In 1781, William Asprey opened a humble silk printing business in leafy Surrey, south west London. At the hands of his son, Charles, the company was quickly transformed into a luxury emporium, specialising in bespoke travel cases, and opened an impressive flagship store on London’s Bond Street, in the upmarket Mayfair district. Nearly two centuries later, this store is still frequented by the capital’s elite, and Asprey has grown to become one of the world’s most prominent bespoke luxury retailers.
With known clients ranging from Ringo Starr to Queen Mary, the company boasts some of the highest profile customers in the world, all expecting the very best hand-made jewellery, engraved silverware and leather accessories. Here, we spend five minutes with Paddy Byng, managing director of Asprey, to find out about some of the company’s most challenging bespoke projects and to better understand what travel means to this quintessentially English brand.
As a well-established, historic luxury brand, what have your discerning customers come to expect from an Asprey product?
Our clients expect each Asprey product to be created innovatively and to an incredibly high standard. It must be an item that they will treasure for generations to come.
In terms of bespoke creations, what has posed the biggest challenge for your team?
Our motto is ‘It Can Be Done’, so we take on many unusual and challenging bespoke requests. For example, we were recently commissioned to create a special music table with an operating iPod system that sat within an ornate box produced in marble, sterling silver and gold, with delicate, hand-engraved details and set gem stones - this took over six months to produce.
With creations including velvet-lined travel cases for Maharajas and bespoke chess sets for rock stars, what is your favourite Asprey product, be it past, present or future?
A normal client enquiry for a picnic hamper once turned into a very unique commission. We ended up creating a full-size mobile picnic trailer, with tables, chairs, bespoke silver cutlery, and even a barbeque. We also included flasks and a washbasin with personalised, embroidered linen. In fact, the design team’s initial illustration met with such approval that the customer promptly increased the contents to cater for 16 people. This took two years to produce.
Having said that, my favourite Asprey product is something much simpler. The tech attaché case is a great example of how we’ve updated the iconic attaché case into something very contemporary but with obvious links to the past. It must be the thinnest attaché case in the world. It is designed to take a laptop/ipad and a few other business necessities. It’s beautifully made and incredibly sleek and elegant, perfect for travel.
With travel cases being one of William and Charles Asprey’s earliest creations, is travel important to the company?
Yes, our travel items continue to be an important part of our product offering. We offer everything from overnight bags to large suitcases through our collaboration with Globetrotter. Our newest launch is our new Men’s GMT Collection, which includes a zip briefcase, wash bag, toiletry pouch, charger kit and a rucksack. It’s made out of the most luxurious suede bull skin.
Undoubtedly, as part of your role as CEO, you are required to travel frequently. What top tip would you offer other globetrotters?
This tip is for the British readers, but has saved me a lot of time in the past. I travel to the US and Japan several times a year to visit our stores out there. If you fly to JFK from London, try going from City airport. You clear customs in Shannon and thus skip the often-long immigration queues when you arrive at JFK.
When it comes to luxury living, which is your favourite international destination?
For business, Tokyo. Stay at the Peninsula and have dinner at Sushiko in Ginza. For the holidays, you can’t beat sailing down the Dalmatian coast.
As an incredibly broad final question: what does the future hold for Asprey?
It’s a very exciting future; more and more customers are increasingly looking for true luxury, which, in my opinion, we are able to offer better than anyone else.
www.asprey.com
