Staalindustrieweg 43
2952 AT Alblasserdam
Tel: 078 - 681 85 68
Fax: 078 - 693 36 68
Email: info@ritmeester-bv.nl
LOG CLOCKS
The LOG CLOCK and ‘customer driven innovation’.
When Caroline came to work with us I asked her about her former employers. She had worked at the Clock Manufactory at Schoonhoven, the little dutch ‘Silver City’. I had lived there too in the late eighties and enjoyed the place very much. It is in the centre of Holland and at the other bank of the river Lek you can find a tiny place that is called Newport (Nieuwpoort; city rights since 1283!) Newport (RI) has the same name..
Caroline had sketched hundreds of clocks and I looked through her sketchbook. The humble little design clock she called BLOKKLOK (LOG CLOCK) drew my attention and I asked her: ‘Did you ever make one of these?’ ‘No’. So my next question was to make two Log Clocks apart from her regular work.
She made two; one of ashwood and one of Sitka Spruce from Alaska. Both Clocks were beauties and I put them on the large table in the meeting room.
‘Are you going to sell them too?’ was the question a few months later. ‘Sure’ I replied but I was very, very busy so I had lack of time to spend on it. Another month later Arno came with another clock design which was too difficult and expensive to produce.
Julian, the manager of a large European wood importer needed an original gift item for his clients and prospects. He asked me whether we could make the Log Clock also form his own wood? Until then, I had not looked at it that way.... (Only one question can give you a whole new perspective...)
‘Of course’ I replied and saw the added value in the idea. Not just ‘another anonymous gift item’ like a non personal USB stick or a bottle of wine but a nice, high quality design clock, manufactured with/out of the product of the generous giver.
The order was to make some 450 Log Clocks in 6 different hardwoods. And they were all beauties. We transformed the meeting room into a clock manufactory and I decided to give the Log Clock as a gift item for our clients too. It was a great success.
Thinking about time the Log Clock has unique features. The hands show you the actual time and (with solid wood) the year rings show you the beauty of the past years. Every clock is a unique piece and I always have one on my desk, on the right side of my computer screen. When you need to know the time one look is enough.
Because of this idea I thought: ‘There are so many kinds of wood, all unique, all special. From softwoods for the building industry to specialized hardwoods’. And plywoods, mdf and numerous other products. We can transform them all into a LOG CLOCK... and sell them worldwide. The enthusiastic reaction of the people who received a LOG CLOCK was enough for me.
Apart from that: whether oiled or in lacquer: the LOG CLOCK is a natural an sustainable gift item. On your desk, in the reception area, at home, everywhere. And everyone who gives it as a present will be remembered every time the receiver will look at it...
For wood companies the use is clear: a Clock made of there own solid wood or processed products. But also if you are a veneer producer: there is hardly one item that can show you the beauty of the product daily in a timeless designed article of use.
And for lacquer, varnish and veneer producers: this is the ideal item to show the quality of your lacquers and varnishes on the wood, mdf, plywood etc. itself.
Architects, designers, clients, prospects will all appreciate the LOG CLOCK. And their partners too...
For further Information:
T: +31 622337517