Carmine, Crimson, Raspberry, Ruby, Scarlet. Call it what you will, it’s red, and undoubtedly for Roger Oates, it’s one of our most important colours. Of course neutral shades play a crucial part in our collection but when it comes to stairs, red is number one.  Many of our best known, longest-running, favourite designs are predominantly red.

To some red means danger, anger, or ‘stop!’. The calling card of the extrovert, red is certainly not for the shrinking violet.  With all that red symbolises would it be too bold a choice for your stairs?  Or maybe you are more like us? In our world red is the colour of prosperity, joy and love – it is warm, intense and hugely inviting.

Almost every group of new designs we launch will contain a red stair runner. With red being so important to us, it’s not surprising that in the studio when we approach a new design our conversations tend to begin “how many reds are we looking for?” or “what type of red is new for us?”. When something works as well as red, it is tempting to just stick with it. From classic Chatham Turkey Red launched in 1995 to this years brand new Franklin Carmine we have dyed natural wool hundreds of different shades of red, and will always continue to develop new reds, ad infinitum. (Merry Chrismas to our excellent, and patient yarn dyers)

But of course not everyone wants a red stair runner.  In the past twelve months we have seen a huge interest in monochrome stair runners and our bright and vibrant colours are proving more popular than ever.  But it’s December, so for now we are just talking red, the colour of Christmas.

So much at Christmas is red; holly berries are red, Rudolph’s nose is red, Santa Clause is of course red. But didn’t you hear his red colour comes from Coca Cola?

Coca Cola do rather like to perpetuate the rumour that they inspired the modern image of Santa Clause in red and prior to their influence he was in fact dressed in green.  However, if you have a little spare time over Christmas we suggest you debunk this urban myth for yourself and have a look at the red red red robes of 4^th century Saint Nicholas of Myra and his reputation for secret gift giving.

Season Greetings from Roger Oates. When you have moment: the story of Saint Nicholas

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