasn’t. Today, I continue to explore how AI can be used creatively and practically to build smarter tools, automate repetitive work and help businesses do more.
I’ve never had a particularly conventional way of looking at things. I tend to notice the small details, become completely absorbed in an idea and keep working at a problem long after most people would have decided it couldn’t be done. Over the years, that different perspective has become one of my greatest strengths—both creatively and technically.
Mod Box brings together decades of experience, a slightly obsessive attention to detail and a love of creating things that are anything but ordinary.
From pixels to print, code to cars—and now AI—I don’t just modify ideas. I turn them into something real.