Spotlight: Editorial
This month, instead of featuring one individual, we are going to take a brief look at a concept in luxury: the design of canes and umbrellas in and about two legendary cars in particular with a glimpse at a third.
Rolls Royce conjures up not only a car or an aircraft engine; it has become an epithet for the very best of design anywhere. One might say that James Smith & Sons are the ‘Rolls Royce’ of the umbrella – but Rolls Royce designers have some rather brilliant ideas of their own.
2009 Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupe Umbrella (Closed)
2009 Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupe Umbrella (Open)
On a day without blue skies, the client and h{er|is} passengers are well cared for. Rolls Royce offers many accessories as optional extras and, of course, they cater for clients’ specialised orders. A pity, in our opinion, that the boot umbrella option of a more classical style and form is not automatically accompanied by an elegant Rolls Royce walking stick. What a wasted opportunity!
Blue Rolls with Blue Skies
Anybody ordering such a car should have a cane in the boot. Naturally, the cane-seat for resting perched upon one’s land as others shoot one’s game, or from which one watches golf, is available on special order -but elegance should also be presented and is not listed.
When Charles Stewart Rolls and Frederick Henry Royce met inside the bar of the Midland Hotel in Manchester (4th May 1904) it was surely one of the most fortuitously catalystic meetings ever. Rolls-Royce Limited was subsequently formed in 1906. Both were aristocrats and, as well we know, no stylish gentleman ever went out and about without his chic accessory at that time. It is indeed a disappointment that today’s luxurious car models do not carry a cane as well as an umbrella in situ as a matter of course.
A Rolls Royce ‘Spirit Of Ecstasy’ Walking Stick with ebonised cane. brass tip and decorative head (engraved with the RR symbol) mounted with a modern, silver-plated mascot was sold at auction in Great Britain in 1994. This was either made for an enthusiast or had belonged to a member of the families. It was never standard equipment as far as we are aware. We look forward to your valuable additions to our knowledge on this point.
The Midland Hotel, Manchester
The latest addition to Renaissance man Luca Bolognese’s work is his Jaguar Cane: Gaut Contemporary Canes. His is a rather exceptional web site, one he introduces by singing his own song about his creativity. Well, why not? With Luca, we can expect the extraordinary. There are links to his Facebook (complete with YouTube of his singing ‘Funky Gaut Design’) as well as his My Space. A million miles away from the Midland Hotel (metaphorically speaking), the British have always had an affection for and an appreciation of the eccentric. Signore Bolognese lives his inspirations. That’s not a bad thing to do. After all, Rolls and Royce are shining examples.
The Jag cane, he told me, was inspired by his adoration of the Jaguar MKll of the 1960s. The stick is hand beaten copper and the mascot, an aluminium fusion. The completed walking stick, once assembled, is then chromium plated. It has a rubber tip.
1963 Jaguar MKll Sedan
Gaut’s Jaguar Cane
The Cane’s Profile
There are so many accessories for the Jaguar available (cuff-links, badges, paper weights, key rings etc), as, indeed, there are for the Rolls Royce, that our Florentine maverick felt obliged to create his own Jaguar Cane.
There are others such on the market – more conservative, of course.
Model from AboutCanes.com / Jaguar Golf Umbrella from SNG Barratt – UK
Of course, one could argue that the sort of person who drives his own Aston Martin has his own cane stands full to bursting. That is very much the case with this gentleman!
Aston Martin with Cane Owner
Sadly, it is not so with the below, although he does boast other gadgets and gizmos.
Aston Martin with non-Cane Owner
Boris Palatnik
Boris Palatnik – Boris Palatnik Art Studio
Boris Palatnik
It is always interesting to compare the different routes each of our spotlighted designers, artists, makers and personalities have chosen toward the world of the cane. Boris Palatnik was born in Saint Petersburg in 1950. With his Bachelor’s degree from the city’s Institute of Art in his pocket, he progressed to the Moscow Academy of Art to complete his Master’s degree in Sculpture. Palatnik then sculpted for the Artists Association of Russia becoming increasingly fascinated by and involved in miniature sculpture design.
Moving to the United States in 1989 he established his business within this specialised field. He also created cigar humidors and various desk accessories. After having participated in shows and exhibitions both inside the USA and internationally, Boris Palatnik was invited to create speciality designs for prestigious companies, organisations and enterprises such as Neiman Marcus, The Wall Street Journal, Boy Scouts of America, the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and others such.
By the end of the 1990s, Palatnik had focused his energy on the design of walking sticks and canes. There is a large selection on his web site, which is well worth exploring. Interestingly, it informs the visitor that virtually all models of cane can be made as sword canes.
He works with cast metal using the wax loss technique, which enables him to devise and create sophisticated forms. As we have recently illustrated many canes featuring animals (at which Mr Palatnik is undoubtedly a master), I would like, this month, to focus on some of his handiwork with various foliage motifs.
‘Grapes’
‘Lily’
‘Frog’
‘Echo’
Somehow one feels these canes would look beautiful, at rest, inside a Charles Rennie Macintosh hallstand in a corner of the foyer of Victor Horta’s ‘Emile Tassel House’ in Brussels.
Main Ground Floor Stair Hall, The Emile Tassel House, Brussels.
Railings, ‘Maison du Peuple’
Victor, Baron Horta (1861 – 1947), the Belgium architect and designer, is often described as the most crucial Art nouveau founding architect. Indeed, The construction of his ‘Hôtel Tassel’ (1892-3), in Brussels, justifies his being credited as the first to have transposed the Art nouveau movement into architecture from the world of the decorative arts. There are many examples of his whiplash curve, which was taken up by his followers.
The railings from his ‘Maison du Peuple’, displayed at the Horta Metro station (North- South axis opened 1993) in the same city, can lead us to dream of the superlative Fabergé (Peter Carl Fabergé known as Carl Gustavovich Fabergé 1846 –1920), also a native of St Petersburg.
Fabergé Cane circa 1905.
Palatnik is modern, yet timeless with a flavour of Art nouveau in much of his portrayal of flora. His fauna is also fascinating to discover on his interesting website. Here is a sculptor – not an antique collector, an architect or a jeweller. The result is the rich diversity in the world of the cane: ours to enjoy and appreciate.
Horta: Foot of Main Stairwell, Maison du Peuple.
‘Saddle’
James Smith & Sons
At the time that James Smith & Sons began what was to blossom into their legendary business in London, Queen Victoria had not yet acceded to the throne. King William lVth of the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland (and Hanover) had a further seven years, until his demise (1837), firmly ensconced upon it.
King William lV
In 1830, the original Mr James Smith opened his first shop in Foubert Street, off Regent Street, in London’s West End.
The First Mr James Smith
His son, also James, was quite an entrepreneur. As well as moving their head quarters to New Oxford Street (1857) this young James opened six other businesses including a hatters’. Milliners made hats for ladies and hatters for gentlemen: a distinction worthy of note. His own grandson (the great grandson of the founder) opened a branch adjacent to Savile Row; premises destroyed in WWll.
Smith’s clientèle has always included dignitaries. William Gladstone, after whom the famous ‘Gladstone bag’ was named,
The Gladstone Bag.
Lord Curzon (Viceroy of India, Foreign Secretary) and Andrew Bonar Law, the only British Prime Minister (to date) to have been born outside the British Isles (Canada), are but an aperçu.
The proximity to Savile Row had been an excellent idea. No English gentleman worthy of his salt frequented anywhere else for his bespoke tailoring. From Prince Charles
A Rather Rustic-Handled Favourite
to James Bond, the look was, and remains, unmistakeable (Daniel Craig has recently returned to the fold after an Italian parenthesis). In the first of the James Bond series, ‘Dr. No’ (1962), the CIA agent Felix Leiter asks Bond where he was fitted for his Walther PPK. Bond replies, “My tailor, in Savile Row.”
Bond (Sean Connery): The Ever-Well-Tailored British Secret Service Agent.
The English gentleman (secret service or other) had style and that applied equally to all his accessories as much as it did to the English lady and her own.
Steed (Patrick Macnee): The Celebrated 1960s TVSeries ‘The Avengers’.
Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn): ‘My Fair Lady’ (1964)
James Smith & Sons: The Shop’s Sign.
In his book, ‘The Art Thief’, Noah Charney describes one of his elegant XXlst century characters thus (pages 26/7).
He strolled down the aisle, between rows of pews,
his umbrella clasped with two hands behind his
back. He was in the habit of over-dressing, and
invariably in the same clothes: three-piece suit,
Charles Tyrwhitt French cuff dress shirt. It was
what he liked. He liked spats, though he did not
often wear them. And bowler hats. And basset
hounds. And eating lobster without utensils, while
he ate chocolate bars with a knife and fork. And
his James Smith & Sons mahogany-handled
umbrella.
That just about says it all. James Smith & Sons has been a symbol of style for such a long time that it’s mark is more a way of life – a national institution.
For many years, the company specialised in the manufacture of ceremonial umbrellas, maces and military ‘swagger sticks’ (particularly during WWl). Until the 1920s, the cane or walking stick used to be a must for all well dressed gentlemen. We, at Cane News, encourage the return to such past glory. Jeans have had too long an innings. Standards have lowered and ‘casual’ has been chic far too long!
Smith’s premises in New Oxford Street are a tradition in themselves. A perfect example of Victorian shop front design, they have remained virtually unchanged, as the centuries have passed. Be sure to seek inspiration within their hallowed portals during your next tour of London.
The Epitome of Victorian Shop Font Design
The Impressive Doorway.
A Cornerstone of British Tradition.
Breezing Along with Geoffrey
Our Canning Town Spotlight for March is focused on the wonders of the antique cane world and Geoffrey Breeze’s devotion to its cause. Geoffrey Breeze Antique Canes is a wonderful example of how the passion for canes, their history and art, can take over one’s life. Geoffrey runs a newsletter, which is well worth joining to keep aware of the treasures of the past and abreast of the venues at which he has them on exhibition and for sale. It is indicated on the home page of his web site. Sign up for information and illustrations of this magnificent booty, fruit of devotion and painstaking research.
As he explained so eloquently to me,
“ My breakthrough moment came when I realised that walking sticks are nothing to do with walking and canes are not about caning.”
I really think that is a brilliant take on our cane world and it applies to the imagination and artistry of today’s contemporary cane as much as it does to the treasures of the past.
“It is this combination of academic and artistic that I have often noticed marks out the interesting type of person that becomes a cane collector.”
An interesting observation.
Geoffrey lives in Bath, surely a perfect setting for the antique cane, where he opened his first antique shop in 1972 specialising in antique English furniture.
One of the finest thermal spas in the ancient world, the town is a delight and its Roman Baths, magnificent.
For about a quarter of a century, antique furniture was his passion. Then, about ten years or so ago he started to gather a few odd canes in his gallery – mostly as decoration for antique stick and umbrella stands. However, as time went by, more and more of them including tall canes, staffs of office, beadle staffs, drum majors’ marching sticks, Georgian dandy canes and decorative Alpine hiking staffs transformed his shop into “a forest of canes”, as he colourfully explained.
“I realised that they are fashion accessories, the ultimate male accessory and that they are about fashion, power, art and personal identity. My life is now about sharing this vision and passion with others.”
Well, yes, that used to be true and in the antique world, it mostly was true unless one happened to be a lady monarch with a rather fetching sceptre.
In Cane News we are very happy to show how the use of the cane, today, can be equally the ultimate accessory for the well-dressed woman. How many dog lovers, be they men or women, would like to carry the image of their carved canine pet; how many equestrians their handsome horse; cat lovers their favourite feline? The variations are endless and often breathtakingly beautiful, expressed in a myriad of precious materials and a sprinkling of humour as befits the caricature.
Be sure to follow Geoffrey Breeze and his superb collection of objects of beauty and keep yourself informed of his next exhibition. This is really the putting together of the wonders of the past: the skill of the artist and the desires of those who commissioned the pieces: a window into history and works of art that are indeed very collectable. From fun to fashion – there is nothing like a cane!
Luca Bolognese Addendum
Further to our article featuring Luca Bolognese and his Gaunt Contemporary Canes,
Luca has been kind enough to send us some photos of himself featuring some favourite models of his own design.
We add them here for you to enjoy even more of the Gaunt Contemporary Canes range.
Don’t hesitate to send us photos with your own personal favourites: we will publish the best ones.
