Wine Wings win inclusion in the Green Bride Guide's Green Vendor Directory

I'm pleased to announce that Wine on Deck has been included in the Green Bride Guide's Green Wedding Directory of pro-planet vendors. 

Visit our founder's woodworking site

Yes, by "our founder" I mean me, Isaac D. Van Wesep.  I founded Wine on Deck, Inc. in June 2010, just four months after I bought my first woodworking tool (a Bosch router) and plunged into the world of furniture making.  Wine on Deck's Wine Wings are a big part of what I do every day.  But when I'm not making Wine Wings (or marketing them), I'm learning about furniture making as fast as I can.

That means reading a lot of books - about finishing, joinery, designing all types of furniture, the cellular structure of different wood species, tool sharpening...and the list goes on.  More importantly, I make furniture, both for my family and for clients.  To date, I've made three bookshelves (my earliest pieces), two small tables (also early work), a few aquarium stands (using traditional frame-and-panel cabinet construction), two pairs of loudspeakers (in process as I write), and - currently - a chest of drawers. 

Our first eBay sale!

Wine on Deck is growing every day, thanks to our friends and family.  And we're gradually seeing online purchases coming from people we don't know!

Yesterday, I added an eBay listing to our range of shopping channels.  Today, we got our first sale!  Of course, since the sale was on eBay, 10% of the sale price of our customer's purchase went to support the EcoLogic Development Fund, based in Cambridge, MA.

We're Donating 10% of All Ebay sales to the EcoLogic Deveopment Fund

Wine on Deck's Wine Wings are now for sale on Ebay - and as part of our mission to nurture our neighborhood & planet, we're donating 10% of our Ebay sales to the EcoLogic Development Fund, a Cambridge, MA-based charity organization.  From their website: "EcoLogic works with communities to foster sustainable livelihoods and protect biodiversity.  We aim to conserve unique landscapes in Central America and Mexico by putting poor, rural communities in charge of managing local natural resources."

EcoLogic's mission reflects an important value we hold at Wine on Deck, Inc.: promoting the local management of local resources, and compelling resource managers to adopt sustainable practices by voting with our dollars.  Normally, our vote is with dollars used to purchase raw materials.  This time, the dollars are coming from sales of Wine Wings.

Every time you go on Ebay and buy a Wine Wing (or two!), you'll get free shipping, and 10% of the total sale price of your purchase will be donated directly to the EcoLogic Development Fund, through Ebay. 

To buy Wine Wings on Ebay, visit our online store here.

The Taste Spot - A fun online food & cooking resource

I recently came across The Taste Spot on Twitter.  I visited the site and watched some fun cooking videos.  the host was fun to watch, and there are a LOT of good recipe ideas in the archives.  Like to watch food cooking?  Visit The Taste Spot!

Wine on Deck is now on Ebay!

Wine Wings are now on ebay - with FREE SHIPPING via FedEx Home Delvery. If you prefer Ebay to Google Checkout, then please check this link: http://bit.ly/fH2Rc7

There, you'll find Wine on Deck's Ebay sale listing. We're offering our two most popular styles, plus a "random" option that lets us pick a Wine Wing for you from our inventory of pieces that are too expensive to make for regular sale.

Please support your friend in green business! Thanks!

Please join our mailing list!

Wine on Deck's mailing list is ready to go.  By joining our list (through Google), you'll get email updates approximately once per week or less.  The updates will include exclusive specials on Wine Wings and merchandise from our retail partners & blogs, information about Wine on Deck's environmental efforts, new product announcements, and green business news. 

Please join our list and support Wine on Deck!  By doing so, you'll receive a coupon code for 50% off any one order of Wine Wings through our website.  You can use the coupon to buy one, or one hundred Wine Wings.  Sign up now, and you can shop for all the wine lovers on your xmas list in one shot, and get 50% off your order. 

Join the mailing list here:

Subscribe to The Wine on Deck Newsletter

Email:

Visit this group

Wine on Deck applies for "1% for the Planet" membership

I've been doing a lot of market research recently, and I have decided that Wine on Deck should take more action towards supporting the general effort to create a sustainable economy.  While I don't believe in seeking "green" certifications, I do believe in participating in the green movement.  To that end, I have submitted Wine on Deck's application to join 1% for the Planet, a group that manages and audits companies' donation of 1% of their revenues to supporting green businesses and markets. 

Green Certifications & Metrics: What are they, and how should consumers interpret them?

If you pay any attention to green business, you've probably heard of LEED, a green building standard and certification, created by the U.S. Green Building Council.  LEED specifies building materials, designs, and benchmarks for buildings, and also certifies professionals in the building industry (architects, contractors, etc...).

I found a good green wedding blog! Green brides, read this...

Apparently, lots of people read wedding blogs.  I found this out when Maja (Wine on Deck "Director of Marketing") suggested we look into selling Wine Wings as custom-engraved wedding favors or decorations.  I picked up a copy of Boston Magazine's twice-yearly wedding guide, and inside was a piece about two local Bloggers. 

Link Love from the Weekly Dig

Boston's Weekly Dig magazine has long been my preferred local free weekly (the other option being the Boston Phoenix).  It tracks the pulse of Boston's young rock crowd - while the Phoenix is a one-size-fits-all affair and Stuff goes for the highbrow, Shanghai/New York transplant set.

100% black walnut only $15!! Holiday special on Wine Wings

Want to cut to the chase? your $15 Wine Wing is right here.

Wine Wings for all! Many have asked if we plan on offering a Wine Wing for wine lovers on a budget. Well, yes, in fact we do. Here's how it happened:

In late summer, I selected some gorgeously figured American Black Walnut from my favorite lumber yard. it was a deep, rich brown, and un-steamed as most walnut around these parts is.   It looked so good, I decided to make some Wine Wings entirely of this gorgeous chocolate colored wood.

Then, for some reason, we turned our focus on pinstriped, laminated Wine Wings, and the 100% Walnut wings got lost in the shuffle.

But they're still here, and so I'm offering our 100% American Black Walnut Wine Wings for a mere $15 each (you gotta pay the postage, though). Same brain-tickling Wine Wing design, but with a unique, rich color like no other!

 

Display Technologies.

Is there any way to convince a retailer to add a SKU between Black Friday and New Year's Eve?


As luck would have it, Wine on Deck is transitioning from a product development phase to a sales phase, right around Black Friday.  Few retailers are in the position to add another SKU to their inventory between now and New Year's day, so why are Maja and I pounding the pavement?

rough-cut prototype stand. but you haven't seen the magic yet!

Because I think I've got an offer no wine retailer could refuse: mention in a PR piece which I expect to be published in a popular local paper before the holiday, exclusive territory, and the coup de grâce: a hand-made shelf stand to demonstrate the attention-grabbing awesomeness of the Wine Wing.

Art & Wine on Cape Cod

The Wine List, located in Hyannis, Cape Cod, is known for it's high level of customer service.  They've "received numerous awards – including being named one of “New England’s Best Wine Shops” by WHDH-TV Channel 7, Boston, and "New Business of the Year" by the Hyannis Area Chamber of Commerce. In 2008, they also received recognition from SCORE and the Hyannis Chamber with the "Build a Better Mousetrap" award."

And even better, they're playing host to a gallery opening party tomorrow - December 3, 2010, showing the photography of Wine on Deck sales rep James Joiner!  Way to go James!

Please visit the Wine List's website for more info.

Wine on Deck featured in the Barnstable Patriot

Wine on Deck is beginning to get some press in the local news!  Here, Barnstable Patriot staff writer J. James Joiner mentions our Wine Wings in his posting "Mind Your Neighbor's Business".   We're #7.

Thanks James, thanks Barnstable, and thanks to all who visited our website today and placed orders for Wine on Deck's Wine Wings.

-isaac

BECC conference Chooses Wine Wings for Thank-You Gifts

Last week's Behavior, Energy, & Climate Change Conference in Sacramento, CA, was a chance for the movers and shakers of the U.S. policy, environmental, and business communities to get together and talk shop.  Speakers and panelists included Directors of national and state-level government agencies, CEOs of green corporations and energy providers, and other luminaries.  One common thread among them all?  They all received engraved Wine Wings as thank-you gifts!

Thanksgiving Last Minute Special!!!

Still looking for a gift to give your Thanksgiving dinner host?  How about a bottle of Bordeaux and a hand-made Wine Wing from Wine on Deck?  Forty bucks gets you a one-of-a-kind gift and FREE OVERNIGHT SHIPPING from Federal Express.  Order by Wednesday, November 24, at 12:00pm Eastern, and your Wine Wing will be shipped to any address in the lower 48 by Turkey Day.

Are we there yet? Wine on Deck goes to market

Wine on Deck was founded on the same day we moved into our industrial space in Allston, MA, on June 1st, 2010.  Since then, many members of the Wine on Deck team have been frustrated by my (Isaac D. Van Wesep, the Founder) reluctance to do any serious marketing until we perfect our product line. 

Laser & Mill...so happy together?

A real cherry...

Wine on Deck's Wine Wings come in two styles: "Original" and "Engraved".  Our engraved Wine Wings are laser-etched by Dave LaPlante of Andover, MA.  Laser engraving is a popular way to customize both hand-made items such as our Wine Wings, and factory-produced mass market items.  One reason for the popularity is the laser's incredible resolution: it can etch into wood detail down to 1/1000th of an inch.  But laser engraving is expensive - that laser eventually needs to be replaced - and laser engravers themselves start at around $15 thousand each, and quickly rise to over $100k.

Check out our founder's personal blog

Wine on Deck's founder has a personal blog where he records his ongoing adventures in fine woodworking.  Visit it at http://idvwdesign.blogspot.com/

Isaac shares his trials, his successes, and his discoveries.  Interesting reading for the budding woodworker, or for anybody curious about what woodworkers spend their days agonizing over!

Sustainable business & profitable business: hand-in-hand?

 My previous post here at the Wine on Deck blog was all about the challenge of doing business in a "sustainable" manner within our current global marketplace.  Today's U.S. MBA graduates and entrepreneurs (I count myself among them) are all on board, and they think it can be done.  But can it? 

I posit that it's not at all easy to make a profit with a "zero footprint" business model.  Especially when the rest of the players in the global marketplace don't think it's important to consider the environment and nearby populations when competing for market share.

Sustainability: Proximate vs. Ultimate Costs

The world economy is in the midst of wrenching change.  Increasingly convincing science tells us the human population - and our industrial growth - are approaching the limit of what Planet Earth can provide.  At the same time, our markets - the drivers of wealth, health, freedom, and personal achievement - demand that we act upon the challenges we face now, not in the future.  It's this tension that underlies many of the challenges in transitioning to a "sustainable" economy, whatever that means.

New Blog - No Posts!

Wine on Deck Founder Isaac D. Van Wesep & his Daughter, Eden

Well, I'm totally satisfied with Wine on Deck's new blog.  I built it using Softpress's Freeway 5.5 Pro Web design software, which worked perfectly with Blogger's platform.  It's a big improvement over my previous blogging platform, which was Apple's iWeb.  My one gripe is that I was unable to transfer any of the old posts from the iWeb blog to the new blog.  I know this is typical of Apples' products, or at least it was in the past.  recently Apple has made its software more compatible with the rest of the world, but for some reason iWeb is a completely isolated bit of software.  Not only can one not access the HTML behind an iWeb site, but most of iWeb's functionality is Apple's, not the universal tools employed by nearly everyone else.

Wine on Deck helps Celebrate 25 Years at the East Coast Grill

A couple of years after moving to Boston after college, I quit my genetics research position at MIT’s Whitehead Institute, started a band, and got a job shucking oysters at the East Coast Grill (ECG) in Cambridge, MA.  I knew something was right when i discovered that the ECG was owned by Chris Schlesinger, author of “The Thrill of the Grill”, a seminal cookbook.  The Thrill of the Grill also happened to be my favorite cookbook as a teenager, when one of my chores was to cook dinner for the family Monday-Friday. 

Welcome to the new Wine on Deck blog!

Thanks for visiting our new blog.  There are a lot of old blog posts we weren't able to import to the new blog.  If you'd like to browse our older posts (not included in this blog's archive), please click here. 

Why did we move the blog?  Well, take a look at the old blog (link above), and you'll see its formatting looks nothing like our new Website.  The old blog was designed and managed in Apple's iWeb software, which we no longer use.  This new blog - as well as our new site - are designed and managed in Softpress's Freeway Pro 5.5 software linked to Google's Blogger service.  

I hope you like our new look and our upcoming new posts.  I know I like the new look, and our new management tools.   
-isaac

second test post

second post to see if entries climb up [page

First post

this is a test post to make sure the blog is working