Pocket Guide: George Bamford
Originally featured in Issue 52 of The Rake, George Bamford, the creator of Bamford Watch Department and the son of JCB chairman Lord Bamford, turns luxury timepieces into customised works of art.
George Bamford is not exactly old; far from it. His business savvy, however, belies a childlike enthusiasm for the world’s opportunities and offerings. I don’t mean this in a bad way — quite the opposite, in fact. He is a thinker, he has imagination, he finds alternative routes that no one else thinks of and all of which are a product of a welcome sense of fun, adventure and joie de vivre that you see in people like Lorenzo Cifonelli, who is changing the way tailoring is made available to the wider market, and would have seen in Ettore Bugatti, when cars as a mode of transport just wasn’t enough.
Bamford’s method isn’t based on proving anyone wrong or debunking the status quo, it’s about squeezing every ounce of joy from everything he comes across, and repackaging it into something fun and ambitious. The Rake had the rare opportunity to get further insight into his visionary practices, and came to see that art, colour, family and a few Labradors are at the centre of his oeuvre. Bamford’s personal style cannot be pigeonholed; rather, whether it is suits, shoes, belt buckles or ties, he is on a search for more. Which, in the world of The Rake, is something we salute.
Originally published in Issue 52 of The Rake. Subscribe here for more.
