That makes more sense. And even if OP'S article had been correct, it wouldn't have been the heartwarming story about a small business making it as long as its owners could keep it going before...
That makes more sense. And even if OP'S article had been correct, it wouldn't have been the heartwarming story about a small business making it as long as its owners could keep it going before retirement that everyone's taking it for anyway. It'd be an example of why patents last too long for the modern mechanized economy, let alone copyright.
Because a patent would be the only reason it would have been impossible for a studio like Aardman to find an alternate supplier. And once again, IP law would have been robbing us of new creative works, rather than rewarding and encouraging their creation like it's ostensibly designed to do.
It seems this was a small, boutique product made within Newclay Products in the UK. I wonder if Aardman has the funding to buy out the recipe/production equipment and start making it in-house. The...
It seems this was a small, boutique product made within Newclay Products in the UK. I wonder if Aardman has the funding to buy out the recipe/production equipment and start making it in-house.
The shop does seem to be open to selling all IP related to that specific clay and might play hard-ball now that they know they have an entire animation studio under their thumb - http://www.newclay.co.uk/?page_id=2453
From the article and the Newclay Products website, it sounds like it was run like a family business and they had a good relationship with Aardman. I doubt they're looking to squeeze out every...
From the article and the Newclay Products website, it sounds like it was run like a family business and they had a good relationship with Aardman. I doubt they're looking to squeeze out every penny.
I doubt it would be the most cost effective solution. Manufacturing is a difficult business to do successfully. Many new companies fail to do it profitably. They would likely need a sizable...
I doubt it would be the most cost effective solution. Manufacturing is a difficult business to do successfully. Many new companies fail to do it profitably. They would likely need a sizable capital investment to hire a specialist, get contracts with the needed materials suppliers, and any equipment needed to actually manufacture. It'll be even more difficult for them if it was manufactured overseas or in China instead of in the UK, while costs are lower in China, it's much more difficult to get an initial run, it takes longer and there the cost and time commitment if shipping.
Hopefully they'll be able to find an alternative product that they can work with. I'm not too familiar with stop motion animation clay, but maybe there are other products that other studios use that they could switch to, even if it changes the look or workflow of their animation a bit.
Reminiscent of when that company stopped making math chalk. https://www.livescience.com/65419-chalk-hoarded-by-mathematicians.html Makes you wonder what other obscure single source products are...
Reminiscent of when that company stopped making math chalk.
Hagoromo is awesome and this was my first thought too. The Korean company that bought out the rights and tooling makes fine chalk under the same name, but it's not quite on the same level as the...
Hagoromo is awesome and this was my first thought too. The Korean company that bought out the rights and tooling makes fine chalk under the same name, but it's not quite on the same level as the original.
I still order a couple of boxes every year. It's still the best chalk I can find anywhere for sale. My old uni had some fat chalk with no coating that was a bit smoother, but I can't find it anywhere.
Isn’t that also TSMC? Not to say it’s a bad idea, at all - having a secondary location for both the physical supply chain and the institutional knowledge to make it all work is a serious benefit -...
Isn’t that also TSMC? Not to say it’s a bad idea, at all - having a secondary location for both the physical supply chain and the institutional knowledge to make it all work is a serious benefit - just that it’ll still be single source as far as companies are concerned.
While it made me originally very sad and nostalgic to find Aardman had started working in CGI, they have still been excellent movies, imo; I’m sure they’ll figure something out materials-wise. Wes...
While it made me originally very sad and nostalgic to find Aardman had started working in CGI, they have still been excellent movies, imo; I’m sure they’ll figure something out materials-wise. Wes Anderson looks to be committed to stop-motion as a medium, so that’s encouraging—I wonder if Lakka will make it beyond a Knight family handoff, since that Nike money is probably a big help for something as obscure and time-consuming as this.
https://deadline.com/2023/11/wallace-and-gromit-aardman-denies-clay-running-out-1235628760/
That makes more sense. And even if OP'S article had been correct, it wouldn't have been the heartwarming story about a small business making it as long as its owners could keep it going before retirement that everyone's taking it for anyway. It'd be an example of why patents last too long for the modern mechanized economy, let alone copyright.
Because a patent would be the only reason it would have been impossible for a studio like Aardman to find an alternate supplier. And once again, IP law would have been robbing us of new creative works, rather than rewarding and encouraging their creation like it's ostensibly designed to do.
It seems this was a small, boutique product made within Newclay Products in the UK. I wonder if Aardman has the funding to buy out the recipe/production equipment and start making it in-house.
The shop does seem to be open to selling all IP related to that specific clay and might play hard-ball now that they know they have an entire animation studio under their thumb - http://www.newclay.co.uk/?page_id=2453
From the article and the Newclay Products website, it sounds like it was run like a family business and they had a good relationship with Aardman. I doubt they're looking to squeeze out every penny.
Grats to them on 16 years!
I doubt it would be the most cost effective solution. Manufacturing is a difficult business to do successfully. Many new companies fail to do it profitably. They would likely need a sizable capital investment to hire a specialist, get contracts with the needed materials suppliers, and any equipment needed to actually manufacture. It'll be even more difficult for them if it was manufactured overseas or in China instead of in the UK, while costs are lower in China, it's much more difficult to get an initial run, it takes longer and there the cost and time commitment if shipping.
Hopefully they'll be able to find an alternative product that they can work with. I'm not too familiar with stop motion animation clay, but maybe there are other products that other studios use that they could switch to, even if it changes the look or workflow of their animation a bit.
Reminiscent of when that company stopped making math chalk.
https://www.livescience.com/65419-chalk-hoarded-by-mathematicians.html
Makes you wonder what other obscure single source products are out there.
Hagoromo is awesome and this was my first thought too. The Korean company that bought out the rights and tooling makes fine chalk under the same name, but it's not quite on the same level as the original.
I still order a couple of boxes every year. It's still the best chalk I can find anywhere for sale. My old uni had some fat chalk with no coating that was a bit smoother, but I can't find it anywhere.
TSMC still has the technical lead and the majority of market traffic on semiconductors IIRC.
Isn’t that also TSMC? Not to say it’s a bad idea, at all - having a secondary location for both the physical supply chain and the institutional knowledge to make it all work is a serious benefit - just that it’ll still be single source as far as companies are concerned.
While it made me originally very sad and nostalgic to find Aardman had started working in CGI, they have still been excellent movies, imo; I’m sure they’ll figure something out materials-wise. Wes Anderson looks to be committed to stop-motion as a medium, so that’s encouraging—I wonder if Lakka will make it beyond a Knight family handoff, since that Nike money is probably a big help for something as obscure and time-consuming as this.
Aardman has been working with CGI since Flushed Away in 2006
Yep—that and Arthur Christmas are great.