Press release from Newslink Network, July 22, 1997
Rob Valentine, artisan and owner of Valentine Armouries, has been hand- crafting armour for
over 14 years. Self- taught, Valentine has built over 110 full suits of different styles and over
400 various helmets to date.
"Our business has been growing steadily," Valentine says, "and our output is usually 30 full
suits per year and 10 to 15 other armour orders per month."
Valentine's historical replicas cover all time periods of armour and weapons, from early
Greek to late 17th century.
Their popularity is growing steadily, especially in the film industry. "We are getting more
known as a good source of a wide variety of armour to rent for the movie industry and
theater companies," Valentine says.
The first professional project Rob was involved with was "Stay tuned" with John Ritter
and Eugene Levi. It was filmed near Vancouver, and he rented eight suits that would have
normally been shipped from England.
Their latest film project is outfitting stars for the upcoming movie, "The 13th Warrior,"
also being shot in B.C. Valentine is providing them with helmets, chainmail, and unique pieces.
It is a dark ages fantasy feature film, based on Michael Chreighton's novel and stars Antonio
Banderas.
Other recent projects for Valentine was a rental for the latest Kodak television commercial,
which featured armoured horses and knights.
Valentine's armour can even be seen in Las Vegas now. He's been outfitting characters in the
medieval jousting dinner show in the Excalibur Hotel for the last two years. Soon all the lead
characters will be sporting armour from Valentine.
Also for the past two years, his work has been the main feature and the most expensive item
in Design Toscano, an exclusive home decorating catalog. "Our Toscano suits are so
popular, they've requested two new new styles of armour for their collection. We're working
on our latest right now," Valentine says. "Our Toscano line is outselling any other distributor
of full suits of armour anywhere in the world."
The future looks bright for Valentine Armouries. They are expecting to soon be the largest
and most influential supplier of armour in the world.
"From everything we hear, we're the largest functioning armoury in North America," says
Valentine. "We're hoping to soon be a household name for high- quality armour reproductions
for the private collectors as well as the movie industry."
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