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It all began with a young man in the right place at the right time. However, the worldwide depression of the 1930s was not Walter Ashford’s idea of a good time for starting a business.

But with purpose and determination he converted the family laundry into a tiny workshop in one of the most depressed suburbs in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Four days a week he worked making wooden fireside stools seated with seagrass. On the fifth day, with a stool on the handlebars of his bicycle, he rode the city knocking on doors and learned first hand that quality and value resulted in orders. Picture: Walter Ashford where it all began.

“ASSEMBLE AND SAVE”

And so kitsets became a great success of the New Zealand scene. Because Walter was a practical man with a flair for design, his staff and production line expanded to include nursery and household furniture, utilities and toys. Walter’s greatest assets were his ability to design simple practical products and the specialized machinery to make them.

THE SPINNING REVOLUTION
In 1940 the Home Journal magazine asked Walter to design a spinning wheel that could make knitting yarn. It had to be aesthetically pleasing, functional, robust, trouble-free and yet a simple kitset that could be posted all over New Zealand. The first model was a double drive model, but Walter soon discovered that spinners wanted to change the bobbins with ease. So with the help of his father, the Reverend Dudley Ashford, the Ashford Scotch Tension flyer was developed and a patent pending awarded for its unique design. This revolutionary idea enabled the drive belt to be on the left of the flyer and it was just a simple matter of releasing the Scotch Tension to remove the bobbin. Today this innovation appears on many other brands of spinning wheel.

In 1945 Walter returned to his factory only to find that nylon, the new wonder fibre, was overtaking wool and hand spinning. It was over. For the next 20 years spinning slumbered like sleeping beauty.

INTEREST IN WOOL REVIVED

Then one day in 1965 Mrs. Pamela Simcox knocked on the factory door and said, “Please Mr Ashford, make me 10 spinning wheels.” This was not the sort of challenge Walter wanted to take up for the second time, remembering with distaste a storeroom of wheels, which had to be discounted at the end of the war. But Pamela persisted, emphatic that wool was the only wonder fibre, cool in summer and warm in winter. At agriculture and pastoral fairs, Pamela followed the country’s expert shearers spinning up the fleeces as they fell from their blades. She was persistent. Besides, why let that expertise go to waste? And so, once again Walter Ashford was in the right place at the right time. Picture: Walter's daughter Gay on one of the original wheels

Starting from where he left off, he saw the need to keep in touch with spinners, and by adapting, modifying and streamlining factory procedures he produced the popular Ashford Traditional Spinning Wheel. Still in the modest Rakaia premises and with little promotion, spinning groups mushroomed all over the country. Orders also began coming in from Australia, America and Europe.

A larger factory was constructed in Ashburton. Now, with plenty of space, machinery and skilled craftsmen, the manufacture of spinning wheels surged ahead. From these small beginnings Ashford have now produced over 500,000 spinning wheels and are exporting to over 40 different countries.

As spinner, author and tutor Bette Hochberg has written, “Among my thousands of students, I have never met one who didn’t learn to spin the type of yarn they wanted if they were using an Ashford. They are low-cost, easy, trouble-free wheels that spin all fibres in a wide range of sizes. They spin soft twist or high twist yarns, fast or leisurely.”

It was only natural that weaving looms followed spinning wheels. Ashford now produces a complete range of high quality textile craft equipment.

While approximately 95% of today’s business is with hobbyists and craftspeople in the western world, Richard and Elizabeth Ashford take great pride in their connection to communities which are less well off, where their spinning wheels and other equipment are vital contributors to families’ wellbeing.

The family work is continued by son, Richard and his wife, Elizabeth who manage the factory, craft village and spinning wheel museum in Ashburton, New Zealand. Daughters Gay and Heather also promote the Ashford legacy.