Charnwood Company History
Our company was founded in 1977 by Alistair Cook who had been working in the export department of Leicester based woodworking machinery manufacturer, Wadkin. He set up a business to help small companies export their products but soon found a bigger challenge in designing, manufacturing and selling woodworking machinery in the UK. His first office was the bedroom of his daughter Sam and his workshop was the family garage.
Our first design was a hand operated 'side pinner' for joining wooden picture frames, other more sophisticated designs soon followed and the company established itself in this niche market. The business soon outgrew the garage and premises in a Transport warehouse were followed by a rented modern industrial unit.
In 1990 we took over Leicester based firm called Modern Woodworking who were manufacturing a range of professional machinery including planer thicknessers, morticers, table saws and mitre saws. The heart of the business has always been in designing new products, using a balance between offering the latest technologies and maintaining the tradition of high quality our customers have come to expect from the Charnwood brand. We still do the research and design elements of the process here in Leicester, but most of our manufacturing has now been transferred to low cost centres in Asia, where we are able to produce competitively priced, high quality machinery.
Today we are very proud of our purpose built, self owned premises, located just 3 minutes from Junction 22 on the M1.
From an early age Alistairs children were also involved in the busineess. Assembling machines, bookkeeping and helping out at trade shows. The children are now adults, all working in the business and indeed the third generation has already been started.
We still have a strong link to our roots and picture framing is still an important part of the business. Our sister company, Framers Corner, operates from the same address and supplies Picture framing tools & machinery to both the DIY and professional markets all over the world.