How it all began ...

Stories handed down through the generations state that our family business began with my great, great grandfather, Mr Joseph Petit and his Austrian colleague Herr Charles Brandauer setting-up a joint business manufacturing pen nibs in Newtown Birmingham, UK in 1862. The firm was, and is still, called C Brandauer & Co Ltd. It was named after Mr Brandauer as legend has it as he supplied the money for Company and my great, great grandfather the technical knowledge.

My great, great grandfather had been in business prior to the formation of C Brandauer & Co Ltd with a partner called Mr Ash. Together they produced pen nibs under the name Ash Petit. This partnership lasted only a few years and the pen nibs from this era are now quite rare. Family gossip says that Mr Ash went off with all the money so my great, great grandfather was out of a job! However, I now know that this isn't true as the partnership between Mr Petit and Mr Ash was formally dissolved in Birmingham before Mr Brandauer started to build the new factory in New John Street West Birmingham UK.

This Victorian factory was used by the Company until the year 2000 when we moved premises, just a block away, to a more modern one built about 25 years ago.

So, this is the start of 'How it all began...'