Epson Press Release 11/03/04

Want family from Newport set to feature as ‘The EPSON Family’

After an exhaustive, six month search covering the length and breadth of the country, EPSON, the world’s leading digital imaging company is set to announce the Want family from Newport as the country’s most typical family. Mr & Mrs Want and their two children will now become ‘The EPSON Family’ and will embark on a unique social experiment. Starting on 15th March this, until now, unknown family will be propelled into the public eye for a period of 100 days on their very own web site, www.the-epson-family.co.uk, that aims to prove that even typical family life can often be anything but.

The Want family will have their lives documented via a continuous stream of photographs and images that will constantly be uploaded and updated throughout the 100 days starting in mid-March. The Want family photos along with those captured by an array of established celebrity photographers including Lord Lichfield, Richard Young and Tim Flach will be exhibited in a top London gallery in June of this year as part of a high profile exhibition entitled “A 100 days in the life of a typical British family.”

In addition to receiving a prize of ?11,250 (the UK’s typical wage for a 100 day period), the Want family will receive a contribution from EPSON to a charity of their choice. The family household will also be kitted out with the latest state of the art digital cameras, printers, scanners and projectors, courtesy of EPSON, that will enable them to capture key moments of their lives and relay them instantly to their adoring fan base via their EPSON family online website.

Father of the family John Want, aged 29, is a marketing manager for a meat pie manufacturer, while his wife Claire, aged 30, spends her time running around after their two mischievous kids Niclas, aged 4, and Ieuan aged 2.  As if that wasn’t enough the Want family also run their own business called Mister Bounce which specialises in the hire of bouncy castles. The Want family are an extremely active bunch who spend time travelling around the country in their caravan and like to be heavily involved in their local community. When they’re not running the bouncy castle business or on their caravan adventures, the family spend as much time as they can at the local steam railway organisation, much to the delight of their eldest son Niclas who is obsessed with trains!

The Want family faced tough competition from thousands of other hopeful applicants and secured their crown as the country’s most typical family after convincing a tough panel of judges that they really are the most typical family in the UK.

Jane Barnard, EPSON spokesperson said:  “To find a truly typical British family required a great deal of research into what constituted ‘typical’ family life in modern day Britain and once we had that information we set out on our search. The Wants stood out due to their typically British sense of humour, their love of caravanning and John Wants obsession with meat pies. With the Want family we aim to prove that even typical family life is both varied and rewarding and worthy of being digitally captured.”

John Want said: “We are really shocked and delighted to have been selected as ‘The EPSON Family’ and we are looking forward to getting to grips with our life in the public eye and our very own 100 day show. It will be a great opportunity and something that we will all hopefully look back on in years to come. To be honest we are blown away and still a little stunned.”

‘The Epson Family’ show starts on March 15th and can be viewed at www.the-epson-family.co.uk