About
A Studio That Builds Its Own Products, and Yours.
Made by Kiln is a small UK studio. We design, build and look after web apps, websites and AI features, and we run two products of our own.
The studio
Why “Made by Kiln”?
A kiln is where soft clay becomes something you can use every day. That's the job: take a good idea and turn it into something solid, useful and built to last.
The name is also a maker's mark, the stamp a potter presses into the base of a pot. We only put it on work we're proud of.
We plan it and we build it. Most firms do one or the other. Doing both means our advice is grounded in how things actually work, not in what looks good on a slide.
How we work
Three Habits We Don't Break.
We Plan Before We Build.
The screens, the words, the cost and the dates are agreed before anyone writes code. It's the cheapest way to avoid an expensive surprise.
We Run What We Make.
We host, support and improve our own products every day. Client work gets the same habits: monitoring, backups, updates and someone who answers.
We Say It in Plain English.
Honest prices, straight answers and no jargon. If we're not the right fit, or you don't need the thing you asked for, we'll say so.
The founder
Led by Gareth Thurlow.
“I've been a developer, product manager, UX specialist, agency founder and CTO. I've shipped software for the BBC that handled 25,000 concurrent users at 100% uptime during live broadcasts. I've built and sold my own agency, and delivered for ASOS, YO! Sushi and cybersecurity firms protecting high-profile individuals.”
“I can sit in a board meeting and talk commercial strategy. I can also write the code. Made by Kiln is where I put both to work.”
Most people call him Gaz. At his last agency he hired a developer who had arrived in a new country with nothing, and mentored him into a co-founder. That's the kind of studio this is meant to be.
20+
Years building for the web
25k
Concurrent users on a live BBC build
2
Products built and run in-house
1
Agency built and sold
Timeline
- 2000Started in web and graphic design, and got hooked on the craft.
- 2006Became Head of Digital at Eclipse Creative Communications.
- 2012Co-founded Sneek Digital, a digital agency built from nothing.
- 2018Delivered BBC live broadcast applications handling 25,000 concurrent users at 100% uptime.
- 2019Sold Sneek Digital after seven years.
- 2021Co-founded Go App Studio, building mobile applications from London.
- 2024Began consulting independently on AI, websites and technical leadership.
- 2026Founded Made by Kiln, and launched Kiln Studios and Blocky.
What people say
Kind Words for Our Founder.
“Never have I met anyone like Gareth. He is a naturally gifted and kind individual with a great wealth of knowledge in the creative industry.”
“He is the best boss I ever had in my life. He really pushed me to grow as a developer and as a person. He is an amazing leader and knows how to create a great work environment.”
“A talented product manager especially skilled at managing the changing priorities, requirements and expectations of inevitably competing stakeholders.”