A new catalogue is always a great opportunity to show off our products to the retail trade and launch the latest designs. We take a lot of trouble over our catalogue, not just in the details that help retailers to place their orders from it, but also in the overall style and feel of it. It is very important to us to show how very smart and elegant walking sticks can be: in fact they are fashion accessories just as much as they are aids to balance and mobility.
The process begins over a year in advance with the design of the new products. In the case of the new patterned canes in this catalogue, I start by painting the individual motifs, such as animals, birds, fruits and insects. These are then worked up into repeating patterns by our friends at
Mercer Design and a lot of attention goes into choosing exactly the right colours of backgrounds and other details. Once we are happy with these, they are sent to the factory and we start the pre-production sampling process. Eventually, everyone is happy and we move into production.
Meanwhile, the concept for the catalogue is taking shape. We are greatly blessed to be based in the beautiful south west of England and have a wealth of options for locations for our lifestyle photographs. We have stockists in about forty countries around the world, and these overseas stockists really enjoy seeing something of Britain when they receive their catalogues. This time, we decided that nothing is more British than a day at the seaside, so many of
Tim Mercer's fabulous lifestyle pictures were taken at the beautiful Dorset seaside town of Lyme Regis, famous for its fossils and for the classic movie The French Lieutenant's Woman, which starred Meryl Streep. We are huge fans of Ms Streep and have paid homage to the movie with our catalogue cover photograph, showing a couple of walking stick users gazing out to sea from the famous Cobb at Lyme Regis.
The Cobb is on old stone pier believed to date from the time of Edward I (13th century), which acts as a breakwater and protects the harbour behind. The steps up to it are old and steep, but we got there with the help of our Classic Canes walking sticks and it was well worthwhile for the view and the photo opportunity presented. The walking sticks featured are a classic
spiral beech derby in the hand of the gentleman, while the lady uses a brand new model: the
seaside-themed patterned walking stick, covered with crabs, lobsters, sea-horses and other related motifs.
Other lifestyle photographs were taken in the countryside around our Somerset headquarters and quite a few of them in my garden. There is a wonderful one showing the new
strawberries and cream patterned cane in a still life cream tea setting: always use edible props whenever possible!
The catalogue is now winging its way around the world to our stockists, who now have the opportunity to choose from it for their autumn 2022 and Christmas product offerings.
Patterned walking sticks are extremely popular now and these are the latest and most original designs on the market. We hope that walking stick users everywhere will enjoy these new patterns, which include
cats,
sheep,
woodpeckers,
dragonflies,
safari animals and
tropical fruits among other styles. Needing a walking stick is certainly no excuse to be dull!
Charlotte Gillan
Managing Director
Classic Canes Limited
