eighth-generation

Next-gen Geordie Willis on how Berry Bros & Rudd is weathering the coronavirus storm

May 12, 2020

The home of the family-run wine merchant and royal supplier Berry Bros & Rudd, at No 3 St James’s St in London, is shuttered for the foreseeable future. But Geordie Willis, creative director and eighth-generation family member, says business goes on—as it has for three centuries.

Banking on the written word

July 1, 2004

Faber-Castell, the eighth-generation family-controlled writing instruments group, is showing no signs of retrenchment but just how long will its creative streak last?

Scott McCulloch is Editor of Families in Business magazine.

Faber-Castell, the eighth-generation family-controlled writing instruments group, is showing no signs of retrenchment but just how long will its creative streak last?

Faber-Castell is keen to set the record straight from the outset. The family business is not a German pencil-maker that exports but an international group with 15 factories round the world and 5,500 employees.

A national treasure

May 1, 2004

The Knie dynasty, the eighth-generation family behind Switzerland’s famed national circus recently cracked the 200-year mark. Who says family businesses rarely last the distance?

Scott McCulloch is Editor of Families in Business magazine.

The Knie dynasty, the eighth-generation family behind Switzerland's famed national circus recently cracked the 200-year mark. Who says family businesses rarely last the distance?

The show, as they say in showbiz, must go on. The Knie dynasty, the colourful family business behind the Swiss National Circus would agree. "We do not want to disappoint our audience," says Fredy Knie Jr, the 57-year old son of the legendary horseman Fredy Knie Sr. "It's the only way to be profitable."