Heritage Open Day - Crown Brush factory tour
at 3:00 PMWe began our brush making life in the 1850s in Rathbone Place, just off London’s Oxford Street. After the war, labour was in short supply and in 1946 we opened a second brush making factory in Lowestoft. This was an ideal site as there was a real need for jobs in the area and many local people had net mending skills which could be transferred to tying knots for brushes. Several members of the London team moved out to Lowestoft to set up, train and develop the new workforce. Only the most skilled makers work on the finest brushes and the average length of training for a Crown sable maker is three years. Possibly the most famous of our brushes is the Series 7, made for Windsor & Newton. It was created in 1866 when Queen Victoria ordered the very finest kolinsky sable watercolour brushes in her favourite size: No.7. The Series 7 is now widely regarded as the finest watercolour brush in the world.
Today we produce over 25 million brushes a year, specialised for the fine art, education, craft, hobby and cosmetics markets. Traditional brush manufacturing techniques continue alongside modern machine-automated methods, using all kinds of natural and synthetic materials so that we can offer our customers a huge array of options. From creating own label brushes for some of the world's most prestigious fine art brands to one-off batches
Tuesday 17 September: 15:00-16:00
Thursday 19 September: 15:30-16:30
Friday 20 September: 10:30-11:30
Booking is required - Tickets are free but must be obtained.