Green Juniper is a new enterprise (as at June ’22). It’s founded by Francis Lake (me), working with friendly associates. So what’s in a name?
There are, as so often, three reasons… each one reflects an aspect of how I want the company to work.
First … Juniper Green is where I live and where I work. It’s where I feel at home, where I get inspiration, where I’m with my family. It’s the start-point for every adventure and the place I return to. My aim is that Green Juniper is about combining work and life, not treating them as separate, so it fits well. It’s a name that’s going to keep me rooted in the purpose of the business.
Second, I like the concept of innovation from the periphery, the idea that looking at things from a different perspective brings new insight. Some years ago a professor from the Glasgow School of Art talked about a centre they’d built in Nairn for innovation, with the idea that being on the edge of the North Sea looking South to the rest of the UK gave a different perspective on things. I’ve tried to apply that, and Juniper Green reflects it – it is a village, but in the city. In some respects it’s very rural, while in others it is very urban. I’ve tried to capture the idea of that different angle in flipping the name around.
And the third reason, is a pragmatic one. There are already websites and companies registered as Juniper Green, and I don’t want to be confused for a gin, an American band from the noughties or a Norwegian prog band. Whenever I work, there’s always that grounding in the practical, what works, what achieves the right effect, and what is cost effective.
So that is it – Green Juniper. A different lens, combining the important things in work and life, with a good dose of pragmatism. But no prog rock.
