We Are A Creative Consultancy
We help businesses unlock new opportunities.
Dominic Bargeton – Founder. After studying Corporate Communication in Aberdeen I worked with STC Insiso, my jumpstart into business, branding, communication and the beginning of ONE | OAR. In 2009 I started a property services business called Pinstripe which has become the highest-volume provider in Scotland. I’ve always enjoyed working on a wide variety of projects across multiple disciplines.
About ONE | OAR.
We are a team of business and creative specialists. We’ve had the pleasure to work with a range of businesses and incredibly talented people. We continue to be guided by a curiosity about how businesses can leverage a brand-led approach to propel engagement, change & growth. We prefer to find opportunities where we can establish long-term, close working relationships with clients.
We did promise a story about this One Oar...
Frolic & The One Oar
When I turned 14, I was given a boat for my birthday. That sounds extravagant, but this was no ordinary boat. It was very old, rotten, and had been abandoned in the back of an overgrown dinghy park. It was only a matter of time before it would disintegrate completely. Her name was Frolic.
That summer, we set about restoring Frolic to her former glory. My older brother and I had never worked on a project like this before but were keen to get going. I was already thinking about how it would feel sailing the boat across the Firth of Forth, lunch box stowed away, taking a mooring up on Inchcolm Island.
This faded quickly as work began. Frolic required a vast amount of hand sanding, treatment and repair. Uncovering one hole or rotten wooden panel promptly led to another. So we’d sit outside the garage, sanding and varnishing until the last of the light had faded.
As summer turned to autumn, Frolic was finally ready for her maiden voyage. In Aberdour harbour, we smashed a bottle of fizz on the bow and coaxed her gently into the water. The red sails filled, and she creaked forward into deeper water.
With a proud smile and blistered hands, I had a brief opportunity to enjoy the moment before the cold water of the Forth began to seep in at my feet. Then a small gust of wind and a loud crack as the main sails tore from the mast and fell on top of us.
As a mild panic set in, I picked up the wooden oar strapped to the inside of the boat, and we began paddling back to shore. Long after Frolic came to her demise, that oar has been with me ever since.
Resting beside my desk, that oar is a constant reminder of a summer working on the boat. But, looking back, the adventure was about something other than Frolic conquering the high seas or landing on deserted islands.
It was always about the time spent that summer working hard to transform something, to find purpose and function in something that was otherwise overlooked—sanding back the layers to uncover potential.
The purpose of One Oar is exactly that – helping clients unlock potential and improve.