Member Article

Sketchbook manufacturer Pink Pig expands with £350k in Barnsley

Sketchbook manufacturer Pink Pig has invested £350k in its relocation to larger premises at Dodworth Business Park in Barnsley where it aims to increase production four-fold over the next five years.

The family-run company’s new 15,000 square foot workshop, warehouse and offices are nearly twice the size of its former base ten miles away at Emley, near Huddersfield.

Pink Pig currently produce around 700,000 sketchbooks a year but aim to ramp that up to more than three million within five years.

The company has invested £200k in new punching and binding equipment and its experienced 23-strong workforce - including two apprentices.

Plans are in place to create seven new jobs before the end of 2016. The manufacturer, which has a £1.4 million turnover, has grown year-on-year since it was established by Nick 23 years ago.

Managing director Nick Wilson named the company after a pink pig motif he designed as a Leeds Polytechnic art student and had tattooed on his arm for a fiver.

His business started with him making hand-made sketchbooks in his cellar in 1991. Nick’s wife Emma and sister-in-law Rachel Hardwick are now co-directors of the family run firm.

Nick Wilson said: “We’ve moved to consolidate our whole operation; update, streamline and expand production.”

Pink Pig’s move has been supported by Enterprising Barnsley, a European-funded programme delivered by Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council.

“Every art student needs a good sketchbook and schools need to be able to supply them. We meet that demand and our catalogues are sent to heads of art at state and private schools from Inverness to Penzance.”

Pink Pig also sells through art shops and direct to artists across the UK and overseas via its own website and e-commerce channels such as Amazon.

It currently has distribution facilities in Germany, France and the USA and plans to expand these into Brazil, Spain, Italy, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Export represents two per cent of its trade today and Nick aims to increase this to 50% by 2020.

Enterprising Barnsley business development manager Steve Hawkins said: “Pink Pig manufacture a well-known and high quality product for a market they are well-placed to grow.

“We’re delighted to welcome their impressive and productive factory to Barnsley and look forward to supporting them to build an even bigger business”.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .