History

Byron-Elliott's founder, James Kelsey, started the first company in the UK to offer a specialist production service for bespoke Charity Christmas cards, whereby customers are able to have the image of their choice, while simultaneously supporting the charity of their choice.

The service began in 1988 when James was commissioned to produce a cartoon card for Sky Television. After producing this card, James made the decision to offer bespoke images for companies each Christmas and to donate a proportion of the profits to charity.

Over the last sixteen years, the business has continued to develop resulting in the development of seasonal interactive emails and games.

James Kelsey

James Kelsey studied Graphic design at Camberwell College of Art. On leaving Camberwell James started his own design consultancy which he ran for 11 years, it was during this time that James started his Christmas card service. In 1999, while continuing his card service, James co-founded the new media web agency, James Kelsey Design (JKD), which grew to employ 70 staff and whose clients included Waitrose, John Lewis Partnership, Unilever, British Red Cross, British Tourist Authority, British Council, Department of Trade and Industry, Canon (UK) Limited, DTZ Debenham Tie Leung, Eversheds, Hamley's, Kenwood Electronics, Suzuki, Wellington Underwriting plc, Workspace Group plc.

In 2000 James Kelsey Design (JKD) was acquired by the Incepta Group PLC, one of the world's largest marketing communications groups. Having completed a three year earn-out, James left his old company to form Byron-Elliott.