COLOUR AND COUNTING

The new Cambridge Editions is out (April) in which we had a small part in an article on colour. I actually wrote quite a lot more in response to questions for this feature but, as expected, they weren’t reproduced. Instead we got the usual stuff about colour which was a pity, and even the dreaded ‘colour wheel’ got carted out...which I think is even more responsible for rubbish colour schemes than the 1970s were.

If you want to read the alternative article on colour I think we posted that particular blog on 22/2/12. We have since sold the pink dresser – see, not everyone needs a colour wheel!

Anyway, our stock take is over and actually wasn’t as bad as previous years. Only one person managed to get past us at the door (despite being shut). They had a desperate and urgent need to purchase two gnomes so...err...go on then! You can’t block a gnome buyer on a mission. Now the counting is over the information is processed via our database at which point the computer will get cross and start asking some difficult questions.

Like...

Why are you missing two tables?
Why do you only have 2,462 print blocks and not 2,473? Can someone not count properly?
You do know you’ve sold 33 items at less than they cost – well, don’t you?

I hate that computer. In my head, the stock take is finished and all is well and dandy.

CLOSED FOR A DAY

The dreaded stock take is going to occur on Monday 26th March at the shop. So naturally we will be closed for the day because everyone involved will be in a very grumpy mood and not to be trusted near the public.

Mind you, putting ‘CLOSED’ signs up and locking the door won’t be a guarantee of people not trying to get in. If it’s a shop and it’s between 9 and 5pm someone will try and get in, regardless of what you do. When we originally took over the unit at Burwash Manor we gave ourselves 2 weeks to shopfit and get open. I was amazed that, despite being a building site, with no stock, tools everywhere, stepladders, a radio blaring and no signage people still wandered in. I remember being up a ladder painting, and just watching an elderly gentleman walk around, picking up drills, turning bits of wood over and then silently leaving.

Locking the door often means someone will just repeatedly shake the door until they get a result (either the door breaking or me shouting at them). I’m sure this is just a sign of our 24 hour, 7 days a week society. We used to be closed on a Monday but goodness, the grief we got for not being open! So we gave in. I’m quite sure a disgruntled member of the public will tell us we should be stocktaking out of hours – please remember, we do that as well!

THE BADGER IS GONE..LONG LIVE THE BADGER!

The badger has gone! Our nocturnal stuffed night-time security has sold. I think that sale qualifies highly in the random purchase of the year award. That badger had kept many a child silent. Well...they do ask if it’s real – of course it is! If you watch very carefully you might see it blink! Apparently many children did see it blink.

Maybe we should get a stuffed sloth, they don’t move much in real life. We could have one hanging from the rafters. That might keep the little ones quiet. Or for the really troublesome kids perhaps a coiled puma with extended claws, hidden in a cupboard. And the old classic ‘stuffed cobra in a bread bin’. However, I suspect we will end up with a fox...but you never know. The other day I nearly bought an old water buffalo skull (think that’s what it was!) with some serious hornage attached. Now THAT would definitely win random purchase of the year!

SAVE US FROM OUR STOCKTAKE!

Another busy week desperately trying to sell as much as possible before the looming stock take at the end of March. I figure (quite rightly) the more we sell the less we have to count. The trouble is, we keep buying – I suspect at a faster rate then we’re selling! Last year it took 1½ days just to count up and record the codes on all our printers’ blocks – they’re all unique and so require separate codes! If you want to experience the joys of number blindness, come and help us out!

The stuffed badger now has some new friends. A red squirrel in a case and some sort of small bird in a cage. Apparently they were from a small provincial museum. Our stuffed parrot, meanwhile, has parked itself next to the till and keeps a beedy lookout as only parrots can.

Recently we bought a Canadian Pine table from a lovely lady in Meldreth. The table has 2 wide planks making up the top and is a classic American design, I think, and the first one we’ve ever come across. Of course, there is lots of ‘stuff’ coming in all the time but if people would just buy as much as possible before the end of March it would make the stock take a little easier – thank you!

It’s National Fairtrade Fortnight – who knew?

I guess that most people get the idea of fairtrade and I would hope that given two equally desirable products, ethically, you would go for the fairtrade one.

In the past this hasn’t often been a realistic scenario. When we first started going to big trade shows looking for suppliers to the shop it was a challenge. For a start, even asking a company about its ethical or even environmental policy was likely to get you treated as thought you were a tree-hugging hippy and therefore utterly naive about ‘real’ business. Either that, or the salesperson stood there with a slack jaw, a bit of dribble hanging out and a confused expression. I have to say that we did suffer in a terribly dad-martyr kind of way. It would have been very easy to have augmented our antiques and vintage furniture with great looking accessories but they all seemed to come from companies without a whiff of concern about where or how it was produced.

Was there an alternative? I would like to say yes, but er...not really. A lot of fairtrade companies at the time were producing, sort of, well, stuff you wouldn’t really want. I think they were trying to sell products based on the fact that it was fair-trade, rather than they were goods you might actually like!
However, we persisted and started to build up a list of suppliers who were fairtrade and had great products. In fact our best selling mug is fair-trade and the nice thing is, people love them and want them before realising that it is also very wholesome.

The ongoing situation with fairtrade companies now is really looking up and I like to think small independent retailers (like ourselves!) helped to create a sustainable market and stimulate demand.
Still, fair-trade companies can be a pain in the a**e to deal with. We use a couple where you have to ‘order and forget’. The product may turn up in 2 weeks or 2 years. We once put a repeat order in for some brushes only to be told that the Indian villager making them had earned so much he had buggered off! I guess that’s a good thing?

Pragmatically, we can’t just stock fairtrade items because it doesn’t yet exist in the variety of products that we cover. Many companies either can’t afford or find the whole process of being officially certifies complicated. There are in fact some really good, caring, responsible companies out there that are not registered fairtrade. So the overall picture is not simply black or white.

Ultimately you will only buy what you want and I would like to think that increasingly what we chose to buy, from foreign companies, turns out to be fair trade.

Birds, tulips....and badgers...

What’s the difference between a Cormorant and a Gannet? This was the question facing us when all our bird sculptures turned up and the labels got confused. I had a vague, deeply suppressed, memory that Cormorants were dark because I used to make them as decoration on my driftwood clocks. I also remembered they had a tendency to explode on the disc sander so I stopped making them. In fact I’m sure there is still a Cormorant splinter in my thumb.

Anyway, it was eventually established that Gannets are big and white (ish) and Cormorants are big and dark. If you fancy yourself as a twitcher come and see our new bird display. Test the staff to see if they can spot the difference between a Godwit and a Redshank, a Curlew from an Avocet, or a Turnstone from a Ruff. Well, I can tell you now they couldn’t, but it keeps them on their toes!

A whole new batch of silk flowers also turned up last week which really freshened up the shop. The small tulips in particular have been causing a few problems for Lucy (one of our fabulous Nest helpers) who refused to sell them, believing them to be real and therefore for display! Helpful customers keep reminding us that the water in the jug needs topping up.

Harking back to the stuffed badger (again), a man and his dog offered me a grey parrot and a yellowhammer the other day. No, this doesn’t mean the geese fly south for winter, but does mean our little badger may have some friends...if I can get them at the right price!

Interior design....

A local magazine asked us some questions on the subject of colour possibly to help with an article they were putting together. Now – these are my views and responses to the questions – interior designers out there may feel differently!

Are you a lover of colour? of course

Do you believe in the idea that it can change your mood?  colour is probably, in reality, a very small landscape of factors that can affect your mood. For example, writing a reply to this question has already affected me. Should I rant or should I provide the answer that is expected? Perhaps somewhere in the middle. Back to the point... let’s say, for example, you painted a room in my favourite calming colour scheme and then filled it with furniture and possessions that I detested – this would irritate me. Now reverse the situation with a paint scheme that grates and, yes, I would still be irritated. However, if you stuck my brother in a room with a random colour and random furnishings he would be happy. If you kept changing the factors he would still be happy. If you put a cupboard full of chocolate in the room he would be really, really happy – it wouldn’t matter what colour you painted the cupboard – he doesn’t care – some people don’t. Can you change someone’s mood with colour if they don’t care about colour? Probably not. The best I could say about using colour is – don’t use colours you don’t like!

Any tips on decorating with colour? What’s a good starting point (e.g. building a scheme around a favourite accessory)   Personally I prefer a neutral background highlighted by interesting furniture and possessions. I would say that, I sell furniture! It depends what look you are after – you could take the fitted kitchen approach and match everything, but that seems to lack imagination. I think your house should be a reflection of yourself and I wouldn’t worry about making the walls match anything. Making things work together isn’t just about colour. Most people can see what goes together and just because something is blue, doesn’t mean any blue will work within a ‘scheme’ – I know someone who is completely colour blind but if he sees a colour, he knows instantly what will go with it, because he still recognises tones.

Our shops look is very consistent and works because it’s full of stuff we like (even though in terms of colour this can vary from bright green to battleship grey). Harmony can be achieved through many things such as texture, pattern, space, light, clutter, no clutter, family, no family and a good glass of red wine. If you have no idea about what colour to paint your room, it may be that, deep down, you don’t care! If you do know what colour then you care and will know what to do. If you want to care, but can’t, then hire an interior designer who will tell you why you should care and how much it will cost. If you’re like my brother, then go into the nearest DIY store blindfolded and pick a colour – it will work for you.

Do you see unusual colours in vintage pieces that you just don’t see elsewhere? Can you give any examples of something in the shop where this is the case?  We see unusual colours all the time. This is because old furniture has been owned by individuals, and individuals have individual taste! There seems to be a pre-conception that old painted furniture is tasteful and restrained (which it can be). Original paint on a Georgian chest, for example, will have dulled and changed over 200 years. It will look very different to how it started out. If the Georgians had access to modern paint technology (in particular zinc white) then I bet they would have produced some really gaudy schemes! We have a very green cupboard in the shop at the moment. The paint is very distressed but it really stands out. I would call this perhaps a statement piece. I would not recommend matching anything to it, as an entire room in that colour could get very tiring. However, if you are braver then we also have a mad pink Hungarian dresser in the shop.

Is colour therefore a good way of creating an appropriate look for an older property? The only appropriate look is one you like! Of course you can use heritage colours, but is this appropriate? Is spreading rushes on the floor of an old cottage appropriate? I think a lot of the time people look back and desperately try to match their modern taste to an older style. If you can do this, fair enough, but your original house owners didn’t necessarily hark back 150 years to influence them – they may have been innovators of their age, and filled their home with ‘modern’ pieces – time moves on... People, over the centuries, have decorated according to taste, wealth, circumstances, fashion and hopefully, what they actually like! Don’t worry what anyone else thinks!

I suspect these answers won’t appear in the article. For a sensible approach call your local interior designer. They will show you a colour wheel. It’s utterly meaningless but it may calm you down.

Now...more coffee..