Factory Visit
I recently made a visit to the factory which has been making our brass studs for our handmade dog collars.Using traditional working methods, I have been making these dog collars with these studs for over 30 years! And I thought it was about time I visited the factory and saw for myself the time honoured way that these studs are made, which compliments my time honoured tradition of bridle stitching dog collars.
This factory had obviously seen busier days…. It was established over 100 years ago, at a time when there were still horses ploughing the land, all of which wore decorated harnesses; there were still horses being driven in carriages, for work and pleasure, and all of those harnesses had some form of embellishment; and there were still large estates, with their own livery…… The livery would include not only the estate uniform’s brass buttons adorned with the individual coats of arms but also the horses’ harness decoration.
Today we still use the brass bull stars on our dog collars. Traditionally on a horse harness the bull star stud stood for the plough harness which belonged to the first born son of the farmer.