Our story

The story of Carse & Waterman

Built on quality. Made in Stoke.

Gary Carse and Daniel Waterman founded Carse & Waterman in 2009, while studying animation and visual communication at Staffordshire University. Since then we’ve launched into a recession, worked through a pandemic and kept pace with a fast-changing industry, and we’ve kept growing. That’s down to one thing: we’ve always put the quality of the work, and the people we make it for, first.

Read the story ↓ Meet the team
Blast offFly through 17 years in pictures
Gary Carse as a clay character Gary Newcastle upon Tyne Daniel Waterman as a clay character Daniel London

Stoke-on-Trent Right in the middle. So we stayed.

Est. 2009Stoke-on-Trent

Milestones

Over fifteen years of putting quality first.

  1. 2007
    S1Two students arriving in Stoke

    Two students, two ends of the country

    Daniel moves up from London and Gary comes down from Newcastle upon Tyne to study animation and visual communication at Staffordshire University.

  2. 2009
    S2The Prodigy: Warrior’s Dance
    Behind the scenes →
    Music video

    Animating for The Prodigy

    Our first major industry project: animation for The Prodigy’s Warrior’s Dance music video, delivered while we were still at university.

    The making of Warrior’s Dance →
  3. 2009
    S3A tiny racing car on a toy track
    National TV

    Lewis Hamilton, in miniature

    Animation for a Santander TV advert starring Lewis Hamilton, with a miniature Hamilton racing around a toy track built across a living room. Half a day on set in London, and Daniel’s first ever on-camera interview in the making-of.

    Watch the advert and the making-of →
  4. 2009
    S4Setting up in Stoke
    Day one

    Launching in a recession

    Gary and Daniel found Carse & Waterman in Stoke-on-Trent in 2009, in the middle of a global financial crisis, when plenty of established studios were cutting back.

  5. 2010s
    S5Building a reputation
    Making a name

    A reputation for high-quality visual comms

    Work with agencies and studios including McCann Healthcare, BBH, Passion Pictures and Blink Inc earns us a name in the industry for high-quality visual communication.

  6. 2017
    S6On the telly
    On screen

    On the telly

    Animation for ITV’s The Keith & Paddy Picture Show, which earns a Telly Award, alongside work for the BBC’s Inside No. 9 and Famalam.

    See the full list of credits →
  7. 2018
    S7Framescape
    Giving back

    Framescape

    A non-profit to open up digital skills and creative careers to people across Stoke-on-Trent.

  8. 2020
    S11Working through the pandemic
    Staying the course

    Through the pandemic

    When COVID-19 turned working life upside down, we adapted, kept delivering for our clients and came out the other side still growing.

  9. 20??
    S8Moving into The Bank
    A home of our own

    Moving into The Bank

    The studio moves into a former NatWest bank on the high street at 1 Campbell Place.

  10. 2023
    S9Recognition
    Recognition

    Back where it started

    Daniel is named Alumni Business Person of the Year at the Staffordshire University Business Awards, and the studio is recognised as a Creative England Top 50 business.

  11. Today
    S10The team today
    Still in Stoke

    One of Staffordshire’s leading CreaTech employers

    A growing team of animators, artists and technical people, building talent locally and helping organisations make complicated things clear.

Built to last

Tough times. Steady growth.

Every business has its storms. We’ve kept growing through ours by never cutting corners on the work.

2009Launched in a global recession 2020A pandemic TodayStill growing
Not to scale, but you get the idea.
  • Quality first, every timeEvery project gets the same care, whether it’s a short animation or a full campaign.
  • Clients who are happy with the resultWe measure success by whether our clients are happy with the end product.
  • Steady through changeA recession, a pandemic and an industry that never stands still. We’ve adapted, and kept growing.

Then and now

Same founders. Bigger team.

2009
  • 2founders
  • 1global recession to launch into
  • ♪music videos and adverts
Today
  • 8creatives and technical artists
  • 1former bank on the high street
  • ∞ways to make a message land

“Creativity doesn’t have a postcode.”

Daniel Waterman, co-founder

17 years in pictures

Fly through our story.

Throttle
Warp 0 Photo 0 of 0
Course: 2009 → 2026
20092026

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