Gavin Swallow

Gavin’s long journey with 3M began when he went straight into the sign & graphic industry back in 1993 when he began his apprenticeship as sign & graphic trainee at a local company. His quick development through a couple of companies & a few different roles within these companies gave Gavin a rounded perspective of the industry and lead him to become manager of graphics department at a larger national company.

While running this department, Gavin had to develop his installation skills, using many different brands with larger & larger size graphics. Along with managing staff and workflow, his demand for high standards and smoother installs showed him that a gap was present within the graphic installation market. At the same time, an installation company asked him to get involved with them.



After several years with this installation company, following his development and promotion to Installation Manager, Gavin felt the time was right within his career to step out on his own and create his company with a desire and ambition to create a network of like-minded professionals who wanted to set themselves apart from an increasing number of less skilled companies.

Once Gavin’s own company began to blossom and grow, he developed a list of contacts, experienced training & travelled into Europe to try to realise his potential as a installer & wrapper of note.



Within this journey, 3M UK reached out & began to develop a working relationship with Gavin. They asked him to help with their vision of a high standard of training with their premium brand of films. They helped Gavin reach a higher level of installer by asking him to travel to 3M headquarters, Minnesota in the U.S. Here he was tested, trained, and trained as a trainer, along with meeting the best wrappers within the industry. Quickly following this was a European examination at 3M Germany HQ.

3M training within the UK began to grow at pace as more & more wanted to learn how the leading material manufacturer expected wrappers to know and understand what was capable from a trained installer. Gavin & 3M kept this movement moving forward.

With this new company, they have forged stronger and deeper links with 3M UK and hope to create a better understanding of the 3M products to all within the graphic industry. Gavin, alongside 3M have created Installer Development Centre as another chapter within this developing industry. Having been born from the 3M trainers demand for quality, equality, patience & knowledge, the Installer Development Centre provides people, from inside and outside of the industry, a relaxed and friendly environment to improve, thrive and learn from experienced UK trainers & installers.​