Our story

Friends & Co is a global PR and communications consultancy with offices in London and Toronto run by Christine Samuelian and Belinda Fisher.

Friends & Co was started in 2011 by former journalists Christine Samuelian and Belinda Fisher as an agency looking to promote design, architecture and luxury clients who have a great story to tell. PR is all about storytelling, after all.

Our aim is to work with clients we love and whose business we can help with effective strategy and creative communication.

Jeroen Bergmans, who was an editor at Wallpaper* for almost a decade and marketing strategist for London property developer, Capco, is our Content Director who specialises in marketing initiatives.

Patricia Gill is a publicist with over 20 years’ experience managing campaigns for high-profile design installations, projects and fairs including the London Design Festival and the London Design Biennale.

Michelle Auer runs our North American office. Her 20-year career in business development for the design, architecture and lifestyle industry provides our clients with a vibrant and strategic presence in both Canada and the United States.

Kristina Valius is our in-house brand consultant. Her expertise lies in brand identity and art direction and she draws on two decades of experience in design communications working for a range of luxury brands from David Linley to Guinevere Antiques.

What our friends say

"I’ve worked with Friends & Co for a decade, ever since I started writing the interiors pages for The Sunday Times. They’re an intelligent and creative outfit that takes time to immerse themselves in their clients’ work, and they're as interested in sowing slow burn stories as getting quick coverage, which is becoming increasingly rare. They are a pleasure to know."
Katrina Burroughs
Writer, The Sunday Times

"Friends & Co are exactly the kind of PR agency a journalist would want to work with. Highly informed, organised, and sensitive to the needs of both their clients and the press, they have always been a pleasure to deal with."

Oli Stratford
Editor in Chief, Disegno

"Friends & Co has that great ability to act not like PR machines, but like proper human beings. An email from them is always worth looking at: it might contain an event that they know you – personally – will love, a new client (unfailingly an interesting one), or an idea which I hadn’t yet thought of. Christine and Belinda bring you ideas, dream up collaborations, intuitively understand what you, as a journalist might go for, and might not. They are PR people, but they are also trusted consultants."

Ruth Sleightholme
Deputy Decoration Editor, House & Garden

"I would unhesitatingly recommended Christine Samuelian as someone with a thorough grasp of every aspect of contemporary PR and media. I have worked with Christine for many years, both when she was a highly valued special projects editor at Wallpaper magazine and subsequently since she crossed over to the ‘other side’. As a result, she always offers relevant stories, never wastes my time and totally understands the way that magazines and online media work. I would also trust anybody that she chose to partner with."

Jonathan Bell
Editor-at-Large, Wallpaper*

"I always enjoy working with Christine and Belinda. As well as understanding the stories that will work for our readers, they invariably have an interesting angle to discuss. They are brilliantly efficient, and a lot of fun to be with."
Jessica Doyle
Design and Interiors Editor, The Telegraph and Telegraph Magazine

"Friends and Co are really consultative in the way they promote their clients, the very opposite of a blanket PR approach, which is reassuring and refreshing. They are also very down to earth and have a great sense of humour, which counts for a lot."
Helen Parton
Writer, Blueprint, OnOffice

"Working with Friends & Co is always a pleasure, for their helpful and warm manner and the way they are absolutely unflappable in the face of a panicked last-minute query. They are experienced, professional and good in a crisis but also unjaded, charming and enthusiastic; it's a genuinely alluring combination that wins both journalists and clients over."
Giovanna Dunmall
Writer, Wallpaper*, Azure, Economist

"I’ve worked with Friends & Co now for many years and feel like I have built a close relationship with Belinda, Christine and Patricia. Something I really appreciate about the team is that they always give more than expected and make every interaction special down to the smallest detail."
Jessica-Christin Hametner
Editor, OnOffice

"I couldn't think of a better name for the team at Friends & Co - they are among some of the friendliest and most helpful people I have ever worked with. They also really understand the brands and publications they work with - I know they will always send me the stories I'll be interested in."
Amy Frearson
Freelance writer