Some new businesses arrive in a city with a lease and a logo. Rebecca and Chris, a husband-and-wife team, arrived in Cambridge, Ontario, with two companies, two very different careers and one shared standard: if something carries your name, it should be done properly.
Together they run CHRISPS, a design and development studio, and NTHBD, a photo experience company for weddings, corporate events and brand activations. Both were built in England. Both now call Cambridge home. And both arrive with the same intention: to bring something genuinely new to Waterloo Region, and to show what British craft and Canadian spirit can do together.
Two careers that rarely meet
Rebecca is Canadian. She built her career in luxury events and hospitality across Canada and Europe, alongside internationally recognised hotels, prestigious venues and world-class events. She has planned and delivered everything from intimate weddings to large corporate functions. Her reputation is for meticulous organisation, impeccable service and attention to detail, the invisible work that makes an event feel effortless.
Chris came at quality from the opposite direction. He founded ODB Wraps, a product brand built on illustrated design, and took it from a single idea to 62 countries and more than 3,000 retail locations, working with manufacturers, distributors and retailers. His own shop on England’s south coast was named Vape Store of the Year at the South England Prestige Awards five years running. His discipline is the product, the package and the shop floor: making something people choose on sight.
Put those backgrounds side by side and you get a family business that thinks about service like a luxury hotel and about presentation like a product brand.
From England to Cambridge
NTHBD was founded in England by Rebecca and Chris, and describes itself as a proudly Canadian and British, family-owned business. CHRISPS was built in the UK too. Both are now based in Cambridge, Ontario, a move CHRISPS describes not as a relocation but as an expansion. For Rebecca, it’s also a homecoming.
“Coming back to this part of Canada and being around family and the community here has been really special. Cambridge has such a welcoming feeling to it, and there was a point where it stopped feeling like somewhere we were moving to and started feeling like home.”
— Rebecca, founder of NTHBD
Being new is part of the energy. They arrive without old habits to protect, looking at Waterloo Region with fresh eyes: a region of ambitious independents, family manufacturers, fast-growing tech companies and a calendar full of weddings and events. They want to earn their place in it.
“Cambridge has given us something we didn’t realise we were looking for — a place that feels like home. The area is beautiful, the community is full of incredible people, and there is a real sense that people want to see each other succeed. We’re building our businesses here, but more importantly, we’re building our life here, and we’re excited to become part of the community.”
— Rebecca and Chris
The English way, the Canadian way
What does a British-Canadian business bring? In their case, a deliberate blend:
- British craft: exacting about finish, sceptical of hype, and designing for how things are actually used, on a shelf, a screen or a dance floor.
- Canadian warmth: open, welcoming, straightforward with people and generous with help.
The result is two businesses that are demanding about the work and easy to deal with. That combination is rarer than it should be.
One standard, two businesses
CHRISPS designs websites, online stores and brands. NTHBD runs photo experiences at events. They serve different customers, but they share habits you can spot straight away.
They publish their prices
CHRISPS lists every service on its pricing page in Canadian dollars. NTHBD publishes its three experiences, from $999, with what’s included in each. In industries where “contact us for a quote” is the norm, both believe customers deserve to know where they stand before the first conversation.
They don’t overpromise
CHRISPS states plainly that nobody can honestly guarantee search rankings or AI-search placement. NTHBD says a brand activation is a well-run guest experience, not a guarantee of reach. Both choose honesty over the bigger claim.
They design for the real world
CHRISPS checks its work at the sizes and on the screens people actually use. NTHBD’s booth is self-service, so guests take natural photos and the queue keeps moving, with an attendant on hand when needed. Both were shaped by people who have watched a product meet real customers.
They work together
CHRISPS designed and built NTHBD’s website and shaped its brand, as our case study describes. When a client needs both a brand and an event, the two can deliver both: CHRISPS creates how a brand looks, and NTHBD turns it into an experience guests take part in and take home.
What they’re building here
The ambition isn’t small. They want CHRISPS to become the studio Waterloo Region businesses think of first for brands, websites and online stores, and NTHBD the first name couples, planners and companies think of for event photo experiences. And they want to get there by doing the work better, not by shouting louder.
For local businesses, that means experience that’s rarely found in a mid-sized Ontario city:
- A Cambridge manufacturer can get a website built by someone who has negotiated with factories.
- A Kitchener product brand can get packaging designed by someone who has sold millions of units through retail.
- A couple getting married in Waterloo can book a photo experience run to the standards of a luxury hotel.
Just getting started
Every business in Cambridge was new here once. Rebecca and Chris know they have to earn their reputation one client, one project and one event at a time. They’ve arrived with the experience to do it, and with every intention of being noticed for the right reasons.
“We don’t just want to build businesses here and call ourselves local. We want to become part of the community, meet people, support other businesses and hopefully contribute something positive to the area that has made us feel so welcome.”
— Chris, founder of CHRISPS
Find out more
- Chris’s story: from England’s south coast to Cambridge, Ontario
- NTHBD’s story: bringing hotel-standard hospitality to the photo booth
- CHRISPS: about the studio and its work
- NTHBD: nthbd.ca
Media enquiries about either business: contact us.