2011
Back then I used to run a self-employed gardening business
and sometimes I would be asked by my customers to change just 1 fence panel and
I would have to ask for help from a friend in order to come along with me and
lift the panel up to slide it into the gravel post grooves. So one day, annoyed
by the un-cost-effectiveness of the traditional panels, I went home and at the
back of my garden I cut an ordinary fence panel into 2 exact halves, put 2
hinges in the middle and with the help of my wife Zoe I called it Flexi Fence.
At that point I wasn't sure what to do with it, but together with my wife we
agreed it would be worth submitting the idea for patent, and so I did. I then
found a great patent lawyers firm in Birmingham where we live and I have to
mention their name, Barker Brettell, and they took care of all the legal
requirements, they wrote a book! The first step was accomplished, the idea was
legally covered.
I was so excited; I had the feeling to be the one who made a
revolution in the fencing industry.
The next step was to brand it properly, so the Flexi Fence
had to have a trademark. I commissioned the design to 4 different graphic
designers and I never seen so much rubbish in my life, not a single slightly
good design. So I sat down on my day off and worked out my own design which you
can see here.
A hinge in the middle, with two F's mirrored, designed by me
with Paint, an ordinary software supplied on my pc. I didn't have a clue about how
to register my trademark but I searched online, I found the trademark website
and registered my trademark.
Next step was to find a fencing manufacturer to produce it.
After the product was covered I started to go around fencing manufacturers in
the Midlands and soon realized how many (but not all) of them are so narrow
minded, they couldn't work out how that hinged fence would be good for the
fencing market and now I know why, they lived all their lives producing flat
wood, they will never see it differently, foldable or handy. They can't, it is
not their fault. In the end I found one manufacturer, it was more like I was
convincing him to do it then him be happy to do it, but at least I had a
manufacturer, prices and everything else.
With prices, design and all related things in hand, I
started to contact garden centres in my local area, altogether I visited 5 of
which 4 wanted to stock the Flexi Fence, not a bad start for sure and this made
me more and more sure it was a good idea and that I was doing the right thing.
I thought about applying to the Dragon's Den too, and so I did. I applied to go there, I did the business plan and
everything needed, filled all the forms, ready. All I had to do now was to wait
for an answer, I didn't have finances and the Dragons would have been able
to boost the Flexi Fence.
At the same time I sent a letter and brochure explaining
what the Flexi Fence was to the main buyer at B & Q, and you know what? He
replied! Not only he replied, he suggested to
contact the garden fencing suppliers they use, if their suppliers were happy to
produce the panel B & Q would buy it. And so I did. I was given the email
address of the MD of one of the biggest fencing manufacturers in UK, and
approached him, it was around September-October 2011 and everything seemed to
be going the right way.
I have a daughter, Ella May, at that time 3, and a son,
Luca, at that time 1.
Luca was growing ok, a nice chubby little boy, always
smiling and clapping and playing. One night in Autumn he was ill, he started to
fit really badly and was rushed to the hospital by ambulance, he never came
back the same. He started to lose his skills, he wasn't playing anymore, he
could not even feed himself anymore. I thought he was going to get better, I
was wrong. Luca was seriously ill, but we didn't know, nobody did. After months
of trips to hospitals we had a diagnosis, Luca suffered from a condition called
Infantile Tay Sachs, a rare degenerative hereditary condition which makes the
affected child lose all his skills, turn blind, deaf, limiting his life to no
more than 4 years of age. My heart was shredded into million bits and spread in
the street like confetti.
It was the 7th of February 2012. After an initial telephone contact by one of BBC Dragon's Den producers, I received an email that I wasn't going to the TV program. Ok I thought. I still had the B & Q contact; I didn’t really need to go to a TV program to make myself better off. After lots of tries and nearly 8 months from the first contact, I managed to arrange a meeting with one of the biggest fencing manufacturers in the UK, appointment booked in June 2012. Meanwhile, Luca was losing all his skills, I was witnessing the most horrible thing a parent can be asked to, take his own child to his grave and not be able to do anything. I used to take him to garden centres with me in my work van; I was spending all the priceless time left I could with him.
I went to the meeting of B & Q manufacturers with a
close friend, Darren, an experienced MD. We did all we could to impress the Directors
and we left the premises with lots of good hopes, we both had the feeling that
this fencing firm would embrace the product and make it work, we were wrong.
After a couple of days I received an email saying they were not interested, and
that was it. My conclusion was that if you leave flat, you can't see bends and
I thought: what's wrong with these manufacturers? Everybody can see the
benefits of having a foldable fence panel, how can they not see it? Where's
innovation, design, where? They all produce flat panels always in the same way and
design, how can this be possible? But yes, it is possible, my opinion is that
managers worry about numbers, profits and loss; managers will never embrace an
innovation which can make them look stupid for not been able to think about it
themselves with all the resources they have. I was tired, really tired about everything. I needed a break
from all of this, and so I did, it was June 2012.
In July 2012 I decided not to trade anymore either, I closed
my self-employed gardening business and got a job as part time waiter, in this
way I could look after Luca in the day and work at night.
Autumn 2012
Then I fought a battle against even narrower minded people
which occupy Birmingham City Council's school appeal board panel, a council with 0% success rate on school appeals, a dictatorship. Our
daughter was sent to a school too far from home and we couldn’t take her there
as now terminally ill Luca wasn’t fit at all to come with us, a cold could kill
him. My wife and I fought really hard for the right of our daughter education
and our son’s health, national TV and local newspapers highlighted the matter.
One day I protested and distributed leaflets on my own outside Birmingham City Council,
Luca was with me in his wheelchair. I wrote to everyone who could help us, including Her
Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister David Cameron. The Prime Minister
also replied and apologized through his office about the troubles we were
experiencing. With the help of family and lifetime friend Fiona, Luca’s Nurse Jayne
and local Erdington Labour MP Jack Dromey and his supportive team, we won at the
third attempt, it was autumn 2012, the only appeal won in Birmingham that year,
the first one to win in 12 years after having to go through the process 3
times. A school appeal is like a court appeal, even in the way it is run, you
need to contact lawyers, pay them, file lots of documents, it is an endless
practice which costs lots of money you will never get refunded.
Time was going past really fast, before I realized I found
myself in Acorns Children's Hospice, holding Luca while passing away, he stopped breathing
the 02/02/2013 at 4:37am. In 2013 everything was blury, strange, no much to do, no hospital appointments, no feeding machines, just a surreal silence in the house and a feeling of emptiness in my heart. When Luca was firstly diagnosed, with the help of friends we started a fundraising organization called Luca Loves Life Appeal, all the money we raise goes to Acorns Children’s Hospice, the Birmingham Children's Hospital and other charities across UK as well as we give cash to poor families around the world dealing with terminally ill children but not as lucky as us to benefit from free NHS.
2013
I have experienced health problems myself, all emotionally
related; this went on
for months, and still does now but I am getting better with time. I have lost
weight and felt really weak, but still I kept myself fit by running and doing
some weight lifting in the back garden shed. Although I was going through the
worst nightmare a human being can experience, I never asked for a day off at
work, ever. Fact.While I was looking after Luca I started to entertain him by playing an old guitar and sing, he loved to hear me doing so. Because I didn't know any cover song I started to write songs for him and now, after he passed away, I recorded all of them in a professional studio, published into a music CD and all the profits go to Luca Loves Life Appeal, the album has 11 songs and is called "Eleven". It had to be done, is now my hobby to go in pubs and clubs to perform the songs purely to raise money for the Appeal.
January 2014, here I am.
This year I want answers, and Flexi Fence is the first one on
the list. I don't want to blame Luca for the troubles I was going through, my
job, my projects, no, and I am not dead. I come from an Italian Island called
Sardinia and we are well known to be stubborn people, me for sure at least.The following is a copy and paste from my Facebook status I posted at the beginning of the year:
"The New Year 2014.
Welcome 2014, I am glad you arrived. For
you 2014 I am determined to see if the Flexi Fence project will work or not, if
yes good if not I will scrap everything and that will be it. So, first thing
this morning I went to see the manufacturer, on the way there a memory flashed
back into my head and it was all about Luca as I used to carry him with me
everywhere, even to my business meetings. Anyway, the manufacturer is happy to
produce the fence product (even if he was moaning he is too busy and he cannot
keep on top of his actual fence orders), then I went to a garden centre I was
in touch with. When I first approached that garden centre I was with Luca, he
was already diagnosed and ill, but I took him there with me as I used to be
with him most of my time, I think it was around June-July 2012, I remember it
was really hot and sunny on that day. He slept all the way there and his face
was nice and red, happy and deep asleep. I was driving while I looked at him
sitting at the front of the van with me and I remember his little face, his
tiny hands, his long eyelashes, I parked the van at the garden centre, and I
touched his face and kissed him with all the love a dad can give in a kiss, I
clearly remember every move.
But today was a little different; to
start with it wasn't hot but grey and rainy.
Today on the way there next to me there
was an empty seat, I went in that car park, I parked the van and there wasn't
Luca's red cheeks, his tiny hands, his long eyelashes, no kisses to be given,
no, the seat was empty. No, Luca wasn't there; I parked my van, looked at the
disabled spot where I parked when I was with Luca, and burst into tears. I cleaned my face and then walked into the shop as nothing happened, it was about a year and a half ago last time I have been there, and I asked - Can I speak to the Manager? - The Manger came out, and so we talked about business.
Welcome 2014. I am glad you arrived. And thank you Tay Sachs for ruining my life, for the rest of my days.
Antonello Atzori"
Meanwhile, in my work place I made my way up from part time
waiter to a full time business manager. Never give up guys, never give up on
yourselves. And so I didn't.
In January 2014 I brought even more innovation to the fencing
world. You know when you buy a fence panel there normally is a metal brand with
the logo of the fencing manufacturer stapled in the middle; I call it waste of
money and I am surprised (but not that much) why fencing companies never
thought about cutting that cost? I also know some other manufacturers don’t
brand their products because it cost too much, this is totally understandable,
so they prefer not to have their trade name on the fences. To cut costs but at
the same time have a good finished and branded fence product, what I have done
myself is to engrave the Flexi Fence directly into the wood with a mains
powered branding iron. A branding iron, that's all you need, 100 pounds for it,
and you can engrave an infinite number of panels, front, back, left, right, any
way you like it with no waste or environment issues whatsoever. Why finish a
FSC approved fence product (FSC - Forest Stewardship Council - means that all
the wood used to manufacture the fence panels is from forests that are managed
to the highest ecological standards) adding one of the dirtiest things on
earth, a piece of tin where your company name is branded on? It is not even
cost effective. The biggest mystery of the traditional fencing manufacturers but not my
problem for sure.
Flexi Fence
branding iron first ever tests, Friday 24th January 2014, 14:30
Branding iron
Flexi Fence logo against tin metal stapled-in, primitive fashion logo.
Week one, no phone call.
Week two, no phone call.Week three, no phone call.
Week four, no phone call.
So I rang the garden centre myself and spoke to the manager
directly, my intention was to collect the panels and use the wood for my
barbeque but I didn’t have to; the manager said they sold 2 panels! You can
imagine my face at that moment J
and what went through my head in a split of a second. After not even a month since the fence was in the market, in
between the 3rd and 4th week it sold 2. Amen. There is a
gap in the market and I just proved it, whether fencing manufacturers like it
or not Flexi Fence is filling that gap, this means that business wise Flexi
Fence can be converted into £ pounds. Fact, not just my opinion. In actual fact Flexi Fence is not just filling a gap, it has created an exclusive market with no competition.
After reading this story and knowing what it took me to
prove the world I was right against all the odds you should agree Flexi Fence
is a reality and not just my dream, I am now even more convinced that it could
be distributed to the 2.500 garden centres across the UK and because of its
transportability if Flexi Fence was being sold in places like Argos for
example, or in supermarket chains like ASDA or Tesco, surely it would sell more than just one or two, in addition the panel could also be produced
in nice PVC plastic with lifetime guarantee. I know Flexi Fence has made a
revolution in the way fence panels are purchased and installed for ever, its only
limit is the narrow minded world around it but Flexi Fence and I do not have
limits and I am amazed on how people can make your life so hard for no reasons,
why? Why do that? I look back now and I still don’t understand
but is not my problem anymore.
At the moment I don’t hold the necessary resources to get
the best out of the Flexi Fence and for this reason I am looking for an
investor with the potential to distribute Flexi Fence nationwide. If you have
what it takes feel free to contact me enquiries@flexifence.co.uk. No time wasters please, I have better things to do in
life, like help terminally ill children and their families.
Thank you for reading.
Antonello Atzori
P.s. Never give up on one of the most important thing in
human’s life, yourself.
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| 4x6 foot Flexi Fence panel inside a WV Polo. Can you do this with an ordinary flat panel? |
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| 4x6 foot Flexi Fence panel inside a WV Polo
And now look at this comment which you can find by following this link:
http://www.diy.com/nav/garden/fencing-paving-decking/fencing/fence_panels/Grange-Traditional-Lap-Panel-Brown-H-0-91m-x-W-1-83m-9276452
 
This guy has worked out his way to fix the problem, so do you still think there is no demand for Flexi Fence? Another thing, even if you wanted to book B & Q for a delivery (but you must spend at least 100 pounds plus you still have to pay for the delivery, unless you spend more than 250 pounds), you are ringing an 0845 number :) HAPPY DAYS
Aaaaaaaa I was forgetting, once you have paid for the panel to be delivered in your front drive curb, who is going to slot it in?
Thank you for reading.
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