JOE’S STORY
Joe Blackman MBE
From growing in Wales to building an international events business, travelling and working across more than 74 countries and receiving an MBE for services to business and charity, Joe’s journey has rarely followed a conventional path.
It is a story shaped by curiosity, entrepreneurship and a willingness to take opportunities when they appeared, from childhood businesses and a fruit juice stall in South Wales to royal weddings, global events and an increasingly international world of business, trade and connections.
From humble roots…
During family visits, while his cousins and siblings kicked a ball outside, Joe could usually be found in his uncle’s office, with an unplugged telephone, imagining he was running a company of his own.
It wasn't long before the pretending became something more practical. Joe spent his childhood trying one little enterprise after another, washing cars, selling handmade greetings cards, polishing antiques and, rather less profitably, painting neighbours’ oil tanks for £2.50. There was no grand plan at the time, just an early curiosity about business and a determination to make his own ideas happen.
With his mother working at St Donats Arts Centre on the South Wales coast, Joe spent much of his teenage years surrounded by artists, performers and events.
When she became involved with an international storytelling festival, selling freshly squeezed fruit juice to festival-goers seemed like a useful way of keeping him occupied. Joe had other ideas, expanding the stall year after year and turning it into his first genuinely profitable little business.
But it was what was happening around the juice stall that really caught his attention. Joe became fascinated by the lighting, sound and production behind live events and gradually began working his way into the technical side himself. By 18, while finishing his school exams, he had progressed to become the festival’s event manager as well as technical manager at the Arts Centre.
A mentor who lectured at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama suggested that Joe take the next step and study Stage Management. With several years of practical experience already behind him, he headed to Cardiff for university, although studying was never going to be the only thing keeping him busy.
The Early Years
University, Business & Bigger Events…
University didn't slow things down. Alongside studying Stage Management, Joe continued his technical work at St Donats and began taking on freelance contracts with venues and events around Cardiff, including the Millennium Stadium and Cardiff International Arena.
As Vice President of the Students’ Union, he found himself as interested in its commercial side as its student politics. He helped run its businesses and organised an ambitious student ball at Cardiff Castle, bringing together everything from production and entertainment to sponsorship and advertising.
There were inevitably businesses on the side too. One involved selling fine art to restaurants around Cardiff; another, rather unexpectedly, became Bespoke Beds and landed a commission supplying custom-made beds.
Meanwhile, events were becoming increasingly serious. Freelance work led to larger productions including Party in the Park and the Tsunami relief concert, and Joe was quickly discovering that the combination of creativity, business and making complicated things happen suited him rather well.
Then Came Qatar…
Halfway through his degree came one of those opportunities that changes the direction of everything. Someone had dropped out of the team delivering the 2006 Asian Games in Qatar and a replacement was needed quickly. Joe was offered the chance to go.
He packed up his university room and headed to Doha, spending the next year living mostly aboard a cruise ship and working as part of the team delivering the Games. Responsible for the aquatic events, his role stretched across stage management, production, competition timings and the countless moving parts behind an international sporting event on an entirely different scale to anything he had experienced before.
It was also Joe's first real introduction to working internationally. Living and working in the Middle East brought together different cultures, nationalities and ways of doing things, and opened his eyes to just how much bigger the world of events could be.
A strategic encounter during his time in Qatar led to a friendship with a member of the Qatari royal family. That relationship would bring Joe back to the country under very different circumstances, this time to create his first royal event.
What had started with a fruit juice stall in South Wales had suddenly become significantly more international, and rapidly growing.
Collection 26
More than two decades creating extraordinary events around the world, bringing together exceptional design, remarkable places and unforgettable experiences for the most discerning clients.
CREATING HIS FIRST GLOBAL BUSINESS
Returning from Qatar with a rather different view of what was possible, Joe turned his attention to building a business of his own.
Collection 26 grew from its beginnings in Cardiff, Wales into a global international events company, creating extraordinary celebrations and experiences for clients around the world.
Over the years, the company became known for ambitious, highly personal events, from spectacular weddings and private celebrations to large-scale parties and international productions. Projects took Joe and his teams across Europe, the Middle East, the United States and beyond, often transforming extraordinary locations or creating entire temporary venues from the ground up.
The client list grew with the business. Private individuals and families were joined by global business leaders, footballers, musicians, celebrities and members of royal families, with discretion becoming every bit as important as creativity. Some commissions brought hundreds of guests together from around the world; others were deliberately intimate, but approached with exactly the same attention to detail.
Collection 26 became one of the UK's best-known luxury event planning companies, attracting international media attention and recognition for its work. Vogue described the company as “planning the most spectacular events we have seen.”
After more than a decade building the business, Joe exited Collection 26, bringing one chapter to a close and opening the door to an increasingly international world beyond events.
A MORE INTERNATIONAL WORLD
As Collection 26 grew, so did Joe's world beyond it. Events remained at the heart of his work, but increasingly sat alongside a wider interest in international business, trade and connecting people and opportunities across borders.
Having travelled and worked across more than 74 countries, Joe's career has brought him into contact with entrepreneurs, global businesses, governments, civic leaders and organisations around the world.
After relocating to the United States, that international focus continued to grow. Joe became increasingly involved in strengthening business and civic relationships between the UK and US, supporting international trade, developing partnerships and helping bring together businesses, decision-makers and organisations around shared opportunities.
In 2022, Joe was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in the Queen's New Year Honours, recognising his services to business and charity.
