By Darren Evans, managing director of brand consultancy and design agency The Engine Room and co-founder of Wilson’s Republic CIC

In October last year, 250 people from the region’s creative industries descended on Huddersfield for WRXL Routes – the largest conference to be organised in the decade-long history of Wilson’s Republic.

Welcoming six guest speakers, as well as students, academics and professionals from across Yorkshire – plus a healthy contingent from Manchester – there was a tangible buzz at the Bates Mill venue. Honesty. Optimism. Electric energy. No egos.

But as proud as we are of our community interest company – a creative collective of diverse thinkers and doers – that day signalled more than a 10-year anniversary for Wilson’s Republic.

For anyone who doubted it, those who needed reminding, and people as yet unaware, the event drew deserved attention to the vibrant, positive, ‘can do’ mentality of Kirklees as a whole.

Imagine if that positivity could be channelled to solve the challenges we face, not only in our town but our whole society?

This may sound fantastical, but the identity of Huddersfield is deeply rooted in creativity, innovation and entrepreneurialism, stretching back to the industrial revolution and the role of our many mills. Resiliently pushing on and punching above our weight is in our DNA.

Fast forward to 2026 and – notwithstanding the pressures of the pandemic – we have so many creative hotbeds emerging in suburbs like Holmfirth and Slaithwaite, while transformational creative change continues in the town centre itself.

Our Cultural Heart is a regenerative scheme drawing attention on a much wider scale, as is the progressive work of the University of Huddersfield’s National Health Innovation Campus which has an increasingly magnetic pull.

The numbers make for encouraging reading. According to 2024 data, there are 1,698 active cultural and creative businesses in Kirklees, a 15% increase since 2022, with 691 new start-ups since 2021.

Over 9,400 people are employed in the sector, a figure that has also risen by 25% over the last two-three years, and the gross economic value of the industry – in Kirklees alone – is around £251 million. It’s a big business.

But this is not just about figures, or volume. People from and within our town are working with some of the world’s biggest and most iconic brands.

Huddersfield-born international artist Ian Berry creates artwork in denim

We have artists renowned on a global stage. The quality and impact of Huddersfield’s creative output is unreal.

Every town has creative talent. But I genuinely don’t think people realise how impressive ours is.

There are almost too many success stories to name drop – contemporary international artist Ian Berry, former vice president of global design at Coca Cola James Sommerville, BAFTA-winning Fettle Animation, renowned illustrator Peter O’Toole. In truth the list goes on and on.

As a town, we’re surrounded by the powerhouses of Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield – finance, tech and cultural behemoths in their own right.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t have our own identity in the centre of this evolving northern economy.

Instead of feeling overshadowed by what’s going on around us, now has to be the time when we connect, collaborate and proudly stake our claim in the hub of it all.

And I think the creative industries – our talent across design, art, film and more – is our point of difference.

Huddersfield-born James Sommerville OBE, founder of ATTIK Design, who was also Vice President of Global Design at The Coca–Cola Company

There are individuals, agencies and businesses here who are extremely good at what they do. They can not only service innovation on a regional level, but they can and will be called upon from far and wide.

This is especially the case when it comes to design thinking, perhaps a lesser understood discipline – maybe because it is not so much about creative, visual outputs but more about the creative process itself.

This problem-solving approach sees strategic designers delve deep into human behaviour to foster practical new solutions that challenge how things have always been done.

So whether it’s conceptualising a new business or designing a fresh way to tackle a societal challenge, such as community health or cultural unity, we have an environment here – a collective creative brain – that enables change.

Others’ view of us is perhaps parochial – an unfair and unfounded perception. But most people who live or were born here, don’t care. It’s about thinking differently.

And Huddersfield’s creative industries have an increasingly louder – and more powerful – voice, to encourage others to do the same.