Holding Pattern

Just a quick one to let everyone know that the website is offline and in a holding pattern as we progress through to the final stages before going live. We would also like to say thanks to those customers who have continued shopping with us online while we have been on our upgrade path.
Our last online sale on the old system went to a lucky customer in London this very afternoon so we will see in whose locale the new website lands in very soon for the first purchase on the new system.
When you hit the calico brook domain you will see the following image

This now means the only source of info will be via the blog so for the next few days this will be your window on Calico Brook. Hope you are all well because we are working at full tilt and it is not even Christmas yet.
By the way we have some nice gifts and presents for the whole yuletide season so either pop into our store in Gray Street or sit back and relax and wait for our new online store to come to you.

Rod

Signage, Synergy and Security

When you are a small company it is always important to have good corporate branding to help with the promoting of your business. We have always found it pays to have good tradesmen and craftsmen who get what you are striving to achieve. As a simple example, we use a laptop as a till point for our epos software but as I am sure you are all to well aware they can be quite obtrusive in the wrong sort of way! When we looked at the whole till point architecture it was quite obvious that function was not the over riding attribute that we wanted to convey to our customers. It had to be welcoming and somehow it had to be less obvious that a computer laptop was sitting on the counter.

In conjunction with our sign man we resolved this matter simply and elegantly by the use of our logo on a vinyl that covered the graphite casing and turned it into a Calico Brook ambassadorial beacon that was welcoming and meaningful to everyone. As a bonus it has helped us with security because it is not obvious that it is a laptop and secondly when we are at external events it is additional advertising and branding which can be no bad thing.

If you are in the Dundee or Tayside areas then give Barry Robertson over at Robertsons signs a call and tell him you would like to have him work his magic on your laptop - you will be glad you did. We can recommend the quality of work and the service you will receive. Look at the before and after and see for yourself.

                                                                             

V & A on the Tay

Well is this not the most exciting news that we have heard for a long time. Today, it has been announced that the winning design of the what will become V&A Dundee has been awarded to Kengo Kuma from Japan. Congratulations are in order to everyone concerned including the jury panel for picking such a fantastic design.
It will be great to see the fusion of work and art that our new links with London will underpin but even more will be the oriental energies that will seep from Kuma's influence. When you think of such works as the great wave of Kanagawa that symbolises modern Japan what are the main features that spring to mind, the mighty blue wave ( the Tay) and the snow capped peak of Mount Fuji ( the Law) then there is the fisherman - I know the were not hunting whales but it is still a nice contrived linkage is it not.

This is a great step forward for everyone in and around Dundee and all of us here at Calico Brook wish everyone the best of luck over the next few years.

We will be coming back to visit this story time and time again. But great news for everyone.