WordPress design & build
Bespoke themes from Figma. ACF, Gutenberg blocks, WooCommerce and plugin development. No page builders.
We build the parts of the web that are harder than they look.
A small studio doing realtime graphics, tools and the awkward technical work between a good design and a site that actually works.
static, javascript off - the Smoke Veil preset from Web-GL, one of ours. Go make your own →
What we do
Five things mixed into one.
Some of it comes direct, some through other agencies. The label on each one says how it usually works.
Front-end & UX
Figma to responsive build, with accessibility and Core Web Vitals built in rather than added afterwards. Available as a build partner to other agencies.
Hosting & infrastructure
Linux, Nginx and Apache, SSL, CDN, reverse proxies. Moving off hosting you've outgrown, and care plans to keep it running.
Apps & integrations
React Native for iOS and Android. Node and Bun services, REST APIs, realtime with socket.io, and the third-party integrations nobody else wants to take on.
AI solutions
AI running locally or in the cloud, image and video generation, and automation built into sites that already exist rather than bolted on beside them.
Not sure which of these it is?
Tell us what the problem is and we'll work out the shape of it with you.
Get in touch →The lab
Tools we built because we needed them.
Every one of these is a real application ready right now, not a case study. If something here would be useful on your project, it can be.
Elk live
A zero-dependency diagram renderer that speaks Mermaid syntax and outputs raw SVG. Twenty-six diagram types, custom parsers, no Mermaid underneath.
Open the renderer →
Web-GL live
Drop in a logo or an image, pick an animated shader, tune it, and copy the snippet straight out. The hero on this page is its Smoke Veil preset.
Make something →
Signal Lab live
Three.js audio visualisers driven by one Web Audio analyser. Switch style without a reload, tune everything live, and share an exact configuration by URL.
Open the lab →Reel live
Ten short clips made with AI, played one after another and back to the start. Nothing here was filmed.
Watch the reel →Soon
More on the way
Scroll-driven transitions, video manipulation in the browser, live capture tools and a few things we're not ready to show yet.
Ask us what's nextSelected work
Regulated sectors are tough.
Pharmaceutical, healthcare, education and professional services. Designs arrive from Figma or Photoshop. Everything after that is ours: build, integration, hosting and handover.
Pharmaceutical
palforzia.com
Patient-facing treatment information site, built to a Figma design with ACF and Gutenberg blocks.
WordPress · ACF · Gutenberg · WPEngine
Pharmaceutical · HCP
palforziapro.com
The healthcare-professional counterpart, sharing a component library with the patient site but a separate content model.
WordPress · ACF · Gutenberg · WPEngine
Healthcare · Diabetes
menarinimylifeandt2d.co.uk
A patient resource for type 2 diabetes, built from Photoshop artwork onto a custom WordPress template.
WordPress · ACF · Custom template · Fasthosts
Dermatology · Education
relifeacademy.co.uk
A training platform for clinicians, built with ACF and bespoke PHP components against a supplied Figma design.
WordPress · ACF · Bespoke PHP · Kinsta
Professional services
pagegroupltd.com
Corporate site built from Photoshop artwork, with bespoke PHP components and self-managed hosting on a VPS we run.
WordPress · ACF · Bespoke PHP · Fasthosts VPS
Education
stfrancisnursery.org.uk
A single-page site for a nursery school. Small budget, same build standards, handed over for them to run themselves.
WordPress · ACF · Gutenberg · GoDaddy
Notes
What broke, and what we did about it.
Each one is something that broke while building something real, what we measured, and what we chose. Written for the person deciding, not the person implementing.
-
Video
One frame of black
The reel flickered between clips, even though every clip was already loaded into memory.
-
Tooling
Git had opinions about my fonts!
Putting the site into version control, git decided my font files were text and got ready to rewrite them.
-
Performance
Smoothing made it worse
The animation on the home page steps its quality up as it goes. Easing one of those steps made it more noticeable, not less.
About
Twenty-eight years building for the web. Twenty of them alongside Combustion Partners, who handle strategy, design and account management. We build the thing.
The person who scopes your project is the person who writes it and the person who puts it live. Nobody in between, no handover between a designer and a developer who've never spoken, and nobody learning your codebase on your budget.
Combustion have delivered for Disney, Sony, HSBC, Mastercard, the Department of Health and the RAF. When a project starts here, it's delivered through their team, which is why a studio this size can take on work this big without anything falling over.
combustion.co.uk →
28
Years building
20
Years partnered
1
Person you talk to
Got something awkward to build?
Those are the good ones. Tell us what it needs to do and we'll tell you honestly whether it's a week or a month.