Martin
Bench and Peg Bars
Martin checks bars, reads custom drawings and decides when a job needs one more practical question before it is quoted.
About Animation Supplier
A family trade supplier, built around benches rather than shop shelves.
Animation Supplier was started in Bristol in 2005 by Martin Hale after sixteen years working around rostrum cameras, punch machines and studio stores. The business still works close to the bench: check the bar, keep the paper dry, pack the carton properly.
Since 2005
From Rostrum Rooms to Supply Cartons
Before the company had a name, Martin spent years in rooms where the registration had to be right before the camera rolled. That experience shaped the catalogue. Animation Supplier sells the physical goods that keep drawn and stop-motion work practical: light boxes, peg bars, punched paper, cels and the small items that disappear into drawers during a term.
The business stayed deliberately small. It is a trade supplier with a workshop rhythm, not a public shop with shelves of collectables. Monday is workshop and packing day, Tuesday to Friday are the main trading days, and Saturday collection is by appointment only.
Family roles
Three People, Clear Jobs
Sarah
Accounts and Dispatch
Sarah handles pro forma invoices, account details, courier paperwork and the labelled cartons departments rely on.
Joe
Cutting and Packing
Joe now cuts bars, packs college orders and keeps the repeat stock moving through the workshop without drama.
Workshop notes
How We Handle Stock
Bars are checked against master punches before they are sleeved. Cels are packed flat so corners do not arrive bent. Paper is kept dry and wrapped for dispatch. Electrical stock is tested before it leaves, with the UKCA documentation we hold available where relevant.
These details are ordinary, but they are the difference between a useful carton and a complaint from a teaching room ten minutes before class.
Decades in the trade
Why We Ask Practical Questions
If we ask what punch pattern you are matching, where the bar will sit, or whether partial delivery helps, it is not fuss. It is how we avoid making a neat carton of the wrong thing. Older benches, mixed college stores and inherited rostrum rooms often need a minute of checking before metal is cut.
Bristol and Avon
Local Collection by Appointment
Animation Supplier is based in Bristol, Avon. Collection is arranged after order confirmation rather than run as a walk-in shop. Saturday collection is possible between 10:00 and 13:00 by appointment only.