Cameron Fry started his professional working life training to become a furniture designer. In 2007, he founded the Liqui Group, a collaboration of companies that, in combination, form a one-stop shop for creativity, marketing, interior concept and design, and construction.

In this time, Cameron has grown the practice into an award-winning, multi-disciplined design studio that has built its reputation on detail-focused creative thinking, and a belief that things can be different.

Cameron worked with a variety of materials throughout his degree, although mainly with plastics. His entry at the New Design exhibition in London in 2007, however, was a cardboard table.

His work was noticed well enough that he made the shortlist for New Designer of the Year at that show. For Cameron, it was a big step up because, as only three people are on the shortlist - one winner and two nominees – he found people paying a lot of attention to his work.

He began to focus his thoughts on the environmental impact of plastics, brought home to him when he was told about a product designer who saw a toothbrush he designed washed up on a beach, in the middle of nowhere, to the designer’s chagrin. Cameron states he didn’t want to be haunted by his design work, so made the move away from plastic – and it paid off.

At this point, Cameron was working in what he termed his ‘loffice’ (loft-office) which he shared with his father. “We had fan heaters on our legs to keep us warm. While there, we worked on a project we came to call the Bag Light.”

This lamp, made from sandwich bags from the coffee shop Cameron worked at during the weekends, was a pivotal moment in his career, because it got noticed internationally.

“We didn’t know if anyone was paying attention to my work, and then one day, I got an email from Lane Crawford of Hong Kong - which is like Harrods of Hong Kong – saying they were very interested in me as a designer, and they would like to do a feature sale event.”

At first, he dismissed it as a scam email. It clearly wasn’t, as they chased him with a follow-up email. “The guy sounded genuinely irritated with me, which is why it made me click. It ended up being a golden opportunity for me.” Having arranged a deposit, he persuaded his father to help him produce 150 handcrafted items.

This event marked a lift-off for Cameron. His career flourished, pushing him from small-time designer to consulting for a company specialising in cardboard furniture. He also began working in the coffee industry, winning a contract to fit out a coffee shop, a project which went on to win Best New Independent from the Coffee Association.

This generated more jobs, pushing Cameron further into the spotlight. He successfully pitched his branding skills to Hogarth Chambers, one of the oldest Intellectual Property firms in London, bringing with it other law firms looking for a rebrand. His work has also taken him abroad, working on a high-end contract in Saudi Arabia.

Most recently, Cameron has been awarded Top 100 Architects status and Designers of the World 2023.

Cameron’s success, however, has come at a certain cost – he found his personal life had begun to suffer. “If you’re remotely driven, it’s hard to become grounded back with the family.”

He began working with MDHUB to help him balance the scales between his three businesses and his family. MDHUB provided “a sanity check” for Cameron, allowing him to talk with other business leaders, dealing with the isolation that leadership brings.

He also started working with Helen Bailey (see last month’s Platinum), one of MDHUB’s core team of facilitators. “Helen’s been great for ‘life versus business’ coaching. Her efforts keep me in check with doing what I originally set out to do – which was not be a crap husband and father while being really good at business.”

Cameron finds Helen’s perspective is highly useful, meaning that his family life is pretty solid, while giving him a good foundation for doing the ‘stupid stuff’ – like flying to Saudi Arabia for a week. “My wife doesn’t feel resentful because she knows it’s coming from a good place, rather than the concern that I’m trying to get away from her and the kids.”

Cameron’s relationship with his father is the reason he’s so passionate about his work-life balance. “I wanted to be at least half as good as he was as a dad, because he used to sacrifice his career to be that ‘good dad’ He’d walk in, pick me up, give me a cuddle, take his jacket off, sit on the living room floor and play with the Lego with me.”

At MDHUB’s yearly awards in 2023, Cameron won Leader of the Year award for his incredible dedication to his business and employees. However, he wasn’t there to collect the award. He’d gone home early to read his son a bedtime story, and he had to be called back while driving home to collect his award.

“I went to the event, never expecting to win. I thought I would just leave before the end, go home, read my son The Hungry Caterpillar, and put him to bed. I get this warm feeling inside doing that. I just think it would be miserable to work this hard – to build, a stable environment, to have a family – and then for that to fall apart.

“In the end, compromise is the secret to having it all.”