Best of British

The man who puts his stamp on Smythson goods

JOHN TIMMS HAS been pressing letters into leather for 45 years – first with his father’s company, Ben Timms Dyer Stampers, and later, after his father retired, as head of the business. When his wife Penelope died in 2007, he planned to retire – ‘I lost interest,’ he says. But six months later, he was contacted by Bond Street stationer Smythson, offering him a job as its gold stamper. ‘After months of twiddling my fingers, I’d got a bit bored, and then the offer came to me, quite unexpectedly. I had a quick interview – and the rest is history,’ says Timms, who is now the company’s chief stamper.

Gold stamping is a skill that Timms, now 68, learnt in his 20s during a course at the London School of Printing. ‘Back in the day it wasn’t very popular,’ he recalls. Today, however, it requires a team of seven people to personalise all of Smythson’s leather accessories (including notebooks and diaries) with initials and motifs using either silver or gold leaf. Customers choose the size and positioning of lettering. ‘Usually they want their initials but sometimes they want a message,’ he explains. ‘The most popular font for women is 22 point in St George, as it’s stylish and flowery, and for men it’s usually the 15 point in St Germain, which is very minimalist.’

The stamping office is on the shop floor, so Timms often has an audience as he sets up the letters in a brass slip case, measures out the spacing and places the diary into the stamping machine. ‘I’ll bring the letters down and place the gold foil on top of the product before stamping it. You only need to squeeze it slightly so it’s embossed and the heat of the letters goes into the foil.’

The letters are typeset in brass and heated to 100C. ‘The heat activates the adhesive and that’s how the foil sticks to the leather,’ he explains. ‘The leather on the books isn’t overly thick so you have to be very careful or you can go straight through and destroy whatever it is that you’re stamping.’

To finish, Timms cleans residue gold off the surface using a soft cloth and Vaseline. If he is only stamping on initials, the process takes just 10 minutes – and on busy days, Timms estimates that he gets through one and a half sheets of gold leaf, each A4-sized.

The work is, he says, delicate but enjoyable. ‘It’s a challenge and keeps the old brain cells going. When you reach a certain age in life, you can get a lot of pleasure out of doing something that’s different.’ smythson.com

Clockwise from top John Timms in Smythson’s flagship store on Bond Street; a brass slip case loaded with a customer’s name; the sheets of gold leaf and a diary. Interview by Jessica Carpani. Photographs by Alun Callender