History of Venco
Geoff Hill
Founder of Venco
Venco was founded by Geoffrey Hill, a mechanical engineer at the time at Fords in Geelong, Victoria. After his wife took up pottery, Geoff began by making her a wooden pottery wheel in the 1960’s. The business took off from there! The family later moved over to WA where Geoff set up the new factory and continued to grow the business.
Venco grew to an internationally renowned manufacturer and exporter of high quality equipment for ceramics artists and the pottery industry with its range of potters wheels, pug mills, clay extruders, and slab rollers. Venco has been exporting internationally since 1972 and has grown a reputation for quality and reliability. Over this span of almost five decades, Venco have sold over 40,000 wheels and more than 9000 pugmills.
Elliott Reynolds
Geoff's Grandson, Director of ClayCore (Venco)
Geoff's grandson Elliott completed an apprenticeship with Geoff in 2013 at the Venco factory in Kelmscott, Western Australia. Elliott completed his Fitter and Turner apprenticeship 3 year later and set up his first business, Axis Fabrication and Machining (specialising in the production of stainless steel 4WD accessories). Axis Fabrication and Machining has both Australian and International stockists as well as an online store.
Sadly Geoff passed away in 2018 after a short battle with a very aggressive form of cancer. Elliott expressed great interest in continuing the Venco legacy and took over the business in November 2019. He renamed the company ClayCore PTY LTD and moved production to Albany, Western Australia.
All those who knew Geoff knew of his great passion for Venco, to which he tirelessly worked for over four decades.