Arabic version: مؤسسا «آردمان» يتأملان عقوداً من الشراكة

According to The Guardian, Aardman Animations founders Peter Lord and David Sproxton began their creative partnership as teenagers and sold their first short, featuring a superhero called Aardman, to the BBC’s Vision On in 1972. They later created Morph for the children’s programme Take Hart in 1977.

Lord said their partnership developed from complementary strengths after they met at a grammar school in Woking and later worked on animation ideas during university holidays. He described himself as “very arty” while Sproxton was practical and able to build things. Sproxton said he was stronger on organisation while Lord brought imaginative ideas.

The pair said Morph emerged accidentally from a lump of Plasticine that became a character over time. Aardman’s move towards adult audiences came through Channel 4’s Conversation Pieces, while animators including Nick Park went on to make Wallace & Gromit. The films won multiple Academy Awards, and Creature Comforts won an Oscar for best animated short in 1991.

Sproxton recalled attending the lengthy Los Angeles ceremony for that award and encountering Jack Nicholson during an ad break. He later stepped back from shooting and directing work when Aardman made its deal with DreamWorks for Chicken Run, taking on management and oversight duties instead.

Lord said the founders never viewed money as their main motivation, describing their aim as building a community rather than seeking luxury. Aardman became employee-owned in 2018 after Lord and Sproxton transferred majority ownership to staff to protect the company’s independence. The two founders were knighted earlier this year.