Hey, I’m Chris! In 2022 I was introduced to Framer and my brain went into overdrive... wait, what, this looks like Figma, but builds sites?

What else can it do?

And there started a catalyst of change that has impacted nearly every area of my life, including finding Contra and becoming an official meetup host for London.

Without going too deep into a backstory, I started freelancing in 2009 with Nuttifox and continue to do this today.

My first love was design (Book Covers) and quickly progressed to websites, software UI and exploring code. Now focusing on React and Framer.

I was testing Plasmic at the time, building nocode interfaces that generated a full codebase, it was cool, really cool, but Plasmic was missing the mark for creativity and frontend expression, because it was focused on software, not websites.

Within minutes of using Framer, I had a basic page built with some simple effects. I was hooked!

Framer started life as a prototype tool, which then pivoted towards a web builder. I knew they were onto something big, building for designers, not just developers.

Framer gave me access to build high-quality sites and components that others could use, extend or even buy - super fast!

One of my experiments was to create a working Gameboy, exploring nested components in Framer.

It had to turn on.

It had to be built 100% in Framer (No Figma).

A year later, I had shipped a few templates and components. Framer were hunting in the community for people to run meetups and workshops, I signed up and stated to plan the first Framer London event.

I was introduced to Harish (Goodspeed) and Giles (Skyscanner) who shared the same passion for Framer and we held the first event at Skyscanner in London.

Since then I have continued to run more Framer meetups in London and now it's myself and Omar Farook (Glorify) running the events.

We've got to meet so many great people and witnessed so many awesome things being made with Framer, in some cases, using my components!

I am planning new events all the time, so come along if you can, or sign up to our community. All events are free to attend.

Being so involved in Framer has naturally led me to getting to know many of the Framer team, having them attend our events and them supporting us in supporting our growing community.

These relationships build trust, and in doing so has led to Framer recommending me to Enterprise customers who are looking to migrate or build on Framer.

I hope to do the same in the Contra community (Contrammunity). It's great to see what everyone is working on and I'm a huge fan of collaboration.

I've always wanted to build something big, clever, exciting, unique - and while this is always within me as a creative, I've found that simple and consistent win every time.

I show up, share some things and deliver for clients daily.

Do that on Contra and you'll be just fine!