John Thurlow

John Paul "JP" Thurlow is a creative and brand-building specialist who joined The Craftory near the firm's founding in May 2018 as its Craft Partner for Creative, Brand and Storytelling. Rather than leading deal sourcing or term sheets, his remit is to embed with the founders and C-suite leaders of portfolio companies as a blended executive creative director, brand strategist and trusted collaborator — building positioning, consumer insight, differentiation, content and omni-channel marketing for challenger CPG brands.

His career was forged on the agency side of advertising and design before he moved into investing. He served as Creative Director at LIFE Agency (working on clients including Disney and Coca-Cola), held a director role at R/GA, and contributed creative strategy at MullenLowe London, AKQA and Grey Group, with earlier senior creative posts at Critical Mass and LBi. He has also done freelance creative work for ELLE Magazine. He studied at Goldsmiths, University of London (Visual Arts).

The Craftory itself was founded in 2018 by Elio Leoni Sceti (former CEO of Iglo Group/EMI) and Ernesto Schmitt, with a stated mission to provide patient capital to "challenger" consumer brands with a positive impact on their category, society or the planet. It positions itself explicitly against traditional corporate venture capital and short-horizon VC. Thurlow's role sits inside this "craft partner" model, in which operators with deep functional expertise (brand, go-to-market, product innovation, scale-up, finance) support the portfolio alongside the investing team.

• The Craftory backs mission-driven, purpose-led consumer (CPG) challenger brands — companies whose products aim to positively impact their category, society or the planet.
• Sectors span food & beverage, plant-based products, health/wellness and supplements, household and personal care, pet food, and inclusive apparel.
• The firm describes itself as a "counter-corporate anti-VC," emphasizing long-term, patient capital and brand-building support over quick flips — a thesis that distinguishes it from conventional growth-equity funds.
• Thurlow's personal contribution to the "yes" decision and to value creation is the brand and creative lens: in his words, he "deploy[s] on a project-by-project basis partnering directly with founders and C-suite leaders as a blended Exec Creative Director, Brand Strategist and trusted ally." He looks for brands with genuine purpose, a strong consumer story, and clear differentiation potential.