We meet in the congenial surroundings of the Exhibition room, St Bride Library, Bride Lane, Fleet Street, London EC4Y 8EE. The action takes place at 8.30am on the third Thursday of every month and includes decent croissants and coffee. The events are based on a simple premise: networking with other designers leads to benefits for all of us. And these benefits are both social as well as commercial - Designer Breakfasts brings you into face-to-face contact with likeminded peers in an entirely unique atmosphere. There's simply nothing else like it.

Designer Breakfasts was established by studio principals Michael Abrahams and Amanda Tatham who met in 2005 and quickly discovered a number business issues and values in common. Their experience of sharing was so useful that they decided it could benefit other small design businesses too. And with no network or industry body dedicated exclusively to the 69% of design companies with fewer than six employees, they decided to create one of their own.

By the end of 2005 Designer Breakfasts was up and running. And when Design Week added its support early in 2006, the idea soared in popularity. Indeed, we'd known at once that we had captured a mood and were providing a service that had hitherto not been available. At this point the Ministry of Love became involved: run by Pippa Crawford, a communications specialist, it took on the job of shaping events that would spark debate and keep designers coming back for more. Now, we are entering the next stage of the Designer Breakfasts story as we move from satisfying 40 people in a room to reaching out online to the thousands of designers who can't make the Thursday breakfasts but want to take part in the Designer Breakfasts conversation at lunchtime, teatime and long into the night.