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By Dyas Anna Lawson
"I'm also fanatical about getting the world to see handwritten documents as the very special, personal, and intimate form of communication that they are. But total pen fanatic? I can't be a fanatic yet ... because my wife still lets me leave the house with credit cards ... at least for now!" he jokes. Glenn Jones is no stranger to the luxury market. For years, he was involved in product design and development in luxury and handmade textiles, which gives him an edge in pen making. "When I first arrived at Conway Stewart, I was amazed by the parallels I found," he recalls.. "Most important were those in design and coloration. CS has always had a reputation for being adventurous and I have to say that selecting models and choosing new materials and colors is something I really enjoy. There's that wonderful, anxious anticipation that you have while waiting to see the results and then the immense satisfaction you get when people say they really love the end result." Until now, CS has focused largely on faithful reproductions of its classic designs. "We'll continue to mine this rich vein of inspiration," Glenn adds, "but we'll also integrate great designs with modern dimensions and finishes where we believe the results will produce a better writing instrument." "We also believe there's a definite handwriting (pun entirely intended!) to Conway Stewart's design style over the last century. We have several designers working on projects for completely new pens that carry that style and elegance through into completely new models." Glenn intends to keep the company's "a bit different" reputation in the fore, with emphasis on handcrafted production and cultivating those skills among a younger workforce. "We intend to position Conway Stewart as the connoisseur writing enthusiasts" choice... a company that cares passionately about its products and its customers," he says.
"The rumor that we were going to play about with Henry Ford's famous comment and change our tag line to "Any color so long as it isn’t black "is entirely untrue!" he jokes. While historically Conway Stewart has been known for practical, attractive, affordable pens, Glenn intends to grow the company's reputation for making the best quality, most stunningly beautiful pens in the world: an ambitious undertaking. "Our strength lies in being able to offer our customers something different. We have the advantage of being able to produce small numbers of exquisite pens for a select clientele, reasonably quickly," Glenn points out, where such quick-turnaround engineering can be difficult for larger firms.
Among his innovations to stay in touch with customers is a Conway Stewart Club to be based on the company's new Web site, www.conwaystewart.com "That will mean we can talk directly to our customers and keep them informed of developments and new products and where to find them," he adds. CS will introduce at least three new models by year's end, extend the range of finishes, and capitalize on its flexibility. Some older models may be removed to make room for introductions. However, they will still be available through a bespoke website service.
Next year, the company's centennial, will see some exciting introductions that include three new models from the archives to add to the flagship centenary model: the 100 series. Which is available now and has received some great reviews, it isone of the most elegant pens CS has produced. Special commemorative limited editions will honor other important events in 2005.
"He'll probably hate me saying this, but he epitomizes the kind of sincere, genuine, and fascinating people you meet in this business," Glenn says. "His pens include very subtle elements that make them very special and collectable without being too ostentatious." On the quality front, it may not be common knowledge that CS has been using solid gold trim for some time, but not all have been hallmarked because of production issues or lack of space. That, too, will change. "Adding the hallmark will give our customers extra assurance," Glenn says. "We'll also introduce a 100-year guarantee to coincide with our centenary celebrations, so we don't want to use any materials that will rub off!" Unfortunately, good clips can't be made from solid gold, so CS applies gold plate about four times as thick as the industry standard. Quality control has been tightened, too. Many owners of the lever-filled Churchills expressed disappointment in a filling-mechanism failure, which Glenn attributes to a failure to check component quality. "It was a classic example of a simple check not carried out, resulting in major disappointment for the most important people: our customers." he says. "We worked very hard to make amends to any customer who suffered this problem, but I'd much rather it didn’t happen in the first place. We now check each batch of components just prior to assembly and then each completed pen is individually checked by a senior quality controller before dispatch." New products will see a more stringent testing regimen before release: to destruction if necessary. Jones points to the new filling mechanism on the 100 series which underwent a 10,000 fill test over a six month period before hitting the market. Not surprisingly, Glenn Jones sees Conway Stewart's future as extremely bright, and he first credits the company's people. From supportive, involved investors to the sales, management, design, and production teams, he says the enthusiasm and commitment are exciting and contagious. This, coupled with the loyalty and their new communication with their customers, leads him to believe that Conway Stewart can look forward to celebrating its 200th anniversary in great style!
copyright 2004 Anna Lawson |
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addition, we have a couple of very special pens, including at least
two first for CS," Glenn enthuses. A much-loved fellow