Team
We are a nimble and versatile company led by our principal partner with access to a wealth of experts in our specialist sectors today
Jeremy Rainbird
Founder + CEO
Jez Rainbird is an entrepreneur with over 33 years experience in the creative sector primarily focused on brand strategy, communications and content. Having previously founded and run the global advertising agency Addiction Worldwide and the TV, Film and advertising production company Merman. Both companies having held offices in New York, London and LA. He is no stranger to international growth and managing highly creative businesses.
It has always been Jez’s dream to “go client side” as they say and launch and grow his own brand. Maison Rockman is a dream come true for him. Working alongside his life partner Caroline their skillsets compliment each other perfectly. Having always been very passionate about luxury fashion as a consumer. Jez has the knowledge, experience and drive to make Maison Rockman a huge phenomena alongside Caroline and the core team the house has attracted.
Jez was integral in the funding and setting up of the Merman Group of companies and until his recent exit served Globally as its Chairman for seven years until early 2023. Merman is privately owned and operates in the Film, Television and Advertising sectors with offices in London, New York and Los Angeles. Merman is best known for internationally acclaimed shows such as, Catastrophe (C4/Amazon), Divorce (HBO), Motherland (BBC/Lionsgate), This Way Up (C4/Hulu) and the recent hugely successful Bad Sisters (Apple TV+) which won Best Drama at the BAFTA”s in 2023. Merman Television was recently awarded Production Company of the Year at Edinburgh TV Festival 2022.
Merman's advertising and branded division has represented some of the best names in the industry, working with Anton Corbin, Matthew Vaughn, Asif Kapadia and other such revered and respected names. Harking back to Jeremy's previous area of content expertise in Advertising, as the CEO of Addiction Worldwide.
In 2012, Jez and his partners sold Addiction Worldwide; a creative agency & production company group he founded in 1998 at the age of 25. When they sold the business to the Mission Marketing Group PLC, it was operating in 2 continents, with over 100 staff and agency income over £10m per annum with client billings of £50m+. Over the years running Addiction Jez has advised and delivered communications for such companies as Coca-Cola, Remington, Adidas, Virgin, Voss Water, John Frieda, VW and Rimmel amongst others.
In 2019 Jez and a consortium of industry colleagues saw an opportunity and backed by British Airways Pension fund, acquired the UK’s oldest Film Studios, Twickenham Film Studios. As Co-Owner, Jez and his team oversaw the successful planning permission to improve and expand the studios. Along the way navigating COVID-19, hosting Tom Cruise & Paramount Pictures as they made camp to finish Top Gun Maverick and ultimately winning an Oscar for Best Sound at the 2021 Oscars. Jez exited TFS in the summer of 2022 to focus on broader investments and advisory work via CHH, in the United States.
Jez is an astute spotter of trends and market demands. He specialises in the ignition stage in his businesses and is always found at the heart of the deal and innovation thereafter. Jez splits his time between homes in Los Angeles & London. He is an avid collector of contemporary art and a lifelong Burner.
Caroline Towning
Partner + Creative Director
Caroline grew up in Yorkshire, England. Where her interest evolved solely around horses and art. Having dropped out of school she travelled extensively at a very young age, including China and USA. Eventually, deciding that she needed an education, she moved to Shoreditch, East London. Putting a portfolio together and applying for various degrees in 2005. The University of Hertfordshire had launched a brand-new Bachelor of Arts degree in Digital Animation. They were promoting it to women, as very few women went into 3D animation at the time. A few months later she embarked upon her three-year degree. Eventually graduating with a BA First Class Honours, her final-end of year film was a woman chasing a unicorn - very surreal and weird.
Together with her degree, that film landed Caroline her first real job, working in Soho for a small animation company, where she worked in Film and TV for the next 10 years. There she creatively lead many projects requiring her graphic design and animation prowess. Downton Abbey and The Jonathan Ross Show being two projects she creatively designed and oversaw. However, Caroline was yearning to be creative on her own projects and after working for so many years on the computer, she decided that she wanted to go back to working with traditional art materials such as oil and canvas. Caroline set up a website and an Instagram channel and started posting her work online. Almost immediately, commissions started flowing in. She started to build up a reputation as an equestrian artist and worked on mastering her craft for the next few years. Caroline painted horse after horse, and even had a private commission to paint a Saudi Prince.
Alongside painting Caroline had a love of taking pictures and because she had a technical 3D and graphic design background, photography was an easy and natural progression. Before she knew it, she was starting to get booked as a photographer as well as commissioned as a painter. She learnt about lighting and started to teach herself how to shoot properly. She also gained monthly regular fashion clients and was making a good living as a fashion photographer as well as fine artist.
In 2020 like many other people in the world Caroline found herself at home and unable to go to work due to the restrictions and the commercial impact of Covid-19. Since Caroline completed her degree, the technologies in 3D printing had progressed dramatically. With her 3D Skills, she decided to create a collection of resin horses, as well as jewellery and lifestyle pieces. She wanted to push herself as a designer and creator, making unique and interesting pieces, all playing with the form of the horse. Combining nearly all her skills and interests into one project.
The Wild Horse Club was born. It was a name that suddenly came to her as the Marquee for her jewellery brand. It was a fashion brand, not an equestrian brand, but a fashion lifestyle brand that celebrates the horse. The name ‘The Wild Horse Club’ made sense, because the horse can also be a metaphor for a wild and free spirit. The business continues today but very much in the background of Caroline’s life in fashion.
In 2022 the Fashion photography gigs came back as Covid subsided. In particular, women’s fashion wear brand AQAQ. A company Caroline had known since her teens as a Saturday job in their first store, back in Leeds. She was creative directing all their shoots and content for e-comm and brand lead marketing. In 2023 Caroline was offered the chance to completely revamp and relaunch the brand. She repositioned and rebranded the entire company herself. Using all her skills in design, photography and creative direction. Delivering a whole new collection to the brand’s owner late 2023. However, by then her taste for fashion design was already matching her taste for graphic design and photography. Thanks to her entrepreneurialism, in Autumn 2023 Caroline took the plunge with Jez and left AQAQ, founding Maison Rockman and started working on her own collection for 2024. The rest as they say is history. Alongside Maison Rockman, Caroline is Creative Director of Cloud Hero Advisory in London and Los Angeles.
Caroline is a serious Yogi of the last 20 years and specialises in Rocket and other dynamic Vinyasas. She splits her time between Shoreditch, East London, in an old Truman Pub and the Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles. Living with Jez, her life and business partner. They share a fuzzy dog called Bear. Caroline still loves to dance, travel, meet people and is of now also a lifelong Burner, having finally attended Burning Man in 2022 a bucket list ambition for her.