Jonny King - Garthenor Organic

I’m co-owner of Garthenor Organic, a maker of certified organic, climate positive yarn, mostly for crafters, hand knitters and crocheters. When my parents founded the company back in 1999, we relied solely on other mills and manufacturers to make our yarns, but when I joined the company a few years ago, I asked the question “how hard can that be to do ourselves?” It turns out - very hard!

We’ve taken over a vast space and steadily filled it with machinery that’s been sourced from across Europe. It’s all needed rebuilding to some extent or another, but we couldn’t have done it any other way. The budget to build this with all brand new equipment would have been millions of pounds, so we had to be creative and come up with another way. I’m not an engineer, and I don’t have experience in manufacturing, so it’s been a case of learning on the go, making mistakes, and trying to learn from them.

I think if I knew how big the project would have been, I wouldn’t have started - so I’m glad of my ignorance.

Chaotic! I’ve come to learn that I thrive in a slightly chaotic, slightly messy environment. I sometimes wish it was tidier, but there’s always so much going on that it naturally is always a bit of chaos, whether it’s wool making its way through the many processes, machine parts or tools, there’s always plenty around.

But I think that also reflects the way my brain works when it comes to work and creativity - there’s never just one project on the go, or one thing to think about, it’s an ever evolving mix of ideas, work in progress, testing and experimenting.

It usually start with getting in early in the morning, when the world is still a bit quieter. I like to get the machines started as early as I can - they’re a bit temperamental and prefer it once they’ve warmed up a bit. Once there’s a bit of noise going, I try and catch up on a bit of admin.

I struggle to get much done in silence, so once there’s a hum of activity I perch near one of the machines with my laptop, and can get a lot more done. There’s usually some orders to get sent out too, and if I have time towards the end of the day I’ll do a bit of writing, often for our blog or newsletter, but sometimes just for me and my own thoughts.

Pretty much always podcasts. I can’t work in complete silence, so having something else going on helps with focussing. I switch it up a bit between comedy or chat podcasts and something a bit more work focussed. 

At the moment, it switches up between the Elis James and John Robins show for a bit of lighthearted distraction, and Shopify Masters, which tells the stories of founders and businesses across the world. I’m a huge believer in seeking inspiration from outside our industry, so hearing about other brands, whether it be skincare, jewellery, food or any other niche, that’s what helps spark an idea or a problem solve that I wouldn’t have come to just by copying other yarn or textile companies.

I think I’m less inspired by individual people as I am by ideas. I’ve always been driven by a desire to make, and I think I’ve inadvertently landed in an industry that values that so much.

What we’re essentially doing is taking a raw material of very little value, and turning it into yarn that people all over the world cherish. In essence though, we’re still selling something that requires an extra step to fulfil its potential.

Yarn on its own doesn’t have much use if you really boil it down, but the idea of what it can be - that’s where the magic is.

I think simply the idea of making something the right way, that’s what inspires me. I couldn’t be prouder of the fact that someone can walk through the mill and point to anything they can see and ask about it. Nothing’s a secret, nothing needs to be hidden. I couldn’t imagine doing it any other way. Total transparency.

For me right now, it’s Florence, our big spinning frame. She’s the biggest, most complicated and most expensive machine on the mill floor, and she’s also been the toughest to learn to operate. I found her in a mill just outside Florence, Italy (hence her name!), and doing the deal to bring her to Wales was the single most terrifying moment of my life.

She then arrived a few weeks later in about 3,000 pieces, with no instruction manual for rebuilding her. That was a real baptism of fire, and a test of the belief it takes to keep going. I almost passed out the first time we switched her on - I knew if she’d been put together wrong, or something bad happened, that was it - the end of the dream. By that point, the money had run out, and it all quite simply had to work.

I’ve come to love the mantra “It’d be boring if it was easy”. I’m sometimes a little wild eyed and sleep deprived when I mutter those words, but I do truly believe them.

Slow down, make it right. I’ve never set any production targets, benchmarks or anything else. Maybe I should, and maybe I will one day, but for now it’s about slowing down and learning, making the best products we possibly can.

Find the thing that you don’t want to switch off from. At the end of the day, if your mind is still buzzing with the thoughts of solving those problems, perfecting those processes - that’s when you know you’ve found something that you’ll carry forward and dedicate everything to.

Find out more about Jonny King and Garthenor Organic.

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