A Tiny Garage Dream Just Celebrated 30 Incredible Years (of Being a Big Business)

Behind every successful South African business is usually a story filled with uncertainty and countless moments where giving up probably felt easier. ORMS celebrates 30 years this year, and its... The post A Tiny Garage Dream Just Celebrated 30 Incredible Years (of Being a Big Business) appeared first on Good Things Guy.

May 22, 2026 - 09:30

A Tiny Garage Dream Just Celebrated 30 Incredible Years (of Being a Big Business)

Behind every successful South African business is usually a story filled with uncertainty and countless moments where giving up probably felt easier. ORMS celebrates 30 years this year, and its journey started with one man, one garage and a passion for photography.

Western Cape, South Africa (22 May 2026) – Thirty years ago, a man with a camera obsession started a little business in his garage in Cape Town. No giant investors, massive corporate machine or five-year strategy document pinned to a boardroom wall… just passion and a genuine love for photography.

That little garage idea would eventually grow into ORMS, one of South Africa’s most recognised photographic and printing brands, but the real story has very little to do with cameras, it’s about what can happen when people build something honestly and with heart.

Staying in business in South Africa for three decades is no easy thing. Growing a business over three decades while industries collapse, technology changes overnight and consumer habits shift completely is even harder. Yet somehow ORMS has managed to do exactly that while holding onto the thing that made people fall in love with it in the first place… the human side of the business.

ORMS was founded in 1996 by photographer Mike Ormrod, whose love for photography started back in his school days. That passion eventually led him into the professional photography world, first in Cape Town and later in London, where he worked for independent photographic retailer Wallace Heaton. When he returned home to the Mother City, he opened the first ORMS store, unknowingly planting the seed for something far bigger than a camera shop. Over the years, that small beginning expanded into multiple stores across Cape Town, Bellville and Somerset West, alongside a professional print room, framing division, photography school and nationwide online store that now serves creatives all over South Africa.

ORMS never became one of those cold spaces where customers are simply transactions moving through a system. Instead, it became part of people’s creative journeys. The place where somebody bought their first camera. The place where they developed their very first roll of film. The place where a hobby slowly became a career. The place where somebody nervous about pursuing creativity found people who understood exactly what they were trying to do.

MD Jason Ormrod, son of founder Mike Ormrod, says relationships have always sat at the centre of everything the company does.

“It’s about creating lifetime relationships with our clients,” he explains. “Many customers tell us they bought their first camera here, developed their first roll of film with us or were introduced to photography through ORMS. That sense of trust, familiarity and shared passion is what sets us apart and has carried the business through the years.”

There is something beautifully South African about stories like this. Family businesses built through consistency and hard work. Businesses that survive by showing up year after year and earning trust over time. ORMS managed to evolve alongside one of the fastest-changing industries imaginable while still protecting the feeling people experienced when walking through the doors all those years ago.

Photography itself transformed dramatically over the last three decades. Film cameras gave way to digital. Mobile phones changed how people captured memories. Shopping shifted online. Entire industries disappeared while new ones emerged almost overnight. ORMS adapted with every wave of change, expanding into rentals, repairs, printing, video education and creative training while continuing to look ahead at where photography and creativity were moving next.

“In recent years we’ve seen a dramatic shift in the importance of online shops versus brick-and-mortar stores,” Jason says. “But photography and creativity are deeply personal passions, and that human interaction is something you simply cannot replace online.”

That approach seems to have shaped the culture inside the business too. ORMS says its staff collectively hold more than 1,300 years of combined experience, with many employees staying with the company for over 15 years. In an era where people move jobs constantly, that says a lot about the environment they’ve created.

Cape Town photographer Dave Southwood, whose work has been exhibited internationally and who has lectured at Yale University, believes much of the company’s success comes down to the people behind it.

“Mike always knows how to create a sense of atmosphere, from the first incarnation in Newlands until now,” he says. “I’ve always respected his business acumen, which is coupled with a very reasonable predisposition. He has cornered the market and provided a service which has lasted this long, and grown from strength to strength, because he does have people skills, he’s reasonable, and he’s also generous.”

And perhaps that is what makes this story feel bigger than photography. ORMS didn’t just build a successful business. It built a creative community. Through the ORMS Cape Town School of Photography, exhibitions, workshops, competitions and mentorship programmes, the company has helped open doors for countless South Africans trying to find their voice behind a camera or inside a creative career.

“By building a place that encourages connection, learning, and exploration, we’re able to stay close to our community and engage in ways that are honest, relevant and meaningful,” Jason says. “Creativity belongs to everyone – and we’re here to keep that door open.”

Thirty years after a photographer started selling cameras from a garage, ORMS is still growing, still adapting and still finding ways to connect people through creativity. In a country where so many businesses struggle simply to survive, there is something incredibly inspiring about a story built on passion and the decision to keep showing up year after year.