FOCUS ON MIDDLESBROUGH: STEELY DETERMINATION?

This came from an unexpected source: The London Review of Books. A piece by Joanna Biggs, entitled 'On Teeside' gives an insight into the economic struggles of the area post-manufacturing boom.

In the article, Biggs meets Jane Atkinson, who runs the Wilton chemical plant. Atkinson, born in Middlesbrough, was the first woman in the UK to manage a blast furnace. She believes manufacturing in the UK is not dead, 'just deserted by young people who don't want to be engineers,' (according to Ms. Biggs.)

'Talking to people about the processes industry, people don't think we have one any more, because they're just ignorant of it,' says Tom Blenkinsop, Labour MP for Middlesbrough who Ms. Biggs spoke to in Westminster.

Photo from ralph&dot's Flickr

PANTHERELLA : TAG DETAIL

I had the pleasure of donning a fresh pair of Pantherella socks last week. A gift from a friend, the socks are made in Leicester and made my feet feel pretty darn good. I liked the detail that they had afforded on the inside of the tag, so much so that I have scanned it for your viewing here.

(Thanks to JMS Haydock for the fantastic gift)

INTRODUCING MANUFACTURE & INDUSTRY'S FAVOURITE FLICKR PROFILE

We have found a new hero of documentation via Flickr, he goes by the name of Mikey Ashworth and it would appear that he has the (wonderful sounding) role of design and heritage manager at London Underground.

Be warned, perusing Mr. Ashworth's collection may result in many lost hours.

Photo of Jacob & Cos factory from Mr. Ashworth's aforementioned Flickr

ENGINE HOUSES: BERND AND HILLA BECHER

Thank you to Mr. Alex MacDonald for this handsome picture postcard of an engine house by Bernd and Hilla Becher.

I am going to do some reading on the Bechers as I am lacking in knowledge regarding them and their work.

FOCUS ON BIRMINGHAM : JAGUAR LAND ROVER SAVED

Birmingham has received a sizeable amount of column inches over the last couple of weeks, mostly spurred by the Cameron chat. A good consequence of this has been the focus on manufacturing in the area, epitomised by this story from the BBC.

The future of Jaguar Land Rover's Solihull plant had never been in doubt, according to Gerard Coyne, regional secretary of Unite, due to it being the 'ancestral home' of the car maker.

Workers at the plant were clearly relieved. 'It's better than good. It's far more than we could have expected and I am gobsmacked,' said (the brilliantly named) Mick Jones, a paint shop worker from Erdington, Birmingham.

We enjoyed reading the comments from other workers here too.

NATIONAL WOOL WEEK: SAVILE ROW FIELD DAY

M&I joined a bunch of farmers, tailors and some hacks on Savile Row yesterday to mark the start of National Wool Week.

On a beautifully sunny day, the Row was turned in to a mini strip of countryside - complete with two flocks of sheep (Wiltshire Exmoor Horns and Bowmonts from Devon, if you're interested) and gents in corduroy milling about.

We were lucky enough to meet Patrick, chief cutter at Huntsman, who showed us the entire business, from stock rooms through to the tailors at the top of the building. During our tour Patrick told us about the democratic selection process of the season's Huntsman tweed whereby each sample is laid out on the floor for a month to be walked over and ticked with chalk when favoured. A simple way to cast a vote. We also discussed making suits for demanding Arabic customers, Millwall Football Club and Colin Hammick, the famous Huntsman tailor who passed away in 2008.

Thank you to the organisers of Savile Row Field Day and special thanks to Tom and Poppy who looked after us. We look forward to our next visit to the Row.

For more pictures please click here

MG TO RELAUNCH IN THE UK IN 2011

A piece in the Financial Times caught our eye today: 'MG, the Birmingham based carmaker will begin producing its first new car in 15 years, and from 2011 relaunch in the UK as a 'value' brand.'

'We've got to get across the ideas of having a great past with a bright, exciting future,' Guy Jones, MG Motor's UK sales and marketing director told John Reed of the FT.

According to the FT, if the new MG6 model proves successful then production at the Longbridge site will be increased, giving new life to the site that was once one of Europe's largest car plants.

Image from Old Classic Car

PAUL SMITH ON MANUFACTURING IN THE UK

Last night M&I had the pleasure of attending a discussion between Sir Paul Smith and Mr Colin McDowell at Selfridges department store, London.

Over a fascinating 74 minutes the gentlemen discussed Sir Paul's childhood, his father's humour, his (brilliant) lack of 'business model' and the importance of being genuine.

The highlight for us came in the Q&A afterwards though. We asked Sir Paul to expand on his recently reported lament on the decline in craftsmanship in the UK and whether his eponymous company was doing anything to help the situation. Here is what he had to say:

'Masses of British manufacturers have fallen by the wayside, many in the 1970s, during the period that the government and many people were thinking that the new way was to do with the service industries; to do with the computer, the mass produced, robotic way. So a lot of the mills just didn't have the money to reinvest because there wasn't the tax incentives to do so. Also, unfortunately a lot of it was their fault, they had gotten complacent and sat back.

We lost our motorbike industry because Japan reinvented the motorbike by doing something called the 'moped' which young people could ride around. Triumph, AJS, Norton, all these struggled, luckily Triumph survived. Some of it was our fault, some of it was the situation.

Therefore there's very few manufacturers left. We make shoes here, we make ties here, we make tie fabric, Yorkshire tweed, Worcester and Scottish tweed. But there's not a lot personally that I can do about it. What I do do is work largely in Europe, as opposed to China. I make things like trainers or jeans in China but basically we work in Britain or Italy.

A lot of it was complacency. If you want to be in this game, it is about today and tomorrow. Nobody cares about how good you used to be.'

ERCOL - MARGARET HOWELL REISSUES

'It is the combination of quality and craftsmanship and a straightforward, yet elegant approach to the design that attracts me to this particular period of Ercol furniture and has led me to re-evaluate Ercolani's original designs' (Margaret Howell, 2004)

REDESIGNING DESIGN, REMAKING MAKING AT LONDON DESIGN FESTIVAL

M&I was lucky enough to attend a fascinating talk on manufacturing and its future on Friday afternoon at The Tramshed.

First up was Luis de Oliveira, principal of Portugese company De La Espada who talked about ‘decentralised companies’; using local production, small runs and frequent innovation. Oliveira believes this business model to be ‘a decade away.’

Furniture designer Matthew Hilton then told a story about one of his early products - a candlestick made in Charlton, packaged in felt bags from Hackney, sold through the UK retailer Joseph. (If anyone would like to give us one of these, do feel free.)

Hilton now works for Habitat and has a global perspective on manufacturing. He illustrated his experience with a video of some Sri Lankans making a chair to his specfications. Being versed in more traditional methods, the Sri Lankans couldn’t quite create the modern style required. ‘Older manufacturing is more forgiving than new methods’ concluded Hilton.

Theo Williams, creative director of Habitat gave a compelling talk on bridging the gap between design and development, stating that it is ‘essential.’ Williams suggests that we need to move closer to the Italian design model - quicker reaction times, locally produced products.

‘Communications need to get stronger and more focused. We need to understand better what the consumer wants,’ Williams said, warning of giving over too much power to the consumer, ‘There needs to be a parameter for consumers to work within.’

‘Customisation to customerisation’ is taking hold and this is partly due to design, development and manufacturing moving closer together. Williams also gave examples of Habitat making certain products in the UK. Sadly there were no illustrations of this but he referred to a ‘small guy in Cornwall.’ He rounded off his section mentioning that Robin Day can get on a train to his supplier - ‘a big thing.’

Thanks to the parties behind London Design Festival for bringing such a good group of speakers together.

Picture from Matthew Hilton Tear Sheets - De La Espada

SAVE THE WENLOCK

This fine pub is looking likely to be taken over, or worse demolished.

As the Save the Wenlock Facebook group says:

'The Wenlock Arms is a thriving pub and an institution. Whilst those involved in its sale and threatened closure may have perfectly respectable reasons for doing so, were this house to close a large community will lose an amenity and some their jobs.'

Picture from Matthew Ogle on the Save the Wenlock Flickr

OLIVER SPENCER & ANOTHER COUNTRY

Another Country? No, still very much to do with products made in the UK, fear not. M&I attended a tastefully modest event at Oliver Spencer's shop on Lambs Conduit St, London last night. On display was a fine array of understated furniture from Dorset based Another Country. We couldn't hang around for long but enjoyed what we saw and appreciated the hospitable nature of the hosts.

Thanks to Oliver Spencer (lovely shop with some excellent clothing on a very pleasant road in WC1N) and Another Country for the invite.

The image above is from the excellent Another Country gallery. We took some pictures that are not quite as good and they can be found here.