our history
Founded in 1966 in the beautiful Basque region of Northern Spain, ZENTEN was born from a necessity to revolutionize the European plumbing hand tool industry by making the impossible possible – by creating reliable and durable products for any challenge.
The journey between Darren Chalkly, a British born plumber and Zenten began back in 2008 when Darren used his 25 years of prior plumbing experience to create his own range of innovative tools under his own UK brand, Nerrad Tools. His goal was simple – to make the lives of his fellow plumbers easier, safer and allow them to be more productive than ever before.
To make this possible, he enlisted the services of the world’s leading plumbing tool manufacturers and Zenten was one such manufacturer. Having built his brand into a successful business, Darren moved away from Nerrad Tools in 2018 but their new owner continues to build on his legacy by providing products that puts the plumber first. Over the years, both Darren and Zenten had long realized that the North American plumbing hand tool market provided opportunities to offer a tailored range of products to the region.
In 2022 they collaborated to launch Zenten America in the USA as an associate company to Zenten, Spain. Since the launch, Darren and Zenten’s shared project has continued to flourish but the focus still remains the same - to provide plumbers with the same level of innovation and quality that revolutionized the UK industry - albeit this time, on the opposite side of the Atlantic.
DARREN CHALKLY
PLUMBER, CEO and CO FOUNDER - ZENTEN AMERICA
THE VALUE OF
PEOPLE
We could talk about technology, technical details, or investment figures, but after all these years, we’ve learned that our true value lies in our people—our colleagues, employees, and partners. More than 50 specialists in tool manufacturing, along with a dedicated network of external collaborators, are the foundation of our success. Each one, with their unique story, helps shape the history of our company. It’s the power of the team, the value of people, that drives us forward.
FROM SMALL WORKSHOP TO EXPANDING FACTORY
GROWING TOGETHER
At ZENTEN, we are a team with deep and unwavering roots—roots that guide us like a compass on our journey toward the future. A future we can’t imagine without staying true to the core values that defined us when Zenten was just a small workshop. Today, as a growing factory with over 4,000 m² of space, we’re incredibly proud of what we’ve accomplished, but even prouder of the company we’ve remained since 1966.