Our logo – the story behind Ellie the Elephant
Elephants might never forget, but at Shufflebottom we can sometimes forget that our customers, partners, visitors, and contractors might not know the story behind our much-loved logo, Ellie the Elephant, who sits, unmissable – gigantic and proud – on a beam outside out factory and HQ at Cross Hands Business Park, south Wales. So now is a good time to remind ourselves, and those of you who are new to us, what an iconic figure she is and how she is representative of the kind of business we are.
The story begins over thirty-five years ago when Shufflebottom was run by founders, Martin and Lorna Shufflebottom. At that time Shufflebottom operated a yellow, Sanderson, straight-mast, forklift truck that was affectionately nicknamed ‘The Giraffe’. One day, a lovely girl called Emma Bristow, who was fresh out of college, approached the Shufflebotttoms and asked if she could create a logo for them for her portfolio.
The Shufflebotttoms were keen to explore this route and relayed to Emma the thoughts they’d had about using the giraffe – possibly on a beam – as the logo. Thankfully, they were overruled by Emma who suggested as an alternative, they consider the creative possibilities and deeper brand resonance of the elephant.
The rest as they say is history. Later, Emma’s ideas were made real and forged from steel and cut by hand by one of Shufflebottom’s employees, known as ’Harry the Haunch’ using an oxyacetylene blow torch.
Soon after, the elephant up on a steel beam high up outside our factory, standing upright, and very visible to all those who came in proximity to our factory and spread Shufflebottom’s growing story of success across the UK. As the business expanded, we needed more space for staff and visitors to park and later Ellie had to come down for a while. But five years ago, Claudine, a local sign-writer, applied a fresh coat of paint to Ellie, who now stands horizontal and resplendent out front.
Emma was spot on about our elephant Ellie. Ellie symbolises everything we stand for as a manufacturer of structural steel and steel-framed buildings that are built on inner strength. She represents: the solid and dependable backbone of our operations; the strength and power in our products; the intelligence and wisdom in our customer relationships; and, of course, as elephants never forget, a good memory of the fact that although today, the scale of our business is large, we are an enterprise with family values at our heart.
Ellie is an integral part of our history, represents the firm connection we have with our roots and where we’ve come from. But she also symbolises our future – our continued development and expansion and aspirations for where we’re going.
We’re proud of Ellie at Shufflebottom. At Shufflebottom we’re emotionally attached to Ellie and we hope our customers, suppliers and contractors, will see her taking pride-of-place outside our business and feel affection for her too.
“Ellie the elephant is the physical embodiment of the Shufflebottom story and an integral part of our brand ethos”
Alex Shufflebottom, Director, Shufflebottom Ltd