Business News
Yard O Led prove to have the write stuff
By Jon Griffin
Birmingham luxury pen makers Yard O Led are adding exciting new chapters to a near 200 year-old story of traditional hand-crafted skills whose origins pre-date the Victorian era. The history of Yard O Led dates
back to December 1822, when London locksmith Sampson Mordan and his colleague John Hawkins patented the ‘ever pointed’ propelling pencil. That invention provided the
opening script to a story of industrial expertise which now spans nearly two centuries – and continues to highlight the diverse skills of Birmingham’s world- famous Jewellery Quarter. Today, 194 years after Sampson
Mordan’s first propelling pencil was produced, Yard O Led are selling around 3,500 pens a year, with an annual turnover of around £400,000.
The Birmingham firm
supplies a range of products costing from £275 to £675 to the likes of Harrods, Fortnum & Mason and Selfridges, whilst also exporting as far afield as Taiwan, Japan, North America and China. General manager Matthew Miles
said: “This is not just a job, it is a passion. You feel you are the custodian of the firm. You cannot replace these skills and learning them is important for the trade and for the area.” Workshop manager Alex Roden
said the Birmingham firm’s eight- strong team had worked flat out in the run-up to Christmas to meet a £30,000 order from luxury Bond Street store Smythson. Fellow shopfloor worker Jess
Mobley, 25, a qualified silversmith from Tamworth who specialises in ‘chasing’ - a metal-marking technique which creates patterns - added: “This is very satisfying,
Their knibs (left to right): Matthew Miles, Alex Roden and Jess Mobley Intricate work: Jess Mobley’s “engrossing” work
‘There is something about producing quality pens. People understand heritage and value, and we have a history of heritage and value’
highly skilled work. Each piece is a one-off, you get engrossed.” The company received a new
lease of life in 2015 when entrepreneur Robin Field bought the intellectual property of the propelling pencil brand whilst its future has also been safeguarded
by Harvard academic John Pound, who has taken on the role of managing director. Matthew added: “There is
something about producing quality pens. People understand heritage and value, and we have a history of heritage and value.”
10 CHAMBERLINK February 2017
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