Our mission at Scribblers is ‘To share our passion of the lettering arts and inspire our customers by providing them expertise, resources and the best choice of calligraphy equipment and materials whilst, at the same time, working in a fair and sustainable way’.
At this time, Scribblers is taking orders and shipping to countries all around the world.
The History of Scribblers
Scribblers was founded in 1998 by Simon Rous.
First operating from his spare bedroom in Lowestoft, England whilst he was teaching calligraphy classes in the evening. Initially the products we offered were nibs, pen holders and inks for Traditional Calligraphy as they complemented the curriculum.
Simon is still very much involved today and formed the business not only to meet the mission statement, but also give him the opportunity to fulfil a personal ambition of turning a hobby he was so passionate about into a full-time career.
Simon's interest in calligraphy started in the early 1980's when working as a cartographer for a survey company - all hydrographic charts were produced by hand in those days. After seeing a style called "Palace Script" in a catalogue, which was similar to Copperplate, Simon began practicing the lettering with a pencil after photocopying the page from the catalogue.
Simon's parents then purchased The Craft of Calligraphy book which was a catalyst for Simon's passion of calligraphy. After reading the book cover to cover, Simon signed up for the correspondence courses at the Roehampton Institute developed by Gaynor Goffe.
After completing Gaynor Goffe's courses, Simon began to pick up commissions from various friends and family members.
Around this time, the local college was advertising for tutors with various skills to develop their Adult Education evening classes. After contacting them, Simon was offered the chance to teach a series of beginner calligraphy classes.
From teaching students who found making calligraphy guidelines a chore. Simon started writing down the heights and was shouting the measurements out as an alternative to the students making nib marks on the paper and figuring out the X-Height from those marks. It was this scrappy piece of paper that after much effort and refinement eventually turned into the X-Height Calculator and Measuring Discs which is still being sold to this day.
The X-Height Calculator was originally promoted in the CLAS Edge magazine and these ruling-up aids started to sell. As things gradually progressed, a year later Simon had a website made. On this website, alongside The X-Height Calculator, a very small range of nibs and inks were sold. This was when Scribblers really began!
Scribblers Today
Since then, Simon's passion has not wavered. He started producing his own range of Scribblers Calligraphy Inks along with expanding the product offering to cover more Calligraphy styles such as Copperplate and Modern Calligraphy. We proudly only stocks products that Simon himself would use.
Over the years Scribblers has developed into a leading and respected business in the calligraphy world. Being in this privileged position has meant that Simon has picked up many tips and ideas from renowned calligraphers along the way.
As a calligrapher, Simon understands the frustrations but also the joy that calligraphy can bring which led Simon to pioneering the Scribblers Skills Centre, where a subscription gives access to a range of courses to help develop your Calligraphy skills across various different scripts.
So not only does Scribblers supply you with the tools & materials, the Skills Centre helps you to develop your own lettering by learning from a range of professional Calligraphers.