The Liminal Space
The Liminal Space is a London-based creative consultancy founded in 2012 that uses art, design, and experiential installations to help UK cultural institutions, universities, government bodies, healthcare organisations, and corporations engage publics with complex or sensitive topics through commissioned projects.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2012
- HeadquartersEngland, Germany
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What The Liminal Space does
The Liminal Space is a London-based creative consultancy that uses art, design, and experiential methodologies to help organisations engage publics with complex, sensitive, or controversial topics. Founded in 2012 by Sarah Douglas and Sam Livingstone as The Liminal Space Associates Ltd., the firm operates as a sales-led B2B professional services practice serving cultural institutions (V&A, Natural History Museum, Barbican, Museum of the Home), universities and research bodies (University of Oxford, King's College London, Open University, Francis Crick Institute, LSE), government and public sector clients (Scottish Government, UKRI, Health Foundation, ARIA, Transport for London), healthcare organisations (NHS, Guy's and St Thomas'), and corporate clients (Co-op, John Lewis Partnership, Thames Water, Veolia, Network Rail, BAE Systems, British Airways, Selfridges, Allen & Overy).
Revenue is generated through commissioned projects — large-scale exhibitions, workplace installations, research programmes, workshops, and digital tools — quoted on a scope basis rather than a standardised pricing model. The firm's portfolio centres on a core of productised programmes: Night Club (a sleep health engagement programme for night shift workers, deployed across 25+ major UK employers since 2018), Life Support (a mobile-first digital tool for end-of-life conversations, launched 2020 with Innovate UK funding), Meat Your Persona (a touring installation on meat consumption that reached 100,000+ people), Timeless (a pop-up shop on egg freezing credited with contributing to a change in UK law on storage limits), plus research-driven outputs like the Mindsets for Museums of the Future toolkit, Garden of Emotions multi-sensory installation, and The Ideas Fund grants platform co-designed with the British Science Association.
The firm is privately held with no disclosed external institutional investors, operating from a single London office at the St. Bride Foundation on Fleet Street with a team of 23 named staff spanning art direction, 3D design, strategy, programme management, research, audio production, digital, and operations. Distribution is direct via commissioned engagements; marketing is content-led through blog, social media, newsletter, and earned media in The Guardian, BBC, Financial Times, Dezeen, and Design Week. The firm has won multiple high-credibility awards, including the Wellcome Trust Sustaining Excellence Award 2021 and University of Oxford's Vice-Chancellor's Innovation and Engagement Award 2022.
The Liminal Space firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- The Liminal Space
- Legal name
- The Liminal Space Associates Ltd.
- Website
- https://the-liminal-space.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2012
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- The Liminal Space is a London-based creative consultancy founded in 2012 that uses art, design, and experiential installations to help UK cultural institutions, universities, government bodies, healthcare organisations, and corporations engage publics with complex or sensitive topics through commissioned projects.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where The Liminal Space is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- England
- HQ country
- Germany
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
The Liminal Space business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Consulting and Project Fees: The company generates revenue through commissioned projects for organizations seeking innovative public engagement, experiential design, and creative consultancy services. Projects range from large-scale exhibitions and installations to research programmes and workshop facilitation.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels6 records
The Liminal Space product offering
Product offeringCore offering
The Liminal Space is a creative consultancy that designs and delivers experiential installations, exhibitions, workshops, digital tools, and public engagement programmes on behalf of organisations. Its work translates complex or sensitive topics into tangible, immersive experiences for audiences including night shift workers, museum visitors, students, and members of the public. Key offerings include the Night Club sleep health programme, Life Support end-of-life digital tool, Meat Your Persona food sustainability tour, and bespoke engagement commissions.
Product overview
The Liminal Space is a creative consultancy offering a portfolio of experiential programmes and installations rather than a unified software product. The core offerings include: Night Club (an award-winning sleep health education programme for night shift workers, available both as on-site workplace installations and as a policy advocacy platform); Life Support (a mobile-first digital tool for end-of-life conversations); Meat Your Persona (a touring physical installation with digital QR code components); and Timeless (a pop-up experiential brand). Additional offerings include research-driven installations like Room to Rethink, Garden of Emotions, Data Dialogues workshops, and the Mindsets for Museums of the Future report/toolkit. The company also offers bespoke workshop facilitation, speculative futures sessions, and creative engagement programmes tailored to individual client needs.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Night Club
- Life Support
- Meat Your Persona
- Timeless
- Room to Rethink
- Garden of Emotions
- Mindsets for Museums of the Future
- Data Dialogues
- People and the Pandemic
- Shifting Perceptions
- The Ideas Fund
Quantifiable outcome
- Night Club programme led to indications of reductions in absenteeism and increased effectiveness in the workforce
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use The Liminal Space
Customer profileNamed customers12 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
The Liminal Space technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
The Liminal Space partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
37 partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.
- British Science AssociationcoreCo-founded The Ideas Fund with Wellcome Trust to connect communities with research professionals for mental wellbeing solutions. Liminal Space helped co-design the fund's application process.
- Academy of Medical SciencesmajorContent partner for Life Support digital tool on end-of-life conversations. Also collaborated on Medi Mori fictional pharmacy project.
- Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute, University of OxfordcoreAcademic partner for Night Club programme, providing sleep science expertise and research backing. Also collaborated on Meat Your Persona through LEAP programme.
- King's College LondoncoreMultiple collaborations including People and the Pandemic exhibition, Garden of Emotions, and related health engagement projects. The university hosts vaccination centre work and research partnerships.
- Co-opcoreFounding partner of Night Club programme; night shift worker programme delivered to Co-op employees. Received joint award recognition for the programme.
- Impact on Urban HealthcoreBacker of Night Club programme alongside Wellcome Trust. Focused on health equity and urban health issues.
- Natural History MuseumcoreCollaboration on Our Broken Planet exhibition and related climate engagement projects. Major cultural institution partner.
- Museum of the HomecoreMultiple collaborations including Room to Rethink community engagement project and Tomorrow's Home exhibition. Partnership to explore home and community concepts.
- NestamajorPartnered with Scottish Government on Data Dialogues healthcare data engagement project. Collaborative research organization.
- Science Gallery Dublin/King's College LondonminorGarden of Emotions installation located in Science Gallery Cafe at King's College London.
- V&AmajorCollaboration on V&A's Object Encounters project for public engagement with museum collections.
- BarbicanmajorMultiple collaborations including Unclaimed installation on ageing and Nine Lives audio portraits project.
- Ipsos MORImajorPartnered on Genome Edited Foods public research with Food Standards Agency, Living Landscapes with Royal Society, Future Flight with UKRI, and other research projects.
- Museums AssociationcorePartner in Bold Futures initiative along with ASDC, funded by Wellcome, to explore cross-sector challenges for museums and science centres.
- Association of Science and Discovery Centres (ASDC)corePartner in Bold Futures initiative along with Museums Association, funded by Wellcome.
- Royal College of ArtminorCollaboration on Our Place in the World innovation events and programmes with RCA Innovation Department.
- UCL Institute of Healthcare EngineeringmajorCollaborated on Tomorrow's Home project to explore future of home healthcare, winning Ingenious Award from Royal Society of Engineering.
- London School of Economics and Political SciencemajorMultiple collaborations including Timeless egg freezing project, The Impact Map toolkit development, and speculative futures workshops.
- Francis Crick InstitutemajorCollaborated on Cut + Paste genome editing project and other science engagement initiatives.
- CoramminorCollaboration on Voices Through Time project for public engagement.
- Ulster MuseumminorBout Ye? project collaboration on public engagement.
- Open UniversitymajorCollaborated on My Body My Life abortion stigma project and Bodylore project.
- SelfridgesminorWorked with Creative Direction and Sustainability teams on internal learning programmes and brand engagement.
- Allen & OveryminorSponsored Artbeat arts-based learning programme with Bethnal Green Academy exploring identity.
- The Courvoisier Future 500minorAmanda Gore, Director, is listed as a member of The Courvoisier Future 500.
- GXOminorEmployer partner for Night Club programme delivering sleep health education to night shift workers.
- John Lewis PartnershipminorEmployer partner for Night Club programme with both John Lewis and Waitrose sites participating.
- BAE SystemsminorEmployer partner for Night Club programme.
- British AirwaysminorEmployer partner for Night Club programme.
- Thames WaterminorEmployer partner for Night Club programme.
- VeoliaminorEmployer partner for Night Club programme with Veolia Southwark participating.
- Network RailminorEmployer partner for Night Club programme.
- Transport for LondonminorEmployer partner for Night Club programme.
- Royal SocietymajorCommissioned Living Landscapes project with Ipsos MORI to explore public views on UK landscape and agricultural policy post-Brexit.
- SHiFTcoreCollaborated on Shifting Perceptions exhibition showcasing SHiFT's work with young people caught up in crime cycle.
- LEAP (Livestock, Environment and People), University of OxfordcoreCommissioned Meat Your Persona and Meat Your Persona Tour to engage public with research on meat consumption and health/environmental impact.
- Guy's and St. Thomas' NHS Foundation TrustmajorHospital hosting vaccination centres and collaborated on People and the Pandemic exhibition and Night Club programme.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
The Liminal Space competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Pentagram: Multidisciplinary design consultancy delivering brand identity, exhibition, environmental and editorial design for cultural and public-sector clients. Comparable in delivery of exhibition and identity work for museums and cultural institutions, though broader in client mix and creative output.
- IDEO: Global design consultancy with a long-running social impact practice working on behaviour change, public-sector innovation and civic engagement. Broader in scope (consumer, digital, organisational) but overlaps significantly in human-centred, research-driven public engagement briefs.
- Imagination Group: Global experiential and brand experience agency delivering large-scale installations, immersive environments and public engagement programmes for major brands and institutions. Comparable in delivery of immersive installations, but operates at much greater scale and across commercial brand work.
Emerging players
- Matter of Form: UK strategic design and brand consultancy with a strong cultural and lifestyle sector practice. Partial overlap in producing branding, spatial and digital experiences for cultural and hospitality clients, but narrower in social-impact engagement remit.
Direct peers
- Snook: UK-based service design and innovation agency focused on social impact, working with government, healthcare and third-sector clients on behaviour-change and citizen engagement programmes. Directly comparable in client mix and human-centred, design-led engagement approach.
- Superflux: UK/India-based design and futures studio using speculative design, installations and films to engage publics with social, technological and environmental issues. Closely comparable to The Liminal Space in methodology (experiential, art- and design-led engagement commissioned by institutions) and target buyers (museums, universities, public bodies).
- 64 Million Artists: UK charity that uses arts and creativity to support public participation and wellbeing. Comparable as a specialist in art-driven public engagement and audience development for cultural, civic and health themes.
Others
- Innovation Unit: UK social-purpose consultancy designing and evaluating public-service innovation, often with national and local government commissioners. Adjacent rather than direct: overlaps in public-sector clients and behaviour-change themes, but does not deliver the art-led installations at Liminal Space's core.
- Royal Society of Arts (RSA): UK charity running the Arts & Society, Design and Social Action programmes and Fellow network. Adjacent as commissioner and convener of public-engagement, design-for-good and behaviour-change work, with similar cultural, academic and policy stakeholder mix.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
The Liminal Space social profiles
Digital presenceThe Liminal Space financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
The Liminal Space leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles24 records
The Liminal Space funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
The Liminal Space M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about The Liminal Space
What does The Liminal Space do?
The Liminal Space is a creative consultancy that designs and delivers experiential installations, exhibitions, workshops, digital tools, and public engagement programmes on behalf of organisations. Its work translates complex or sensitive topics into tangible, immersive experiences for audiences including night shift workers, museum visitors, students, and members of the public. Key offerings include the Night Club sleep health programme, Life Support end-of-life digital tool, Meat Your Persona food sustainability tour, and bespoke engagement commissions.
Is The Liminal Space a public or private company?
The Liminal Space is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was The Liminal Space founded?
The Liminal Space was founded in 2012. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is The Liminal Space based?
The Liminal Space is headquartered in England, Germany, in the Europe region.
How does The Liminal Space make money?
One revenue line is on record: consulting and Project Fees.
Who are The Liminal Space's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Pentagram, IDEO and Imagination Group. Matter of Form is listed as an emerging player. Direct peers are Snook, Superflux and 64 Million Artists. Others are Innovation Unit and Royal Society of Arts (RSA).
Does The Liminal Space have an API?
No public API is recorded for The Liminal Space.