February 2022

Our Champagne Wall Challenges

My son Joe and I love to create unique and beautiful products, but we sometimes probably get a little carried away.

Everyone has issues, I blamed my parents for most of mine but thankfully Joe inherited quality DNA from me.

“Hey, aren’t you going to talk about the Champagne Wall?”

Some call our issue OCD, others say it is stupidity. Whatever the label, Joe and I probably need help.

“What about the Champagne Wall?”

We also sometimes hear voices.

One of the hardest yet enjoyable parts of creating a new product is in the design. This is where our issue gets us in the most trouble.

“Hello? Champagne Wall??”

Shut up stupid voices!!

Our problem is we get carried away in the design process. We have three goals when designing a new product:

• It has to be unique.
• Function well.
• Must be beautiful.

Take for instance our Champagne Wall (Now shut the heck up!).

Let’s Make it Beautiful

Unlike some units out there that come in 4′ wide sections, we made ours 8′ long so there is no unsightly seam. This of course makes transporting the unit a lot harder, but since we do the transporting and setup who cares?

Then there is the base. Some we have seen do not have a base, just boxwood hedge from floor to the top. Our OCD did not like this, so we made a white planter style base with decorative wainscot wall panels.

Then we thought people may want to put flowers at the top of the base, so we made a slot to put floral foam blocks.

Then we decided to put white LED lights that project down from the lip of the planter to give it a beautiful hue when the lights go down.

“Yep, you guys do have issues.”

Yes, we probably do go too far as we also have acceptance issues. If we don’t get complimented all the time we believe we have failed. Sorry Joe, maybe you can blame that one on me. Have I told you what a great son you are?

Has to be Unique

We also wanted our Champagne Wall to be unique, so we made two versions. One is the standard boxwood, the other has multi-colored wood planks. Both accept signs and can be used inside or out.

Ours also has a finished back so you don’t have to worry about putting it in the middle of your activity. Since the lighting is battery operated, you also do not need to worry about cords.

“Ok, ok, you done yet? This is getting boring.”

The boxwood also has small white LED lights sprinkled through it, can be turned on by a remote control.

The wood paneled wall has LED lighting around the edge, also controlled by a remote.

Function with Options

Then there is the flute shelves. Our 8′ long unit can handle up to 100 flutes, but we can also reconfigure the shelves for fewer flutes and can even change some flute shelves to a regular shelf for photos, seating charts, etc.

“Why don’t you make an electronic arm that serves the guests their Champagne?”

Shut up stupid voices!!