Our Story
A Passion for Bathrooms,
Classic, Handmade Quality
Established
1988.
Drummonds was founded in 1988 by Drummond Shaw, who at the time was restoring his period house and was finding it difficult to source authentic architectural antiques. Drummond used this experience to set up Drummonds Architectural Antiques and quickly established the company as the best architectural antiques dealer in the UK. Although the business bought and sold a wide variety of architectural antiques, Drummond’s main passion was classic bathrooms. Finding nice original bathroom pieces that could be restored and used with modern plumbing systems became more and more difficult.
The roots of Drummonds are deep in craft and design heritage, reaching far beyond our 30 years as makers of bathrooms. Inspired by the Victorian foundries of past generations, Drummond Shaw founded Drummonds not simply to create classic and beautiful bathroom pieces, but to rediscover the lost art of making them.
Each one of Drummonds’ bathroom products is manufactured by us in our own factories using time-honoured handmade processes. Today, we are proud to design and make all of our own classic pieces. Each design is steeped in history, but with a quality that ensures a future legacy.
Each Drummonds’ bath is crafted from hand-poured cast iron, using the time-honoured sandcasting technique first used in the finest Victorian foundries.
Mr D. SHAW
Refining Iron
A layered, hands on approach that builds depth, texture and finish.
Enamelling and hand-finishing each bath is a process where attention to detail is key. Our unique powdered enamel is sprinkled by hand up to five layers thick, resulting in the beautiful, undulating finish that forms the interior of each handcrafted bath.
Lost wax casting, a fine art rediscovered. In a world of mass production and machine-made products, Drummonds adheres to traditional manufacturing where attention to detail is key and time, patience and skill absolute necessities.
Sculpting Brass
A precise method that brings clarity, definition and fine detail to every piece.
Each and every piece of Drummonds’ brassware, from a tap head to a towel rail, is hand carved in wax prior to casting. This traditional method allows extremely fine detail to be reproduced exactly as intended.
Time and care is then taken over the polishing of each piece to achieve an exceptional quality and finish, before each product is assembled, checked and packed by hand ready for delivery.
All Drummonds’ basins, large and small, are crafted using the finest quality English china clay. Each basin is finished and glazed by hand, giving it its own individual character.
Shaping Clay
A gradual process that rewards patience with balance and durability.
The process of manufacturing with clay is time consuming and takes several weeks per basin, but the end results are always worth the wait. In our factories the clay is being constantly mixed in small batches, to ensure the consistency is consistently perfect for firing.
The firing is a procedure that requires care and attention, in order to produce the finest, most durable products. After it has been fired, the clay will shrink by up to twelve percent, which must be allowed to happen gradually. With a larger basin, just this part of the process can take up to two weeks.
Creating a beautifully made, hand finished Drummonds design in clay is a process that definitely cannot be rushed.