UNITED KINGDOM/GERMANY: MAZE DESIGNER ADRIAN FISHER HAS TURNED A HOBBY INTO A HUGELY SUCCESFUL INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

Record ID: 231081

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM/GERMANY: MAZE DESIGNER ADRIAN FISHER HAS TURNED A HOBBY INTO A HUGELY SUCCESFUL INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
  • Date: 7th June 2004
  • Summary: (L!2)LONGLEAT, WILTSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS: OF PEOPLE INSIDE THE KING ARTHUR MIRROR MAZE AT THE LONGLEAT ATTRACTION PARK (4 SHOTS) MAZE DESIGNER ADRIAN FISHER, SEEN THROUGH MIRRORS, DEMONSTRATING THE INFINITY EFFECT INSIDE THE MAZE (2 SHOTS) PEOPLE WALKING AROUND MAZE WITH CAMERAS (L!2)DURWESTON, DORSET, UNITED KINGDOM (RECENT) (REUTERS ) VARIOUS: ADRIAN FISHER SITTING IN HIS GARDEN AND DRAWING A MAZE (3 SHOTS) SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) MAZE DESIGNER ADRIAN FISHER SAYING: "It's like a game of chess, except I play all my moves first and I have got to lose in the end, so, I help people win just before they have had enough". VARIOUS: WORKERS PUTTING TOGETHER A PORTABLE MAZE PRODUCER BY ADRIAN FISHER (3 SHOTS) VARIOUS: OF DESIGNERS INSIDE THE STUDIO DESIGNING MAZES ON COMPUTERS (4 SHOTS) MLV: (SOUNDBITE) (English) DESIGNER ANGUS MEWSE SAYING: "The idea of creating space that will entertain people, is decorative, interesting to look at, but also directly interesting." MV: DESIGNER AT HER COMPUTER CU: OF COMPUTER MONITOR WITH MAZE MODEL MV: (SOUNDBITE) (English) ADRIAN FISHER SAYING: "There is more to a maze design than parallel lines and a pattern. It's very much, you are thinking, of the experiences of people walking through it and losing their orientation. But equally you are thinking it is going to make an interesting pattern when seen from the sky, as a statement, as a kind of icon in the landscape." (L!2)LONGLEAT, WILTSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM (RECENT) (REUTERS) GV: PATTERNS AT THE HEDGE MAZE IN LONGLEAT (2 SHOTS) VARIOUS: ADRIAN FISHER AND HIS SON WILFRED WALKING THROUGH MAZE (5 SHOTS) (L!2)HAMBURG, GERMANY (RECENT) (REUTERS ) VARIOUS: OF MIRROR MAZE AT THE HAMBURG DUNGEON (3 SHOTS) SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (German) ROSEMARY, A VISITOR, SAYING: "I think we will find our way out" SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (German) ANOTHER VISITOR SAYING: "I like it, we just need to find a way out of here". VISITORS INSIDE THE MIRROR MAZE
  • Embargoed: 22nd June 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: DURWESTON,DORSET AND LONGLEAT, WILTSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM; HAMBURG,GERMANY
  • City:
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Quirky,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA8NN2QCUZESPCWCMIQW9OV3OZZ
  • Story Text: Twenty-five years ago Adrian Fisher had a dream to turn his hobby into a business. Now, his company has produced more than 400 mazes in over 25 different countries.
    They're lost, but they love it. Visitors at the mirror maze in Longleat, Wiltshire, work their way through the 1,000 square metres of of mirrors, flashing lights and audio effects. Half a million people of all ages come to Longleat each year. Among other attractions they laugh and scream as they struggle to find the way out of the King Arthur maze. One of them, Adrian Fisher, is the designer of the maze. Still, he seems to enjoy the infinity effect created by the mirrors. It's a game for him, but it's also a lifetime occupation.
    Meet Adrian Fisher, founder and owner of Adrian Fisher Mazes. Twenty-five years ago he had a dream, a hobby, a box of drawing colours and a paper. Today, his company, with its 12 employees, has a track record of producing more than 400 mazes all over the world.
    His home in Dorset, which is also where his business is run from. Fisher describes his state of mind when planning a new maze.
    "It's like a game of chess, except I play all my moves first and I have got to lose in the end, so I help people win just before they have had enough", he says.
    On a lawn outside the Fishers' home, workers are putting together the pieces of a portable maze. This is designed and marketed to individual consumers for parties and entertainment events. Other products include inflatable mazes, playing cards and puzzles. And on a larger scale, Fisher designs corn, hedge and mirror mazes.
    At a studio adjacent to the main building, designers sit at their computers, planning more and more places where people can get lost. Before they joined the maze industry, they worked as illustrators, graphic or website designers.
    They use their creativity - and various computer softwares - to plan.
    "The idea of creating space that will entertain people, is decorative, interesting to look at, but also directly involves people in play as well, that is always interesting," says designer Angus Mewse.
    Fifty-two year old Fisher and his team are responsible for mazes in up to 25 countries around the world. Among them a castles-shaped maze in the United States, Dragon maze in the United Kingdom and one of the most recent projects - a Jasmine maze which has just been planted and is scheduled to open in ahead of the Olympics in 2008.
    Fisher claims to be the only full time maze making operation in the world. And he doesn't only have a business - he has a vision.
    "There is more to a maze design than parallel lines and a pattern. It's very much, you are thinking, of the experiences of people walking through it and losing their orientation. But equally you are thinking it is going to make an interesting pattern when seen from the sky, as a statement, as a kind of icon in the landscape", he says.
    And it seems like his family business might expand to the next generation. As Fisher and his six year-old son Wilfred go throughout the hedge maze in Longleat, it is not clear who is leading who. Only six, Wilfred knows he should be looking for the middle, or find a bridge to climb on - to make his way out safely. But no, he still doesn't know whether he wants to be a maze maker when he grows up.
    In a mirror maze in Hamburg last month, young and old experience the newly opened Hamburg Dungeon. The mirror maze, made by Fisher's company, is designed both to entertain and teach, with a display of medieval figures and themes. And although facing a scary challenge, visitors are having fun, and confident that they will manage to find their way out.
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