The Easiest Way To Ensure Your Picture Frames Will Always Be Level
I have always been "hanger challenged" when it came to putting up framed prints on my wall. I had a hard time getting it level and you really don't have much wiggle room if I screwed up. Does this sound like you as well?
I always wished there was a way to micro-adjust in case it wasn't perfectly level or wanted to move it up or down.
Coincidentally, I had a long-time friend Matt Bigelow who posted about it on FB and had to get some. He told me how his father came up with a product, Beehive Picture Hangers, inspired by this very same concern! He had amazing success on kickstarter and I was so thrilled for him
Since we're in the photo industry I felt you would be intrigued about this as well. It's one of those, "I wish I thought of that!" moments. I have a few and they are really a breeze to setup and work with.
This video below showcases it quite simply:
I decided to ask Matt some questions out of my curiosity and fortunately he was kind enough to oblige.
I've honestly been looking for something like this even before I knew I needed it. Perhaps from all my frustration of being hanger-challenged. How has there never been anything like this before?
You're not the only one, Pratik! Before the Beehive Picture Hangers, we were ALL hanger challenged. This is exactly what lead my father, the inventor, to the idea. He had just finished painting his condo and was preparing to tackle the task of hanging three frames in a series, all equally spaced and level. We've all been there before, and we all know how time consuming and tedious this task can be. As you can imagine, the closer he got to starting, the more he began dreading the task. This is when he decided there simply MUST be a better way. Fast-forward through a few different prototypes and a 10 year patent application process (shew!) and here we are today!
Since we already see all the positives, have you found any downsides to these hangers from the feedback given?
Great question! Before our current company and Kickstarter launch in 2015, we were selling under a different company name. It's somewhat of a long story, but in short, our previous company entered into a licensing agreement, which ended up being amicably dissolved. When the agreement was dissolved, we wound up having to close up shop and start fresh. During the life of our previous company, we sold over 1.25 million hangers, all without a single return or complaint (literally). With the launch of our new company and Kickstarter campaign in 2015, we introduced a new feature on our hangers called the "positioning point." This is a little point that sticks out from the center of each hanger, allowing you to mark the wall in the positioning you want to hang your frame. The addition of the positioning point was a great innovation to the previous version of the Beehive Picture Hangers, as you would no longer need to measure where to hang your frames! Unfortunately, on our first large batch, there was a minor tooling error that caused the positioning points to be slightly less effective than originally planned. They worked, just not quite as well as we had hoped. Our tooling has since been improved and our positioning points are back to 100%!
What's the best reception you've received from these hangers?
To be completely honest, we're tickled pink with every single review we receive, big or small, on how our hangers have made someone's life a little (or a lot) easier. But if I had to choose a specific time that stands out the most, I'd have to say that our Kickstarter phase was one of the most remarkable experiences to date. The outreach from the community was absolutely incredible. We had blog features popping up left and right, inquiries and words of praise flooding in on social media, and orders pouring in from all over the globe. It's an amazing feeling to see so many people around the world lift up in excitement over a picture hanger. I think it's safe to say that the world had been overdue for an innovation in this industry.
What's the next step in the process?
We're ready to take over the picture hanging industry, one frame at a time! Here's a little of what we've been up to since the launch of our Kickstarter:
- Online sales to frame shops and end users through our e-commerce website
- We've launched on Amazon and have been one of the fastest growing products in our category with a 4.8 Star Product Review rating out of 169 Reviews
- We've linked up with the largest picture hanging hardware distributors in the UK
- We're currently in at least 500+ Home Hardware retail stores in Canada, soon to be all 1,100 of their stores
- We have three new product extensions in the pipeline to help cover a much wider variety of frames. These include a version for metal channel frames, a flush mount version, and an adhesive mount version.
From here, we plan to continue pushing in any and all directions. We feel that our hangers have a home in many different types of retail outlets, such as hardware stores, convenience stores and paint supply stores -- anywhere that currently sells picture hanging hardware, home decor, etc. We also feel that our hangers are a great fit for businesses such as print labs, canvas suppliers, frame shops, and anyone interested in enhancing their end user's complete experience.
I'm overly excited about this product, what stops people from replicating it?
We're thrilled to say that we were awarded a utility patent on our design, which is the strongest patent available. It took nearly 10 years of battling the patent office, but we're rock solid and ready to roll!
To learn more, be sure to visit http://beehivepicturehangers.com/ to check them out!
