The Stakrax Story
In 2007 the Stakrax concept was originally conceived by Matt Busby in Perth, Western Australia.
Mr Busby was a proprietor of a business that offered total wine storage solutions including offsite wine storage in a climate controlled warehouse and all the leading brands of refrigerated wine cabinets and wine racks.
At the time the only wine racks available on the market were rigid in their specifications. If you had a specific space to build your wine rack the only solution was a custom designed wine rack which usually proved expensive and difficult to find someone to build and install. Once built most of the wine rack systems were unable to be dismantled and reconfigured to fit a different space or shape should the owner wish to relocate or grow their wine rack with their collection.
Watching his young children play with their Lego blocks the idea of building a wine rack that was quick and easy to assemble and dismantle and be built into any size or shape came about. It needed to be simple enough that even a young child could do it.
Making a commitment to develop the wine rack Mr Busby went to an industrial design company where the concept was transformed into a reality.
Drawings were completed followed by an application for a Worldwide Patent, Registered Design and construction of the moulds to produce the product. Over the next 12 months a number of enhancement were made to the design to ensure strength and durability and the racks could be quickly and easily added to horizontally and vertically.
Plastic was decided on the preferred material as it did not rust, rot or be eaten by insects. It also allowed for the small and exact tolerances required to make the system work. One of the most difficult aspects in developing the product was finding the correct plastic to use in the products construction. The plastic had to be flexible enough not to be brittle and split at the join on the hinge though structurally strong and ridged enough to withstand the weight of a large number of heavy wine bottles (12 bottles of wine weights on average about 16Kg). Working closely with plastics experts and after months of trial and error the optimal plastic was finally developed.
The product was introduced into the Australian market in Western Australia for Christmas 2009 where the total production of the first run was sold out. During 2010 the product became available nationally throughout Australia.