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Basildon Bond Centenary Garden
15th June 2011
Thank you for visiting our Basildon Bond Centenary Garden at this year's Chelsea Flower Show. Many of you asked that we add a full plant list to our website, we have also included some further information on other aspects of the garden. Please click here to download a PDF of the plant list.
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Going for Gold at Chelsea
6th May 2011
Following on from our previous news article, we have a few more details about our garden at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show.
Our garden is designed by the runner-up in the RHS Young Designer of the Year Award 2010, William Quarmby, who is delighted by the prospect of inspiring visitors at this year’s show.
Rising to the challenge of his very first Chelsea garden, Will said: “I’m delighted to have been awarded this prestigious project centred on Basildon Bond’s centenary year.”
“I’m very excited to be focusing on this tribute to paper using inspiration from the surrounding landscape and the natural environment to create what I hope will be the ultimate artisan garden.”
“The most striking feature of the hard landscaping will be the paper wall made from waterproof paper which leads the eye over a stream through to a seating area that allows visitors to sit and pen letters to friends, family or lovers. An Acer griseum or Paperbark Maple with its shiny orange-red bark, peeling in thin papery layers is positioned in the centre of the garden which mirrors the paper wall.”
“The planting has been chosen to provide a calming and tranquil effect with the Irises depicting pen-like fronds. The softer looking grasses will provide the perfect contrast and create eye-catching movement.”The show runs between 24th and 28th May - we hope to see you there.
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Millington & Co Ltd - the birth of an icon
6th May 2011
The name of Basildon Bond was coined by Percy Parminter, a director of Millington & Co. and evolved after attending Basildon House near Reading. Parminter suggested Basildon Bond as a reminder of a happy weekend there and so the brand name was launched in 1911.
Millington's was a progressive business having evolved from one founded in 1824 by William Leschallas, a paper and rag dealer in Bishopsgate. The first ready folded notepaper was an innovation that other companies were quick to follow, later Millington's became a major manufacturer of envelopes through the introduction of the first high-speed rotary machines in the country. In 1896, Parminter bought a batch of machine glazed (MG) Manilla paper which had failed to meet its intended specification, but was excellent for strong cheap envelopes for which there was an immediate and expanding market. Another major line introduced in 1905 was the OUTLOOK envelope made using an exclusive licence for the UK and its colonies froom an American company. With these, the address was printed on the correspondence within and could be seen through a window of transparent material. A new factory was built at Tottenham to meet all of these production requirements in 1903.
Millington's main competitor, John Dickinson & Co., made an offer to buy the entire Millington share capital in 1918, with the final amalgamation taking place in 1932.
Through the century the name has had many owners, each has valued the tradition and the name. In 2005, Superbrand status was awarded confirming Basildon Bond as a market leader.
