DIGEST: INSIDE SUNSPEL'S FACTORY, THE MAKERS OF THINGS, ARTICLE MAGAZINE, SHOEMAKING

Above, a day in the life of Sunspel's factory in Long Eaton (where M&I visited back in March 2011)

Four very good videos of The Makers of Things - documenting the work and workshops of the Society for Model and Experimental Engineers (via Russell Davies)

Article magazine: 'a celebration of all things British'

A fascinating history of Bovril and its marketing (University of Cambridge)

Terry Smith, envelope cutter at Baddeley Brothers in Hackney (Spitalfields Life)

The Pointe Shoe Makers of Hackney (Spitalfields Life)

The making of Walsh trainers (Make it British)

How a Globe-Trotter suitcase is made (Make it British)

The making of a Private White VC pocket jacket (Port Magazine)

An article on Tanner Krolle in London, from 2011 (The National)

Coloral: a dormant Birmingham cycling brand being given new life (Kickstarter)

A couple of blogs:

The Make Works blog is a joy to keep up with

Norfolk's Old Town has a nice blog that I wasn't previously aware of

*Post updated 6th August 2013

MOULTON BICYCLES: MADE IN ENGLAND

THE MAKING OF A PAIR OF OLIVER GOLDSMITH GLASSES

Thank you to Liam Chapple for sending this video. It was created by his friend Matthew Barton and shows some of the processes used at Oliver Goldsmith, a glasses manufacturer in West London.

DRAKES TIES : MADE IN ENGLAND

"We make ties completely by hand... We are printing cloth in Macclesfield and we are weaving the majority of our silk in Suffolk."

Drakes, the largest independent handmade tie maker in England. A video by Jai Rafferty for It's Nice That.

ALICE MADE THIS : CUFFLINKS

This video of cufflinks being produced is strangely mesmerising.

MAX LAMB ON HANDMADE CRAFTSMANSHIP

"The communication is a really important part of it, the object doesn't always speak for itself... Although I try to make it as visible as possible; the process used to get to the end result is understandable just by looking at the object... But when you support the physical object with a documentary of how it was made, immediately people can engage with it on a deeper level... understanding how the raw material was transformed in to a functional object."

Max Lamb on handmade craftsmanship, via Protein

PAPER PROCESS: GF SMITH x STRATHMORE

A somewhat mesmerising video by Stephen M Fisher showing some of the processes used in the making of different paper types at GF Smith.

(via It's Nice That)

THE MAKING OF A GLOBE-TROTTER SUITCASE

A nice video of the process behind the hardwearing luggage made in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire.

For new readers; I visited the Globe-Trotter factory last year and interviewed creative director Gary Bott.

WEEKLY DIGEST

Some brilliant responses to last week's piece by Aditya Chakrabortty on deindustrialisation (Guardian)

Gareth Wyn Davies visits Abraham Moon tweed mill in Yorkshire (Telegraph)

Great audio interview with Margaret Howell (RSA)

Sunderland's Brewlab gets new lab (SIBA)

An interview with Robert Boyd-Bowman of Alexander Boyd English shirtmakers (Spitalfields Life)

Manufacturing debate in Leeds: more support from government needed (Yorkshire Evening Post)

Dyson invests £1.4m in manufacturing by launching professorship at Cambridge (Business Review Europe)

Osborne's 'march of the makers' lacks a magic ingredient (Guardian)

Inside the Vanners tie factory: video above (Make it British)

A piece that escaped my attention last week on the future of UK manufacturing (Channel 4)

New homewares brand to be made in UK (Housewares Live)

KEMBLE & CO : THE LAST UK PIANO MAKER

The second video from Carwell Casswell is of Kemble & Co, the last UK piano manufacturer, who closed in 2009. Another beautifully shot and edited film, albeit on the sad demise of a company founded in 1911.

HALSTOCK CABINET MAKERS : A VIDEO BY CARWELL CASSWELL

I received an email recently from Ross Carwell Casswell who kindly shared a couple of videos on two UK companies - one still very much in business, one now sadly closed. The first is the former; Halstock, a cabinet makers near Yeovil.

Thanks Ross.

NEW BALANCE : MADE IN ENGLAND

Nice video short on the New Balance factory in Flimby, Cumbria.


Source: Sneakersnstuff
Thanks to: Heritage Crafts Association for sharing it

A COLLABORATION BETWEEN GRENSON & BARBOUR

"There are many collaborations around at the moment and some of them don't make a lot of sense. But I think that with Grenson and Barbour, it's so rare that you get two wonderful companies that started around the same sort of time, producing a different product but selling to the same kind of customer and with the same integrity and quality."

Tim Little, owner of Grenson

THE MAKING OF A BTC HECTOR LIGHT

Lighting Matters, suppliers of BTC and Davey Lighting, has created some beautiful videos of the process behind the creation of a couple of classic designs. Above is the video for the making of a BTC Hector light. For similarly well constructed videos see here.

(via It's Nice That)

VITSOE : NO ROBOTS

Off to visit Vitsœ in north London today. This video makes for a nice introduction to the company's process and the people behind it.

MAX LAMB : MODERN CRAFTSMANSHIP

Max Lamb talks about his work with the Dunhill craftsman in this beautifully shot video.

Thanks to Jacob at Dunhill for sending it our way.

HOW VINYL IS MADE : VF MANUFACTURING

The Vinyl Factory Manufacture from thevinylfactory on Vimeo.

VF Manufacturing is the last major plant in the UK, pressing around 25,000 records a week (according to The Guardian).

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

STEVENAGE KNITTING COMPANY : VIDEO

We have been looking forward to sharing this video with our audience since discovering it a couple of months ago. Many thanks to Mr. Sam Pinkstone for allowing this to happen.