Adam Carpets stripes collections are still proving popular. This month we had installations sent to us by Hart Carpets of Hartley Witney in Hampshire and also by Bridge Street Flooring of Buckingham. Our thanks to them for these wonderful images.
Hart’s used our VS03 from our Revelation range which is pictured first, whilst Bridge Street used SK30 Pistachio from our ever popular Kasbah Stripe, pictured below.
Visitors to our stand at the show received a treat when they were able to view all 126 colours that had passed through Fine Worcester in one place. We were able to track down all of our A4 folders and launch cards from 1991 and an impressive display they made.
Followers of us on Facebook and Twitter will know that the marathon task of posting and tweeting every single colour we ever did has begun, but seeing them all together brought a lot interest and some surprise at how the colours had changed over the years and how some colours had come back in very similar shades.
All 126 colours that have graced the Fine Worcester colourbank were on display at the show for the first time ever in public
Our stand this year featured a new wall display which was commissioned to celebrate the 25 years anniversary. The display featured all the features and benefits that one associates with Fine Worcester Twist plus quotes from retailers about its quality and why they like it so much.
Also on the display was a brief timeline out lining the history of Fine Worcester and some of its more notable moments. The five points were:
May 1991 – Fine Worcester Twist is launched with 20 initial colours
May 2002 – An additional 14 colours were added to the range bringing the number of colours up to 65 (the same number as today)
June 2006 – Fine Worcester Twist FW52 is installed into the main parliament buildings in Stockholm on behalf of the Swedish government. At 2,994 sq/m it remains the largest single installation of Fine Worcester anywhere in the world.
February 2015 – Adam Carpets introduce the ‘Hugo & Ella’ collection for Fine Worcester Twist. This is the first time any new launch of colours has been done as a named collection. The response is amazing. The themes are ‘Blues & Pinks’ and are also named as Pantones ‘Colours of the Year for 2016′ some ten months later.
May 2016 – Fine Worcester Twist celebrates 25 years of successful production.
There are of course many, many more memorable milestones which we will touch on over the next couple of months.
A brief timeline on our wall display proved an interesting read for visitors to the stand
The Buying Group National Floor Show (BGNFS) took place at Solihull recently. Mixed weather did not deter members from attending and we saw retailers from all the buying groups on our stand.
There’s no doubt what the main attraction was and that was the amazing carpet put together by Tony Cook and Lee Harrison. Each letter was cut by hand, as was the ‘FW25′ logo. The result was a stunning border to our stand celebrating the 25 years of Fine Worcester.
In all 36 of the 65 current colours were used including all 11 of the original 20 that are still active today.
Last month saw Part 1 of our interview with former Sales Director, Jim Bennett and David Adam regarding the launch of Fine Worcester Twist 25 years ago. This month, Jim tells us how the name and colours were decided upon.
Q. With the construction decided upon, how did you go about deciding on the name ‘Fine Worcester Twist’ and the initial colour bank?
JB: “Hilary Terry (Designer) and I got to know the dyer at Walter Walker very well. We were doing lots of colour trials, at least four at a time. I’m not sure how many we did, but it was a lot!
We were lucky as Hilary and I both had the same appreciation of colour and we knew that we wanted colour to be a cornerstone of the range. Many of the initial colours came from the environment, fabrics and fashions. I believe that is still the case today. We were determined not to be swayed by other peoples ranges.
The name “Fine” came from two sources. One from the yarn as it was a ‘superfine’ yarn and the second because it resonated quality as in ‘Fine Bone China’. The “Worcester” element was simply taken from the city in our county. It is one of the finest in England, so it made sense to use it.
Q. The colour names have become almost as famous as Fine Worcester itself. How did they come about?
JB: The idea behind the names is a little less conventional I’m afraid. I got the idea from a Worcestershire directory I found in The Fruiterers Arms in the village of Ombersley where I lived at the time. I liked the idea of the village or town name followed by a colour starting with the same letter, for example Grafton Gold. We started with twenty colours, little did I know the legacy for naming that I left behind for Hilary!”
Q. With the range launched in May 1991, what sort of impact did Fine Worcester have?
JB: “Well it just took off. Both David and I were delighted that the retailers could see the quality of the carpet and that the public seemed to love it also. We had always planned to introduce new colours every season at Harrogate. By 1993 we had launched a further six colours and by 1998 we were up to forty. The colours increased with the demand for the product.
We also around this time realised that two-ply yarn was growing in popularity. Our other big range at the time was Castlemead Twist which was launched just after Fine Worcester. It was originally a singles range. We then changed it to a two-ply and our reputation for quality products was further enhanced.
I loved being involved with Fine Worcester Twist. In my opinion it is one of the finest, if not the finest, twist pile carpet on the market.”
Our thanks to Jim and Mr Adam for fascinating insight into the launch of Fine Worcester Twist.
Next month we will review the rapid increase in the number of colours to 65 and what colours shaped the turning of the millennium.
Thank you also to all the readers of this newsletter who have taken the time to either write or talk to us about this feature and especially Part 1 of the interview with Jim. We are influenced every day here by Fine Worcester and to receive such appreciation and interest shows how much it means to our customers as well.
Hilary Terry, the designer behind the most famous colourbank in the carpet industry. Pictured here with Tony Hardwick and Jim Bennett, both former Sales Directors at Jim’s retirement dinner.
