You never quite know what you’re going to find when you visit one of our manufacturers.

On today’s episode of The Factory Next Door, we head to Avonmouth to visit a bespoke storage maker – but what we discover is far from expected.

We hear stories of serious fraud, do our daily stretches, go welding with Daft Punk, and see the frame of a 15-meter-high slide being lovingly bent into shape.

Number 54 on our list of the greatest things we make here is The Helter Skelter by Moduflex.

Managing Director Richard Blunden shows us around as we learn what it takes to keep a company going through its darkest days, discuss the importance of a strong employee culture, and consider the benefits of designing next door to the factory floor.

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When you need someone to escort the King’s crown to Parliament for the state opening, you call on his Majesty’s Gentleman at Arms – with their distinctive red and gold jackets.

And when you need someone to make a new uniform for this historic corps, you call Jules Walker and her team at Gieves and Hawkes.

Number 53 on our list of the greatest things we make here is The Ceremonial Uniform.

Jules is head of the tailor’s military team, and on today’s show she gives us a tour of her workshop in the basement of 1 Savile Row.

We learn what it takes to make uniforms for the King’s Guards, discover what an epaulette is, and consider the parallels between tailoring and plumbing.

Also on the show, we mull the need for a Ministry of Made in Britain and question why buyers from overseas appear to value our crafts more than we do.

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Support the show:

https://buymeacoffee.com/thefactorynextdoor

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The epicentre of the global pen industry used to reside in Birmingham. Then the plastic biro arrived and everything changed.

But in the city’s jewellery quarter, a team of skilled silversmiths are ensuring the history of Birmingham’s pen industry continues to be written.

Number 52 on our list of the greatest things we make here is the propelling pencil by YARD-O-LED.

Owner Giles English shows us around the company’s historic workshop as we celebrate a 100-year-old design, admire irreplaceable machines, and learn the meaning behind the company’s distinctive name.

Also on the show, we explore the power of loss, Giles talks about the birth and sale of the Bremont Watch Company, and we discover the important distinction between chasing and engraving.

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