Just as the product line has expanded, so too has the company, growing organically and continually chaffing at the confines of its accommodation. Along the way it has incorporated Mark’s two sons, Luke and David, the former running production, the latter marketing and responsible for Origin Live’s increasing public profile. Based in Sholing, just outside Southampton, the current works are about to undertake their fourth expansion. A stone’s throw from the original Supermarine plant, the building used to manufacture those elegant, signature, elliptical wings for the Spitfire and some of the original jigs (and tools) are still in situ. It’s an association that Mark Baker is rather proud of: as he points out, R.J. Mitchell, the Spitfire’s legendary designer, was essentially self-taught, having trained as an apprentice to build steam locomotives! From ships to record players: in many ways it’s just as big a shift in focus – even if the departure points have definite similarities.
Getting to the nitty-gritty…
If the outside of Origin Live’s workshop might most kindly be described as tatty, the only word for the interior is cluttered. Turn right and you enter the office and an adjacent listening room, equipped with a suitably off-beat (for the UK) Sugden/De Vore set up. Turning right into the production area involves stepping around racks of parts, massive machines, metal stock and tools. There’s no straight path between any two work-stations, no horizontal surface that isn’t in use or been colonised by its surrounds. Shoe-horned into the available space there are four CNC machines, including a sophisticated twin-turret, four-axis milling machine, lathes, that legendary drill stand (that’s still in use), a laser cutter and a spray booth. There are racks of parts, a massive rack of metal stock and a separate assembly area. It’s a living history of machine tool development and manufacturing.
With parts and tools expanding like pop-corn on a stove top, the company installed a pre-fabricated mezzanine, where you’ll find packaging, 3D printing and the nascent ‘marketing department’ – a desk that is also currently doubling as a photo-studio. The company is about to acquire additional space, incorporating the unit next door into the existing workshop. It’s a move that cannot come too soon. Origin Live is almost literally bursting at the seams. This is clearly a company that will go to almost any lengths to keep every aspect of its manufacturing in-house – and the results can be seen in the beautifully finished products that emerge. But the quality of construction and finish is only part of the story…
Since day one, Origin Live’s product development has relied on incremental experimentation and exacting listening tests. The Strata platter mat is a perfect example. Outwardly simple to look at, this three-layer sandwich was arrived at through exhaustive assessment of not just materials, but the use of complex slots or cuts within them. The result is the stack of prototype layers you can see in the photo, just a few of the trial parts. In fact, over a thousand laser cut protypes were produced before the final pattern was arrived at. That’s a lot of one-off parts involving complex cutting. It’s even more listening!
