Hafod Grange's original paperweights were first produced in 1968 by Barry Needham as a form of therapy for his muscular dystrophy. One day, a friend challenged him to encapsulate a dandelion clock. Barry met this challenge head on and, after numerous failures and with meticulous patience, he finally succeeded to everyone’s amazement.

After his death, the designs were refined by his brother, Alan Needham, into the products that they offer today. When Alan Needham started producing the paperweights on a commercial basis, his objective was “to create the unusual, bordering on the impossible”. Delicate blooms and seed heads encased in clear and flawless polyester resin, containing a UV filter to stop fading, is used to embed the botanical specimens without destroying them, as molten glass would, and the globe shape allows the specimen to be seen in its beauty from all angles.