I founded New Icons Design in 2014 from a simple conviction: meaningful innovation does not have to begin inside a large corporation, established design consultancy or traditional R&D department.

My background crosses art, design, media and filmmaking, but over time I became increasingly interested in a more fundamental question — how ideas become products, systems and technologies that can change the way we live and work.

That curiosity developed into a sustained practice of invention. New Icons began with product concepts and industrial design, but has evolved into a broader independent innovation company exploring opportunities across advanced products, autonomous systems, mobility, defence, digital technology and emerging engineering challenges.

My approach is to begin with the problem rather than the accepted solution. I look for limitations that have become normalised — products that are cumbersome, systems that are inefficient, technologies constrained by convention — and ask whether the underlying architecture can be reconsidered altogether. Sometimes that produces a simple but meaningful product innovation. At other times it leads to a new vehicle, technology platform or operating model.

I remain the founder and creative force behind New Icons, but the work itself is increasingly collaborative. Concepts move through an expanding network of engineers, designers, developers, manufacturers and specialist partners, bringing the technical expertise required to test, challenge and mature each idea. I don't believe innovation requires one person to know everything. It requires the ability to identify an opportunity, see a different possibility, articulate it clearly and bring the right people together to make it real.

Today New Icons is developing a growing portfolio of proprietary concepts and architectures, progressing the strongest through CAD, engineering analysis, simulation, prototyping and specialist collaboration toward commercialisation. Being outside conventional industry structures remains an advantage: it allows us to cross disciplines freely, question assumptions and approach familiar problems without being constrained by the way they have traditionally been solved.

That spirit sits behind a phrase I coined early in the company's development:

Innovation Upstarts.

It describes both New Icons and the philosophy behind it — that important ideas can come from unexpected places, and that independent innovators can play a meaningful role in shaping what comes next.

New Icons is now actively looking for the people and organisations that can help move the strongest ideas into development — engineering collaborators, technical specialists, manufacturers, strategic partners, investors, innovation programmes and organisations prepared to explore licensing, co-development or commercialisation.

The objective is simple: find the opportunities, develop them seriously, and build the partnerships capable of turning them into reality.

Patrick Astwood
Founder - New Icons Design