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Caithness news
Frank:
I think the problem could well be an attitudinal clash that with compromise will mean one party losing face.
On the one hand the property company states to have provided a turnover related lease, which is a very fair approach that allows diversity to continue throughout difficult economic periods (Many leases are still set up on the basis of fixed rent with upward only reviews) and turnover related means rents can fall as well as rise. The benefit for the property company is that it maintains a stable letting of a prestigious client that will attract others to the development.
On the other hand Dartington claim that the redevelopment caused a weakening in trade and that they wish Caithness to survive.
What remains unclear is why Dartington think a move to Crieff would be beneficial as it will not have that large local tourist resource of Perth. I cannot see how on-going development work can have such an impact as we are all used to building work continuing around us - perhaps the car park was closed and people had to walk between building sites to get there? Has anyone visited Caithness this summer - how was your visit affected by the building work?
It would appear that a special rent had been in place for some time, to help CG through the takeover and I cannot help the cynical view that perhaps it ending was the only reason for migrating. Clearly we do not know the numbers but Caithness are a two edged company. There is an important market for collectors with some of the best paperweight makers in the country, world league, - yet Dartington has let some of these go already. Caithness also has a big 'name' in the gift trade, but the gift trade is highly competitive and there is little commercial sense in manufacturing for it within the UK. So perhaps they wish to maintain a core set of skills to retain design and medium to high quality production.
Looking at the Dartington portfolio, they have not really any giftware of significance so perhaps Caithness were to fill that gap - in which case they only need the designers. But they have already Royal Brierley, a richer and older name than Caithness, and have only one small range of barware on-line. Dartington do not appear to target the collecting market with the exception of 2 books sold on their site... On their site they have a small about us which paints a picture of a socially mature enterprise http://www.dartington.co.uk/info/aboutus_DCstory.html until you get to the last line when it states "Dartington now operates independently of the Trust." - So no current philosophy and clearly in the case of the disposition of Caithness they do not try, hard enough, and stick to that original philosophy either.
As I have often said, collectors are largely buying on the second market and while that helps a company name to develop, it does not help its cash flow directly. The UK economic policy tries to adopt the American commercial aptitude but fails the philosophy and only manages a "money first, people last" state. So companies that are ruthless in securing wealth for the core investors are regarded as 'good' and those that regard their employees as core are just seen as potential profits for vultures. I am currently preparing a 1947 report on the UK glass industry for the Glass-Study - it directly compare the UK glass industry to the US and Swedish glass industries and the envy of both of those shows a little. But also at that point there is some realism in recognising the different cultures involved. The modern business seems to have for gotten culture - instead the investors dream of joining that elite club of multi-nationals that aspire to be virtual countries in their own right.
What can we do about it? Nothing, they own and control their companies.
However... Collectors could join and set up a new co-operative making high-end art paperweights, also some for the tourists, and move into the premises Caithness vacate, getting the makers and designers will be no problem... they is a lot of unemployed skill in Perth. It is possible to largely avoid the need to develop a sales force to get products to the shops - it is doable via the Internet and dealers catering to paperweight collectors. If 500 collectors put in upto 1,000 pounds, there should be enough cash to get started, pay everyone piecework rates and the wages bill will reflect the business and give every worker a direct stake in success. To make that work would need a core group of 6 or 7 people to develop and execute the approach.
Frank:
Latest....
Caithness in Perth will close at the end of January, only 6 staff will move to Crieff which will clearly put JD ahead of Caithness in terms of skills pool and probably weight production too! The top skills are chopped.
It is unclear what they plan to do but I suspect they will continue just for the visitors centre sales and some gift trade stuff. I doubt they will last long in Crieff. The speed with which they have moved could suggest that they are following plans made at the time of the takeover!
Frank:
Stuart took over Strathearn, also in Crieff, and promptly stopped glass production. Everything then being made in England but with engraving continuing for the tourists. After a while they gave up. If you ever visited Strathearn, it was never bustling - usually the same person that you saw in PP over the road. Caithness, Perth on the other hand was always bustling, I never saw it on a quiet day although I am sure they must have had them. The Caithness shop had quite a few staff too.
twenty_zero_six:
Theres no way it was a hidden agenda takeover, Dartington will only have wanted one thing - the Perth Visitors Centre because of how popular it is, and as the Visitors Centre in Devon is so popular (I often go there and its always busy) they obviously saw long term that they could develop this more here, but they had to arrest the decline in sales first - something which they obviously failed to to! and this has lead to what has happened. I dont think Dartington can be blamed for this, its just the state of the industry, we should be thankful Caithness is going to carry on at all! Im sure the decision to move to Crieff was met with another decision - close completly!
Frank:
Crieff is a small town with nothing for the tourist trade of note, it is/was a Mecca for paperweight collectors as they could get one off specials and pieces made to order. John Deacons is based there and quite a noteworthy team that use his Studio - some ex-Caithness. If Caithness has a future it is in the high end of paperweights with one of the best cutters Harry McKay (Booted out in first phase) rumour has it that HM and AS are out in January - clearly they are dropping the world class team and skill core, so only the gift trade is left. In that trade Caithness are no better than the Chinese who are gaining skills fast and other emerging markets, but without the low production costs. Perhaps the Visitors centre in Crieff will sell Chinese made Caithness weights, design in Devon and bearing the packed in Scotland sticker.
But of course this is all speculation and gets nowhere.
What is not speculation is that glass cutting skills will die out in Scotland, no-one in Scotland will choose the glass industry and almost 400 years after glass was first made - the bother*ed English have near killed it off. Hopefully Scotland will get independence before too long! The red cross has to go
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