Intelligent Bravery with Rowena Curlewis, Co-founder & CEO of Denomination
10 March 2026
What’s changed since 2002?
Design trends have moved on – yet many drinks brands embody timelessness.
Relationships evolve – but the strongest ones prevail.
A business flexes – however the greatest companies have a solid, unwavering foundation.
Rowena founded Denomination nearly 25 years ago, alongside Margaret Nolan – while both were raising young children! They chose to specialise in drinks brand building as the area that “really connected us and drove us.” And it clearly still does.
That specialist focus has stayed consistent; a clear North Star for a business now spanning four studios and operating globally.
In this episode centred around creative excellence, Row shares the deep-rooted Denomination philosophy of intelligent bravery. Defined by her as “the combination of strategic rigour and creative courage,” it’s something that has existed since the business began, embedded as a standard through smart hiring and training.
That long-term perspective also shapes how she talks about client relationships, particularly Penfolds. Rowena describes a rock-solid 23-year partnership built on two things: strong relationships and fantastic work.
“Brand should be able to withstand all of the crazy changes happening in the world - and they really shouldn’t be fashionable. They should be so unique in their own right that they can withstand change!”
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Season 3 episode 3
If you’re into luxury experiences and drinks branding, you’ll be interested to learn some BTS context to the Denomination ways of working. You might imagine that blue-sky thinking and high-level concepts rule, but actually the agency will never show a client something that cannot be produced at the specified COGs. This frames the advantage of their incredible in-house production team: never letting clients fall in love with impossible concepts.
On leadership, Rowena knows herself well. In fact, she knows her whole team very well, using Facet 5 and Clifton Strengths profiling to understand personal strengths and drivers. This avoids groupthink, deepens team dynamics, and supports better hiring and management decisions.
Row is a super inspiring leader who shows that a tenacious attitude is timeless, yet gives you the framework to define excellence again and again, decade after decade.
