Wicker World

Many years ago, some friends and I came up with the ultimate store that would make us rich: a store to rival the 24-hour drive-through pet funeral service’s brilliance and convenience. Our store concept?

WICKER WORLD: YOUR 24-HOUR CANE CONVENIENCE STORE


Brilliant, isn’t it! How many times have you been drinking with friends, and at 3am you’ve had an inexplicable desire for cane or wicker products but were unable to slake that thirst?

If only there was a WICKER WORLD nearby, you could sate your every wicker desire.

Baskets, chairs, pot plant hangers, shelving -- we’d stock the lot. And lest you think WICKER WORLD caters only to the lowest common denominator I’ll have you know that we fully intended to stock a full range of products made from the thinking man’s cane: rattan.

I bring up WICKER WORLD only to highlight how ahead of our time we were. Right now a new Nicolas Cage movie is about to be released called The Wicker Man, which is a reimagining of the original 1973 movie starring Edward Woodward. In both cases the movie deals with Captain Lucius Wicker, the discoverer and some say inventor of, modern wicker and wicker-based products.

Cage fears a world without cane.

Captain Lucius had a dream, a dream of products made of wood, and yet somehow not wood. While his dream becomes an obsession his life hits the rocks, and the movie deals primarily with his hunt for the elusive fibrous construction material and his attempts to reconcile with his estranged wife. It’s part tragedy, part drama, all wicker.

Right now wicker is in. It’s the hip thing and interest in wicker is high. Expect to see cane popping up on MTV soon, and maybe a WICKER WORLD: YOUR 24-HOUR CANE CONVENIENCE STORE opening up next to your local Starbucks soon.