About
Us James
and Alan Avis, who are the current owners and working directors of James Avis
Packaging, represent a fifth generation who have controlled the company, which
was originally founded in the Southwark. district of South London in 1865.
The business was founded by their great great grandfather, John Avis of Hugenot
descent. John was originally a corset maker by trade. Times were hard and John
was out of work. He walked from London to Portsmouth where he found employment
with a firm of corset makers. The whalebone required in corset making, which was
shipped into Portsmouth, needed to be stored in boxes, and John, a resourceful
character, turned his hand to making cardboard boxes.
John's wife joined
him in his work, but later the couple returned to London, where she was to gain
employment in John Smith's Cracker Factory. Here, once again. John turned his
hand to box making, soon making the bold decision to branch out on his own, readily
finding customers among the myriad large and small businesses thriving in the
Metropolis which was the centre of the British Empire.
James was joined
in the business by his wife, sons and daughters. Soon, alongside the horse-drawn
buses and Hansom cabs that plied the streets one could see hand-drawn "coster
barrows" piled high with cardboard boxes from the new factory in the Borough Road.
By the end of the Victorian Era, the business was being run by Joseph Avis,
the first family member of whom we have a photograph.
A resourceful character,
Joseph would welcome any challenge in designing boxes or building new machinery.
Among his customers was a young Charles Chaplin who, while working for
the Fred Karno Theatre Company, required cardboard imitation bricks to use in
his stage act. James kept the business going through the different years of the
Great War, handing over to his son James Joseph Avis, on his demobilisation from
the Royal Flying Corps.
James Joseph Avis, the current owners Grandfather
was the fist proprietor not to “live above the shop”, moving the factory
out to it's present site in New Malden in 1923. A self-taught man with an enquiring
and innovative mind, James steered the firm through the depression of the interwar
years, and was joined by his son James T.W Avis in the thirties.
The
Second World War saw James T.W. Avis serving in the Royal Air Force, while his
father coped with the task of keeping the factory going. The proximity of one
major customer, The Hawker Aircraft Company at Kingston, meant that frequent visits
from the Luftwaffe took their toll on the buildings, but with the end of hostilities,
the Fifties saw Father and Son working side by side, expanding the buildings,
and investing in new plant.
James and Alan entered the company in the
Sixties, and with the help of a loyal team of staff, have guided the enterprise
through to yet another century.
The Seventies saw the introduction of
our range of “off the shelf” range of packaging material, not only cartons,
but also various packaging materials such as air bubble and styrene loosefill,
being made available both to industry and to the general public. An extension
of this is the online service available to the public through this Web site, also
accessed through www.avispack.co.uk.
Modern production machinery
and computers, which would have both astounded and fascinated the founders of
the business now play a vital part in everyday operations. With all the technical
innovations which have been taken on board over 135 years, the fundamental marketing
policy of providing customers both large and small with a personal service, tailored
to their requirements, still prevails.
James and Alan Avis look forward
to hearing from you, and extending this service to you or your organisation.
