Story featured on Issue n.009 of The Craftsman Newsletter. Read the full story here.
Tom Gyr makes arguably the most beautiful calligraphy pens in the world. Tom trained in graphic design and fresh out of university started a furniture company in Newcastle, but that folded pretty quickly because he had no channel to showcase his products. He later moved to London to do web design at tech startups, in particular at a popular one doing food deliveries, but was soon disenchanted by the unsustainability of businesses driven by profit and obsessed with scale but not much more.
“I’m driven by creating something that’s unique, and personal and interesting… and that fulfils me. My workshop is a place for experimentation, for playing with so many options, different materials and combinations. And you can’t really do that if you’re working for a business that is driven by profit because you have to be certain about the fact that it has to make money”.