Wallet maker CarveOn wins €200k deal with oldest US private bank

CARVEON, a Kildare-based maker of personalised leather accessories that President Michael D Higgins once commissioned to produce gifts for the presidents of Chile and Colombia, has won a €200,000 contract from America’s oldest and largest private bank.

It has produced replicas of an early 20th century chequebook holder for the bank’s global clients. The Kilcullen company, which also counts Facebook, Google, LinkedIn and Adare Manor among its customers, has produced 3,500 of the accessories for New York-based Brown Brothers Harriman (BBH), to commemorate the bicentenary of the bank.

CarveOn was founded in 2011, after brothers Gary and Alan McCormack began hand-crafting a range of wood and leather tech accessories in their garden shed. Armed with a grant from the Local Enterprise Office, they then moved the business to a converted milking parlour.

After reaching capacity, they refurbished an old metalwork factory in 2016.

CarveOn now exports to 50 countries worldwide and employs 10 people.

Using a sample of the Boston-made original chequebook holder, CarveOn spent three months pitching, designing and prototyping a modernised replica, before beating global competition for the contract.

“The managing partner of BBH went to all the key events to commemorate the bicentenary, one of which was a black-tie event in New York,” Alan McCormack said. “They wanted personalised wallets for the guests but couldn’t release the names until a short time beforehand.

“They included George W Bush and three senators.”

CarveOn is currently in expansionary mode and plans to open a warehouse in Kilcullen early next year.