Lamda chair and Dartington textile samplesA partial list of Dartington Hall commercial enterprises includes:

Cattle Breeding Centre
Churston Development Co Ltd
Dartington Hall Farms Ltd
Dartington Hall Ltd
Dartington Orchards Ltd (cider)
Dartington Hall Ltd Sawmill
Dartington Textiles
Poultry Department
Rural Industries Bureau
Staverton Builders Ltd
Woodworking Department

The revival of rural crafts and industries was at the heart of Leonard Elmhirst's experiment at Dartington Hall. Commercialarchives record departments of the Trust which were established in 1929 under Dartington Hall Ltd, a private company chartered to manage the Trust’s land and industrial assets. Commercial departments included Dartington Hall Ltd itself, the farms, various poultry enterprises, the orchards and the cider press, forestry operations, a sawmill, and woodworking enterprisesincluding a furniture factory.

Staverton Builders was also established, at first to construct new buildings on the Dartington Hall estate, and later to construct buildings throughout the south west of England. A textile factory was installed in a water-powered mill designed in 1931 by Oswald Milne. It began weaving Dartington Hall tweeds. The Trust also established one of the earliest artificial insemination centres in Britain. In later years, operations diversified to include a bank (Dartington & Co), and Dartington Glass (now Dartington Crystal) which was established in Torrington, Devon, in 1967.