Suppliers of Gold & Silver Laces, Insignia & Embroidery

HM The Queen - The Lord Chamberlain's Office

Toye Kenning & Spencer Limited hold the Royal Warrant to The Queen for the manufacture of Gold and Silver Laces, Insignia and Embroidery. The firm has been a family run manufacturing company for over three hundred years, making it one of the oldest family businesses in the world. The Toye family were Huguenot refugees who escaped France after the revocation of the edict of Nantes, and set up their looms and embroidery frames in the area now known as Bethnal Green in London. The family expanded their business and their skill base in London, at one point having a large factory in Red Lion Square, workshops all along the Theobalds Road, and a team of over thirty embroideresses stitching away in Wimbledon. The crafts nurtured by the firm range from ribbon and robe making to button, badge, banner and regalia production. Toye & Co. craftsmen and women contributed to the pomp and splendour of many historical occasions such as the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. The firm has made Trade Union Banners, the Schneider Trophy and Winston Churchill's Garter robes. Today Toye Kenning & Spencer crafts people create State Insignia and military uniform, Football Association and International Tennis Federation medals and fashion accessories for leading designers. This attention to detail also serves the local community country and worldwide through friendly societies, clubs, associations and schools. Toye Kenning & Spencer continues to manufacture in England, and is unique in the combination of textile and metal manufacture. An example of this is the Order of the British Empire. We make not only the medals but the ribbon as well. Ribbon and lace making, gold and silver wyre drawing, embroidery and headwear production takes place in the factory in Bedworth near Coventry. Medals, badges, buttons and cufflinks are made in the factory in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter using the skills of die making, stamping, vitreous enamelling and plating. The Toye Kenning & Spencer design studio is also based in the Birmingham factory. A team of graduate designers work on an amazing range of often exciting projects for individual customers, clubs, corporations and countries. The Company has a Showroom in Great Queen Street, WC2 by Covent Garden which displays a large selection of Company product in showcases themselves over a hundred years old. Toye Kenning & Spencer continues as a family firm. The present warrant holder is the Chairman, Bryan Toye, a direct descendant of the family who arrived on these shores hidden in the hold of a cattle transport in 1685. Fiona Toye his wife is the Chief Executive, and two of their children work for the Company. The Company has changed and developed anew with each generation of the family. Traditional skills have been enhanced with modern techniques and ideas, the core family values of fine quality and excellent service run as an unbroken thread throughout the years to the present day.