After nearly 25 years of devoted service, Castelli Sales Director, Brian Young has announced his retirement. There was barely a dry eye in the room when the whole company spent an amazing day at Lord’s Cricket Ground to celebrate his time at Castelli. We thank him for being such an influential member of the Castelli family, and for playing an integral part in the nurturing and development of the brand, and impact it holds within the industry today.
Brian left school with ‘O’ levels enabling him to move on to college. Always the entrepreneur, Brian was able to fund and supplement his college experience by working in the Chippenham Bingo Hall and serving hamburgers at the local Wimpy!
Brian’s passion and love of everything stationery was first born when he started work at ‘John Smith & Son Booksellers’. Here he spent a year as a Trainee Manager which kick started his career within the Industry. Quickly climbing up the ladder, Brian moved on to spend 10 happy years with Collins, London learning more about commercial stationery, selling the products he had grown to love. Having spent a further 10 years under the helm of Rupert Murdoch with News International acquiring the business.
From early in his career, Brian’s contacts within the industry had been constantly growing and aged 40 he was approached by Colin Cowan to start the UK subsidiary franchise of the Italian Group Lediberg spa. The two of them started Castelli Diaries in late 1994, and between the two of them they brought luxurious, colourful Italian products to a relatively stagnant market. These fresh and exciting products being marketed were of a quality never seen before and consequently the business grew quickly, with Mark Poland joining the team as the Company expanded. By 2001 Castelli had expanded to over 35 employees and new offices were acquired in Tunbridge Wells, Kent giving Brian the opportunity to relocate his family home to Tonbridge in October 2001. Fast forward 18 years, and Castelli UK have expanded into a highly sophisticated and advanced corporate industry leader in their field selling exquisite Italian stationery and gifts.
Sadly, the time has now come for Brian to bid farewell to Castelli and build some quality family memories, as he plans to move to Bedfordshire to be closer to 7 year-old grand-daughter Lucy.
Looking forward to his well-deserved retirement, Brian is already making plans and will doubtless be continuing his DIY skills when he moves into his new home. As well as partaking in the many sporting hobbies he has had the opportunity to enjoy since his youth.
Castelli will be losing one of their most loyal and integral members of the ‘Castelli Family’ who has not only been a colleague to so many, but a dear friend. We wish him all the very best with a fond farewell but are pretty certain he will still need that valuable diary and pen each year to keep his busy retirement in order!
Published on: January 24th, 2019
