Morris & Forndran

~~Special Announcement~~

The following is in response to several recent questions about the ownership of Rooney and Morris & Forndran shaving brush designs.  Lee Sabini is currently drafting a more detailed history of his involvement with these historic companies; but in the meantime, he has kindly allowed us to share these words.

In 2016, Brad Sears Shave Works partnered with Mr. Sabini, owner of Morris & Forndran, to reproduce Morris & Forndran and Rooney-pattern shaving brushes—and is the only brush maker currently authorized to reproduce these designs. In other words, except for the BSSW-designed Arley, Knight, and Pug, the Morris & Forndran shaving brushes offered on our website are designs owned by Mr. Sabini.  We reproduce these designs with his permission.

In the early 2000’s, Mr. Sabini bought the then-defunct Morris & Forndran along with the 200-year-old R. A. Rooney & Sons, Ltd.  Rooney’s business thrived under Mr. Sabini and his colleagues to the point where Rooney’s internal staff was occasionally unable to meet demand.  To meet peak demand fluctuations, Mr. Sabini engaged a third-party CNC engineer named Frank McInroy to make Rooney shaving brushes on an “as needed” basis.  Rooney maintained its relationship with Mr. McInroy until the company was sold and Mr. Sabini went on to resurrect Morris & Forndran.  Nevertheless, Mr. Sabini retained rights to the Rooney brush designs as Mr. McInroy acknowledges in the following November 2018 statement regarding his relationship with Mr. Sabini: 

“We have over 30 designs for brushes, razor handles, travel brushes and stands in our archives, all of which have CAD files and well documented CNC programs for the Emco Compact 5 CNC.  These files are our intellectual property, but the designs belong to Lee and we could not release these to anyone without Lee's permission (emphasis ours).  Nor could we produce these designs for anyone else without Lee's permission.  These include designs for Rooney…and the Heritage range.”

In summary, Brad Sears Shave Works is the only brush maker currently authorized by Lee Sabini to make and market Rooney/Morris & Forndran brushes. 

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From their classically shaped, hand-crafted handles to their individually hand made knots, Morris & Forndran shaving brushes are considered by many to be the epitome of the brush maker's art. Morris & Forndran's knots are individually hand-crafted in the U.K. to fit each specific handle by world-renowned knotmaker Lee Sabini creating a uniquely organic shaving brush.  Because each knot is custom crafted, Morris & Forndran knots may be specially configured to provide your desired "face feel."

Morris & Forndran knots are currently available in 2-band Finest and 3-band Super Badger. (Due to its scarcity, Blonde Badger hair is offered only when available.)

Occasionally available in as little as six weeks, please expect a two-three month lead time on your bespoke Morris & Forndran brush.

Due to U.S. export regulations, we can only ship brushes to U.S. and APO/FPO addresses.  International orders for custom M&F brushes are shipped directly from Morris & Forndran in the U.K.