Our Story
30 years. One factory. Same hands.
The timeline
Nearly forty years in one building.
1996
1 of 6The first room
Swatch Studio opens in Oldham: one room, one press and a founder who had spent his working life in the trade. The first job is a wallpaper sample book for a local merchant.
2004
2 of 6First wallpaper house
Our first national wallpaper client places its debut collection with us. The relationship lasts to this day, and the sample books still follow the same principles.
2011
3 of 6The Heidelbergs arrive
A pair of late-1940s Heidelberg presses come into the works, bought second-hand and rebuilt by hand. They have run every working day since.
2018
4 of 6Fabric and furniture work
The trade widens from wallpaper to fabric swatch books and hanging header cards, as furniture makers and upholsterers join the client list.
2024
5 of 6The next generation
A second generation steps into the works, learning the trade the same way it always has been learned: alongside the people who have done it for decades.
Today
6 of 6The same hands
The team averages over twenty years' service each. Small bespoke runs and long production schedules are made in the same building, on the same presses, by the same sorts of hands.
The people
The team behind the books.
Most of the people here have been here for decades. The average length of service is over twenty years, and the work shows it.
Alan Whitworth
Founder's apprentice, now works manager
38 years
Jean Hartley
Hand bindery
31 years
Daniel Whitworth
Press room
14 years
Margaret Snape
Finishing & inspection
26 years
What we hold to
Our values.
Care
Every book is handled as if the collection it carries depends on it — because it does.
Precision
Measured, checked and registered by hand. If it is a millimetre out, it does not leave.
Reliability
Jobs arrive when we say they will. That has been the whole business for nearly forty years.
Made in Oldham
Everything happens in one factory. Nothing is sent away, and nothing is rushed through.