Story of Wingdow®
Wingdow® began--I suppose--as many companies do. It just happened. My husband, John, and I were corporate consultants who just happened to have birds. We never had any intention at all of becoming a manufacturer of pet bird products. In fact, it was the furthest thing from our minds. We just noticed the kind of activities our birds liked and built things around those activities that we thought would make our birds happy.
One thing we noticed about our birds--and many of our friends' birds--is how much they like windows. And--how much happier and active they seemed to be when they were at the window catching rays and enjoying the activity outside. It seemed to us that they were just trying to recapture some of what they do in nature--which is spend a large part of their day atop trees, soaking up the sunlight and just looking around.
Our Senegal, Pook, in particular, really, really loved his sunshine and sitting at the window. He also liked to CHEW our windows. We didn't want to deprive him of his beloved windows--so John went over to Home Depot early one Saturday morning, dropped $150 for some generic sheet plastic and stainless hardware, and (five hours later) installed the first crudely built Wingdow® Seat on one of our office windows. To say it was an instant hit is an understatement. Pook was by no means an early adopter, but he flew right to his new Wingdow® Seat and let out a loud "chireeeep!" in delight. Then--our Pionus, Sapphie, became interested enough in the Wingdow® Seat to chase Pook away. So--the next day, John went back to Home Depot, shelled out another $150 for materials to build a second one for another office window. This was followed a week later by Wingdow® Seats three and four for the birds' room.
Those first few Wingdow® Seats were made of acrylic sheets joined by ugly metal corner brackets with pop rivets that soon cracked the plastic. They were not particularly pretty--but the birds just loved them--and spent a good part of their day on them. Fellow bird lovers who came to our house saw the Wingdows® and how much our birds loved them--and urged us to make them for others. We toyed with the idea of manufacturing Wingdow® Seat for several years--5 years to be exact--but never gave it serious thought until we brought our new canary, Lucero, home. The first time we let Lucero out of his cage, he flew directly to the Wingdow® Seat nearest his house. His next stop was the Wingdow® Seat on the other side of the room, hidden by a large plant display. He must have been planning his flight from his house by watching our parrots, Pook and Sapphie. From that point on, we knew it was some kind of cosmic duty to share this happiness with other birds.
Still--Wingdow® might not have happened had it not been for a very difficult and sad time in our lives. My mother's breast cancer had spread, and her illness was considered terminal. I left town for months on end to be with her and to take care of her. WIth me gone, John found himself with time on his hands, and he started looking into what it would take to manufacture Wingdow® Seat. He worked tirelessly for months--talking with bird experts, designing the shape, researching and sourcing the raw materials and hardware, building prototypes, and thoroughly testing each one. He even consulted with a sculptor in designing the shape of Wingdow® Seat. The result was the Wingdow® Seat product you see today--durable, elegant, unique, and built to last.
That was over 10 years ago, and I'm pleased to say that we have many happy Wingdow® customers--both bird and human. Wingdow® has never been about making money for us. It has truly been a labor of love. We love that our product has enriched the lives of our birds--and now the lives of many other avian friends. Our lives have been enriched as well. We have met many, many wonderful people since starting this business--people who share our love and passion for birds and our commitment to making life better for these wondrous creatures.
Since introducing Wingdow® Seat, we’ve added several all-stainless steel playstands to our product line. Once again, we had no intention of manufacturing play gyms—but we started doing so at the urging of customers who liked our Wingdow® Seat--and who felt we could bring something unique and creative to the world of bird gyms. Like Wingdow® Seat, our Wingdow® Gym and line of stainless modular playstands are made of the best materials available and are built to last. We use high quality, American-made stainless steel in the construction of all of our playstands—which we know is both durable and 100% bird-safe. Will we continue to build new products? Probably. As long as we believe can bring something unique to the world of companion birds and contribute to their quality of life.