DIGEST: MAKEWORKS DIRECTORY GOES LIVE, ERNEST WRIGHT, NEW CRAFTSMEN BRITISH SOUVENIR SHOP OPEN, ERNEST WRIGHT, OLD NEWS ROUND-UP

The Make Works Directory makes sourcing factories, fabricators, workshops and facilities simple, allowing you to find local fabricators, material suppliers and facilities.

We spend most of our time hunting out the best fabricators for artists and designers to work with. Then, we make films, take photographs and collect the practical information required and showcase them on the Directory. The aim is to enable the production of work locally.

A great resource and fascinating project (Makeworks)

(Photo of Jamieson's of Shetland from Makeworks)

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The Real British Souvenir Shop is open until 31st August 2014 at The New Craftsmen, 34 North Row, W1K 6DG

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At Work: Ernest Wright: The head of Sheffield’s remaining scissor-dynasty, Nick Wright talks to us about his family business, producing quality traditional scissors whose Edwardian designs satisfy a modern audience (Port Magazine)

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A film of The Making of a Globe-Trotter suitcase (Telegraph Luxury)
(for more on Globe-Trotter, see here)

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A visit to Barrington Pottery in Somerset (Foodie Bugle)

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Old news round-up:

Reinventing Scottish Knitwear: Decades of poor management and cheap overseas competition brought the once booming Scottish knitwear industry to its knees. Today, with a new end-consumer focus and artisanal manufacturing, there is also newfound confidence in Hawick and the border mill towns of Scotland. (Business of Fashion)

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Introducing Story Mfg: The UK denim scene is on the rise. Over the past few years a select number of British based designers including have been championing the “Made in England” stamp of approval on their proudly crafted jeans that are eagerly nipping on the heels of their US and Japanese counterparts. (WGSN)

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Harris Tweed weaver made 10,000 yards of fabric for Nike (FT)

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Cadbury's boss says 'Bournville lagging behind its European counterparts' (Birmingham Post)

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Brew Small, Think Big: Micro-breweries are booming and Londoners are thirsty for more craft beer. But is it possible to scale up and stay special? (Ico Design)

WEEKLY DIGEST

A (rather clothing centric) round up of recent stories of note:

Oliver Spencer and GF Smith (OEN) - video above

Christopher Raeburn and 'Made in Britain' (Vogue)

Britain's Heritage Heroes at the Portland Works, Sheffield (BBC)

At the Corgi knitwear factory, Wales (Permanent Style)

British manufacturing under the spotlight at London Fashion Week (Make it British)

Interview with Nigel Cabourn (OEN)

JOHN SMEDLEY IN INVENTORY MAGAZINE

There's a great article on John Smedley by (the excellently surnamed) Leanne Cloudsdale in the latest issue of Inventory magazine. Here's a couple of select quotes from the interview she conducted with Dawne Stubbs, creative director of the Derbyshire knitwear manufacturer:

"Up until 2003 we had our own spinning division here, spinning for ourselves and for a number of other big British manufacturers like Marks & Spencer. When those companies no longer needed our services, it became more commercially viable for us to move the spinning activities overseas. We now use the world's leading fine yarn spinners - Zegna Baruffa in Italy."

"When it arrives back here in the raw ecru state, it is washed and conditioned. It is only then, at the top stage, that we apply the dyes. This is why our colours are so vibrant and rarely fade. The water we use in the factory procedures is gravity fed from the underground springs, and our continued use of this spring water has definitely helped us to attain and maintain that super-soft handle."

"We might sit here in our lovely old mill, but in reality no Smedley has ever rested on their laurels. The family business strategy has always remained the same. We are insistent on moving on, evolving and continuously investing in the company's future."

WEEKLY DIGEST

John Rushton By Ivan Ogilvie from Ivan Ogilvie on Vimeo.

The week's stories on manufacturing and design in the UK:

John Rushton on English shoes in a video from Utile (also above)

Margareta Pagano makes a good argument in The Independent on what needs to be done to ensure the UK's manufacturing sector continues to grow

An in-depth article on Moorhouse, the Burnley based brewery from The Publican's Morning Advertiser

Meanwhile, the brewing industry braces itself for barley shortage

How traditional satchels made by a Cambridge mother and daughter became a global hit (admittedly this story actually made the news last week but was missed)

Nice post on Scottish knitwear for children over on Make it British

Spitalfields Life visits the Algha Spectacle Works in Hackney Wick, London

Coventry pride at making of Olympic torch

Two good bits of news for the auto industry this week, Mini safeguards 5,000 jobs with announcement it'll make new cars here. Meanwhile, Nissan also announces it will make the new Qashqai in the UK

Oh, and not that anyone mentioned it, but there's a parliamentary search for the 'Best of British Manufacturing' going on

WEEKLY DIGEST

A round up of the week's stories from manufacturing and design:

James Dyson on the hunt for the next great inventor, entries now open until August

Scottish knitwear manufacturer has 'healthy order book'

British manufacturers losing out to foreign rivals

UK 'most likely' base for new Rolls Royce plant

And another thing...

With the Southbank Centre's Festival of Britain 60th anniversary celebrations underway you might want to have a look at a post from last September, featuring the original Festival of Britain catalogue.

AN INTERVIEW WITH PAUL PINKSTONE OF STEVENAGE KNITTING CO. (PART THREE)

Winding Up

'There were other things that contributed to the decision to close. Many of our staff were in their 50s and 60s, very skilled, but a lot of them wanted to slow down, especially on the knitting side. Also, the company that made the knitting machines in Italy closed down last year (2009). We would end up waiting on spares, sometimes for six weeks.

Another reason for closing was with the yarn suppliers. British sheep give quite coarse wool. However, demands of late have been for softer Merino wools. We would get wool from France, Austria and Italy. Most suppliers were doing a stock service so we would put in a bulk order for the raw material and during the season would call in whatever colours we wanted. Hardly any of the spinners now do a stock service so we could end up waiting for six weeks for delivery. With the limited season it is very difficult from getting orders to waiting six weeks for the materials to come in.

We always thought we were better at manufacturing for others than to use the Stevenage Knitting Company label but Albam wanted us to use our label in our final set of jumpers that we did.

I've always made something, ever since childhood. It was always really satisfying seeing your designs on the catwalk or on the cover of Vogue... it seems odd that's gone now. I would like to carry on making something. There's so little manufacturing left now.

In Stevenage, the new town was built on assembly: ESA school furniture, Platignum pens, Kodak cameras and Vincent Motorcycles. Now it is nearly all service industry or companies like Glaxo (Smith Kline) or Fujitsu computers. There's hardly any manufacturing. There's a few engineering companies left... but nowhere near as many there was.

Our chief knitter started at 15 and is now 62. She only left to have children. When her children were young she would have a knitting machine at home. She used to do all of our interpretations of designs - from sketches in to finished garments. She wanted to retire. The closure is a combination of lots of things. It was a very family oriented business, we had cousins working for us... a mother and daughter, sisters... and for some of the staff it was the only job they'd ever done.

I phoned up the Knitting Industries Federation and explained that we were closing. They told me that they thought SKC was the last place producing hand framed garments.'

Images (from top to bottom): The window of the factory on Sish Lane, Stevenage, Spare parts boxes on wall, yards of yarn and a view from the factory floor

AN INTERVIEW WITH PAUL PINKSTONE OF STEVENAGE KNITTING CO. (PART TWO)

Joseph and the 80s

'In 1980 we were approached by Joseph and were very close with them, producing nearly all of the Joseph Tricot range. This was the period of our highest production. We were doing about 15,000 garments a season, with two seasons a year.

During this time we opened another factory unit in Stevenage that concentrated on finer knits. At the same time we were still producing schoolwear for Harrods and in particular Hill House School in Knightsbridge. We also produced officers sweaters for the Royal Artillery and the tank regiment, if they wanted something a bit different from the normal olive drab uniform. We also did sweaters for the Admiral's Cup teams; both the UK and the USA.

When Joseph was sold, production started to drop off. We were competing with the Far East. They (brands) weren't particularly interested in the hand framed knitwear that you see in the video. A lot of what we were doing was still on the hand framed machines. So for this season (winter 2010) we would have been manufacturing during the summer but they (Joseph) didn't order anything.'

Images (from top to bottom): inside the (now closed) factory, a Joseph Tricot fine knit (bound for the V&A) and two Stevenage Knitting Co. jumpers - Admiral's Cup (with red v-neck) and Royal Artillery (with epaulets)

AN INTERVIEW WITH PAUL PINKSTONE OF STEVENAGE KNITTING CO. (PART ONE)

Excerpts from an interview with Paul Pinkstone (MD of Stevenage Knitting Company) conducted over the phone (December 2010) and in person (January 2011):

The Early Days

'The factory started in 1926 and it was just supplying local shops in North Hertfordshire. Mainly childrenswear, hockey jumpers and the like. It was amalgamated during for the war effort so the factory was actually closed down during this period. Then after the war my father took it over. He'd been in the knitting industry in Nottingham before the war. He liked the area and knew the person who owned the factory so took it over from him. My father concentrated on oiled wool sailing sweaters. He sailed himself and supplied country stores with fishermen's knits. He also supplied people like Lillywhites and Harrods with skiwear... and Lilley and Skinner, those old names.

We also used to make for Marks & Spencer in the 1960s, when nearly everything of theirs was made in England. There was quite a lot of export to the States and Japan then too.

My father died in 1973 and I'd just finished at school so I went in to business here with my brother in law and took it over. We carried on doing a similar thing to before.

For more images of M&I's visit to Stevenage Knitting Co. see our Facebook page

APC CHIEF 'COMMITTED TO SCOTTISH KNITWEAR'

'I am committed now to wearing Scottish knitwear. I consider it a political statement. It's not even that much more expensive than Chinese knits and it lasts a lot longer.'

It's not often that we enjoy reading interviews with fashion designers but this one with APC chief Jean Touitou in Hint Fashion Magazine made us smile.

A good weekend to all our readers.

Factory image from Robert Noble

FACTORY VISIT NO.1 : STEVENAGE

M&I spent a fascinating morning at (the now closed) Stevenage Knitting Co. Expect a full write up soon but, in the meantime, feel free to see more on our Facebook page.

PROTECTION FOR FAIR ISLE KNITWEAR

A recent short article in The Economist highlights the all too familiar issues surrounding the production of Fair Isle garments. Here are a couple of choice quotes:

'Only 70 people live on Fair Isle itself and only four of them knit. Each sweater takes about 100 hours; the island's annual production is about 30 sweaters, 200 hats and 30 scarves. These are sold only in the island shop, which is cleared out when the summer's first cruise ship calls, says Mati Ventrillon, a French-Venezuelan who runs the craft co-operative.' (The Economist)

'My ladies are in their 70s and 80s. They learned it from their grandmothers, but no one is learning from them.' (Ms. Teresa Fritschi, an American who runs a Scottish luxury-goods website and believes the island's knitters could earn much more if Fair Isle products enjoyed the same legal protection against imitation as Harris Tweed.)

Image from Reel Knitting