# Aardman Animations
**Aardman Animations** is a British animation studio based in Bristol, England, best known for stop-motion clay animation, including the *Wallace & Gromit* films, *Chicken Run*, and *Shaun the Sheep*. Founded as a partnership between school friends Peter Lord and David Sproxton, who registered the name Aardman Animations in 1972, the studio has received seven Academy Award nominations and won four[1](https://www.aardman.com/about/history). It has been employee owned since 2018, when its two founders sold 75 percent of their shares to a trust holding them for the benefit of the company's staff[2](https://aardman.com/about/employee-ownership-at-aardman/).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Legal entity | Aardman Animations Limited, company number 02050843, active private limited company, registered at Gas Ferry Road, Bristol, BS1 6UN; incorporated 29 August 1986[3](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/02050843) |
| Name registered | 1972, after the BBC bought the founders' short animated sketch 'Aardman' for the series *Vision On*[1](https://www.aardman.com/about/history) |
| Founders | Peter Lord and David Sproxton, who began animating together at school as teenagers[4](https://time.com/5139215/aardman-animation-studio-early-man/) |
| Awards | Seven Oscar nominations and four wins; 4 Academy Awards and 18 BAFTAs cited at the studio's 50th anniversary[1](https://www.aardman.com/about/history) • [5](https://aardman.com/latest-news/2026/september/aardman-50-years-of-clay/) |
| Signature characters | Wallace and Gromit, created by Nick Park; Morph; Shaun the Sheep[4](https://time.com/5139215/aardman-animation-studio-early-man/) • [6](https://www.wipo.int/en/web/wipo-magazine/articles/cracking-ideas-37791) |
| Biggest hit | *Chicken Run* (2000, with DreamWorks), which grossed nearly $225 million worldwide, the most successful stop-motion movie of all time at that date[4](https://time.com/5139215/aardman-animation-studio-early-man/) |
| Ownership | Employee owned since 2018; Aardman Holdings Limited holds 75 percent or more of shares[2](https://aardman.com/about/employee-ownership-at-aardman/) • [7](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/02050843/persons-with-significant-control) |
## Origins
Peter Lord and David Sproxton began animating as a hobby while they were schoolboys, using a 16mm clockwork Cine camera belonging to Sproxton's father, an amateur photographer and a producer at the BBC. They experimented with cut-outs from magazine color supplements and chalk drawings, spending weeks making one-minute clips[4](https://time.com/5139215/aardman-animation-studio-early-man/). While still teenagers they created a short animated sketch called 'Aardman', named after an early character, which the BBC bought for its *Vision On* series. Needing a name for the bank account into which their first BBC check would be paid, they registered the name Aardman Animations in 1972[1](https://www.aardman.com/about/history). They continued supplying material for *Vision On* while at university[1](https://www.aardman.com/about/history).
After graduating, the pair moved to Bristol in 1976, where they produced their first professional work, creating the clay character Morph for the children's program *Take Hart*[8](https://www.aardman.com/about). Morph, described as a "cheeky clay model", was the studio's first hit[6](https://www.wipo.int/en/web/wipo-magazine/articles/cracking-ideas-37791). A series of short films commissioned by Britain's Channel Four, *Conversation Pieces*, helped develop a style that appealed to adults as much as children[9](https://www.awn.com/animationworld/interview-aardmans-peter-lord).
## Nick Park and the Wallace & Gromit films
**Nick Park's arrival** reshaped the studio. While Lord and Sproxton were giving a talk at the National Film School, Park showed them his final-year project; judging it overly ambitious for his timescale, they offered him work animating commercials at Aardman in exchange for studio time and resources to finish it[10](https://wallaceandgromit.com/history/). Park created Wallace, an eccentric inventor, and Gromit, his intelligent dog, characters that became some of England's most beloved in the 1990s[4](https://time.com/5139215/aardman-animation-studio-early-man/).
In 1993 the studio completed Park's Oscar-winning *The Wrong Trousers*, its first 30-minute film[1](https://www.aardman.com/about/history). The stop-motion feature *Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit* won the Academy Award for Animated Feature Film at the 78th Academy Awards, credited to [Nick Park](https://www.edgepedia.org/nick-park) and Steve Box[11](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2006).
## Features and the DreamWorks partnership
The Great Escape-inspired *Chicken Run*, made with the American studio DreamWorks, grossed nearly $225 million worldwide, making it the most successful stop-motion movie of all time at the time of reporting[4](https://time.com/5139215/aardman-animation-studio-early-man/). The collaboration significantly expanded Aardman's audience in the United States[12](https://www.countrylife.co.uk/culture/art-exhibitions/stop-motion-gold-aardman-animations-is-thriving-in-its-50th-year-and-continues-to-live-life-in-the-slow-lane).
The partnership ended after *Flushed Away* (2006), the studio's move into computer-generated animation. The film was a commercial failure, and Aardman soon returned to its claymation formula[4](https://time.com/5139215/aardman-animation-studio-early-man/). The studio's seventh feature, *Early Man* (2018), a prehistoric sports comedy, returned to stop motion with roughly 40 sets in use at any given time and a crew exceeding 150 people[4](https://time.com/5139215/aardman-animation-studio-early-man/).
## The craft
Stop-motion animation at Aardman means plasticine puppets on miniature sets adjusted 24 times for every second of film[13](https://time.com/3423091/boxtrolls-movie-review/). Puppet construction has changed since the 1970s: while early versions of Morph were solid clay and plasticine, most current puppets are molded around solid metal armatures, and 3D printers now produce items from props to pirate mouths[4](https://time.com/5139215/aardman-animation-studio-early-man/). Director Nick Park has described deliberately preserving a handmade look, encouraging animators to be rougher so audiences are reminded of the craft[4](https://time.com/5139215/aardman-animation-studio-early-man/).
The studio also works beyond stop motion. Its production slate lists stop-motion features, shorts and series alongside CGI series such as *Lloyd of the Flies* and 2D work such as *Adventures of ArachnoFly*, plus console games including *11-11: Memories Retold* and *Chicken Run: Eggstraction*[14](https://aardman.com/film-tv-games/). A UKRI-funded research project, Virtual Production at Model Scale, explored applying virtual production toolkits to stop-frame animation by re-staging a shot from *Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl* in a virtual production studio for side-by-side comparison[15](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13548565251394186).
## Ownership and scale
Aardman became employee owned in 2018. Peter Lord and David Sproxton sold 75 percent of their shares to a trust set up to hold those shares for the benefit of Aardman employees, called Partners, which includes permanent staff and freelancers who share the responsibility and rewards of ownership[2](https://aardman.com/about/employee-ownership-at-aardman/). In the company's own account, the move secured its ethos, creative values and independence[8](https://www.aardman.com/about). Co-founder David Sproxton gave an additional motive: without employee ownership, an outside buyer might have stripped out the intellectual property, moved production to cheaper territories, and closed the Bristol company[16](https://www.tlt.com/insights-and-events/insight/employee-ownership-qa-aardman-animations). At the studio's 50th anniversary it described itself as having grown from a small independent studio into a global creative business with 4 Academy Awards and 18 BAFTAs[5](https://aardman.com/latest-news/2026/september/aardman-50-years-of-clay/).
Both co-founders were knighted in a King's Birthday Honours list, and the anniversary has been marked with a [Royal Mint](https://www.edgepedia.org/royal-mint) 50p coin, a LEGO *Wallace & Gromit* set, museum exhibitions in Bristol and London, and a Royal College of Art Animation MFA program in partnership with the studio[17](https://aardman.com/latest-news/).
## Community work
[Wallace & Gromit](https://www.edgepedia.org/wallace-and-gromit)'s Grand Appeal, the official Bristol Children's Hospital Charity, has raised in excess of £70 million since 1995, an involvement Aardman describes as one of its greatest achievements in Bristol[8](https://www.aardman.com/about). The studio also trains new animators through the Aardman Academy[12](https://www.countrylife.co.uk/culture/art-exhibitions/stop-motion-gold-aardman-animations-is-thriving-in-its-50th-year-and-continues-to-live-life-in-the-slow-lane).
## References
1. [A little bit of history, Aardman](https://www.aardman.com/about/history)
2. [Employee Ownership at Aardman](https://aardman.com/about/employee-ownership-at-aardman/)
3. [AARDMAN ANIMATIONS LIMITED overview, Companies House](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/02050843)
4. [How the Studio Behind Early Man Is Keeping It Old-School in a Digital World, TIME](https://time.com/5139215/aardman-animation-studio-early-man/)
5. [Aardman: 50 Years of Clay, Aardman](https://aardman.com/latest-news/2026/september/aardman-50-years-of-clay/)
6. [Cracking Ideas, WIPO Magazine](https://www.wipo.int/en/web/wipo-magazine/articles/cracking-ideas-37791)
7. [AARDMAN ANIMATIONS LIMITED persons with significant control, Companies House](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/02050843/persons-with-significant-control)
8. [About Aardman](https://www.aardman.com/about)
9. [An Interview With Aardman's Peter Lord, Animation World Network](https://www.awn.com/animationworld/interview-aardmans-peter-lord)
10. [History, Wallace & Gromit](https://wallaceandgromit.com/history/)
11. [The 78th Academy Awards (2006), Oscars.org](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2006)
12. [You can't rush greatness: 50 years of the stop-motion studio behind Wallace & Gromit, Country Life](https://www.countrylife.co.uk/culture/art-exhibitions/stop-motion-gold-aardman-animations-is-thriving-in-its-50th-year-and-continues-to-live-life-in-the-slow-lane)
13. [Review: In The Boxtrolls, the Monsters Are the Good Guys, TIME](https://time.com/3423091/boxtrolls-movie-review/)
14. [Film, TV & Games, Aardman](https://aardman.com/film-tv-games/)
15. [Virtual production at model scale: A case-study of virtual production R&D in Aardman Animations, Tom Livingstone, 2026](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13548565251394186)
16. [Employee ownership Q&A: Aardman Animations, TLT LLP](https://www.tlt.com/insights-and-events/insight/employee-ownership-qa-aardman-animations)
17. [Latest news from the studio, Aardman](https://aardman.com/latest-news/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen production organizations › Animation studios › Individual animation studios › European animation studios*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license