The next chapter

For the past decade, I've been a founding member of a worker-owned cooperative. In a couple of months, we're closing it down to focus on other things:

After ten years of creative cooperation, we’re announcing that We Are Open Co-op (WAO) will close its doors on our 10th birthday: 1st May 2026. This has been a carefully considered, collaborative decision — the kind we’ve always tried to model as a co-op.

But, as you can imagine, we’re a bit emotional about it, and it also feels a bit weird to finally say it out loud and in public. 

WAO is a strong, well-respected brand. We continue to have wonderful clients, meaningful work and good relationships with each other. People are finally waking up to the idea that flat hierarchies and consent-driven businesses are the future. 

In some ways, this is a continuation rather than an ending, as we’ll be carrying forward the cooperative principles we’ve practised into new systems and relationships.

I still get on really well with my cooperative colleagues, but with John deciding to look for a job, and Laura going on sabbatical, it was time to close things down intentionally.

We've already told our current clients and have begun the process of archiving. For example, on GitHub you'll find our wiki, the illustrations that Bryan Mathers created for us, and some of the work we've done with clients over the years.

👉 Read the announcement post in full

As for me, I've got a couple of projects that I'm working on through Dynamic Skillset. I'm always looking for interesting people and organisations with which to collaborate – so get in touch!