Arriving in England at London Airport ...
Arriving in England at London Heathrow Airport at 6:30 AM after a full 17 hours of traveling and waiting in other airports and sitting in a transoceanic seat for 8 hours and then hopping in a rental car to drive 
on the “wrong” side of the road, barely awake, for 3 hours to my initial destination is, well, just insane. This was my long-awaited trip to England to visit the Conway Stewart factory and to meet the splendid people with whom I collaborated for the last year. Right prior to the flight I had implored Mary Burke to give me the skinny on the various personalities at the factory, send me some pictures, and provide some humorous (oops, I meant humourous) secrets with which I could surprise them with my homework. I had been told, but did not fully grasp, that this group of Conway Stewart employees was truly a family – at least in my eyes.
The factory is located in an industrial area north of Plymouth proper and not far from the small towns that lead the traveler into Dartmoor. We stayed in a self-catering apartment at the Harrabeer Country House in the tiny town of Yelverton right on the beautiful 
countryside of Dartmoor. It was only a few miles from the factory and when we arrived I called Glenn Jones, the managing director, and announced my presence and my intentions to interrupt their placid continuity. I was a week early. Glenn said no problem and that it was even better that I was early and to come on down. A couple of roundabouts later I met my first smiling Conway Stewart face – Vedad Obradovic. One of a total of ten: Glenn Jones, Vedad Obradovic, Louis Emery, Rafal Tokarski, Kayleigh Care, Linda Archer, Jill Kerr, Chris Care, Nick Mills, and Gianpiero Mastrocimqie.
Laurel and I were offered tea at the outset and asked to make ourselves comfortable while Vedad rousted up Glenn in his windowless, upstairs manager’s office. We were shown upstairs and saw that Glenn was totally engaged with the product having many glossy pictures of past productions and several long rows of drawings and rough designs of possible things to come. We discussed the challenges of making and 
selling high-end pens in the current climate. Glenn had taken charge of the company about 7 years ago and works in collaboration with the partners that own the company. Due to my flaky and early arrival I was not able to meet one of the partners but I was on his list to meet and that surely was a compliment.
The factory is in a building that appeared to be 30 or 40 years old, the entrance was in the back and there is not a lot of signage announcing the luxury product that is made there. In the entryway there are several glass showcases that show off some nice pieces. One main floor has the sales, communication, and accounting efforts, another main floor has the rod stock and several CNC machines (turning centers) that turn the stock into pen parts. There are big tumblers for polishing and a very old capstan lathe that makes square stock round. Up in a loft area is done some of the finishing work and assembly as well as the engraving that you see on the Evolution and the Belgravia. I don’t know how many times I said “So that’s how you do that!”
Even though I wanted to meet everyone, and I did so with great pleasure, part of my mission was to check into the design and mechanical aspects of the operation. I spent some good time with Chris, Rafal, and Louis looking into the details of how some of the machines accomplished their tasks. I was very impressed with the abilities of the crew to operate a diverse set of machinery with so little time under their belts. In addition, I was very pleased to see that in many cases, if not all, there are hand operations involved in making some of the parts and certainly in the finishing stages. This place was not so automated that it was a robot making everything. There is personal attention given to every piece – the way I like it.
My parting shot at the great people there at Conway Stewart after an early shutdown on Friday was to buy them all a round of drinks at the local pub. The sun and the suds enabled me to learn just a little more about them but I must say I’d look forward to visiting again. We took some pictures in t he factory foyer coaxing Jill the whole time to go along. The experience I had cemented the desire to continue the relationship with the company, and now with the faces with which in the past I only had email. Here’s to you folks!
Rich Littlestone
MetalWrite,
Colorado, USA