“I was honoured to be part of such an amazing group of experts and have the opportunity to participate in the launch and share my tips and tricks for painless picture hanging with homeowners and the media. I am looking forward to instructing future classes at the BiY Center for people who want to create beautiful wall arrangements without making extra nail holes. “

We just returned from the 2010 International Home Housewares Show in Chicago which was a great success. The show was very well attended this year and one of the hilights for UTR was being awarded two Design Defined Awards by the IHA, one each for Hang & Level™ and Stoppy™.

The products were selected by Design Finders, teams of young designers, experienced practitioners and educators from the University of Illinois-Chicago’s Interdisciplinary Product Development Program. They scoured hundreds of exhibitors in the Clean + Contain Expo in the North Building searching for products that exemplified a commitment to design while achieving a solution to common household cleaning, storage and home décor issues.

“The purpose of the Design Defined program is to bring attention to those companies that have placed a premium on quality design,” said Phil Brandl, president of IHA, which owns and operates the Show. “We are pleased to announce the results of this much-anticipated program.”

“This year’s Design Defined Honorees showed the continued commitment of the housewares industry to integrate design and innovation into their new product launches,” said Steven Melamed, IDSA, president of Tres Design Group and a professor in the UIC industrial design department. “It was also significantly demonstrated that many companies are now actively moving towards the manufacture of more sustainable products”.

At UTR we are constantly thinking about how we can improve our products and user experience, and we’d like to invite you to help us out by giving us your feedback (both positive and negative) on Hang & Level™, Deco Nails™ or Stoppy™. Any and all comments are welcome and we’d love to know what you think worked well, what didn’t work, what changes you’d like to see, or any other comments you have.

Simply follow the link here, or click the Product Feedback button displayed on most of the pages.

We were thrilled to hear that New York magazine has selected the Hang & Level Picture Hanging Tool as one of their Best Bets in their December 14th issue! Available now at your favorite newsagents or click here for the web version.

We’re putting the finishing touches on our new series of “How-To” videos for the site and we’ve gathered together all the video segments we’ve collected over the years and posted it to our very own YouTube channel! In addition to the videos showing how to use our products, you can see segments from popular TV shows that feature the Hang & Level and Stoppy such as CityLine and Divine Design. Also from the video vault we’ve uploaded a few stories from the CBC [link] and CareersTV [link] which describe the journey we undertook to get Hang & Level from an idea to store shelves. We will continue to add videos to the channel as well as our website so stay  tuned!

We were excited to read about Hang & Level on the Tool Snob website, and also to discover that it’s currently #59 in Amazon’s top 100 selling item in the Home Improvement category. Check out the review here.

It’s been a busy week here at UTR as we wrap up filming of some new products and how-to videos. One of things that has always bugged us about the picture hanging advice that you get on your favourite design shows etc, is that while they always talk about what kind of arrangement works best or what order to put stuff in, when it gets around to how to actually hang up the pieces it’s a big mystery. Typically a show will cut to a commercial and when the return they are just putting the final piece in place. Or you get some loose instructions like “measure and mark where to put your nail”.

Well we are addressing this with our new series of How-To videos. We’ll show you exactly how to use our newest products as well as how to hang some of the most common wall décor arrangements, step by step! We will be launching our new video section on the website in the near future as well as making the videos available on your favourite video sites like YouTube.

What picture hanging related topic would you like to see a video on? Send your ideas to info@utrdecorating.com

CrossIron Mills, the first new indoor mall to open in Alberta in 20 years, has been drawing a lot of media attention recently, and UTR’s Stoppy was there for the grand opening courtesy of Calgary’s first Bed Bath & Beyond. Many thanks to the team at BBB for creating this awesome wall of multicolored Stoppys right at the front of the store! If you happen to be in the area, drop in and pick out your favorite color.

Yesterday Leo Laporte, creator and host of the This Week in Tech (TWit) netcasting empire, and Dick DeBartolo the host of the daily GizWiz show, discuss Hang & Level and what it takes to get a product from an idea into production. Leo knows firsthand about what it takes to turn a good idea into a great product – his wife’s step sister is the creator of Crocs™!

You can click here to listen to the entire episode on TWiT.tv, or click on the player below to listen to the short version of the clip.

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Design expert Ramsin Khachi introduced Stoppy™ this week on Toronto’s Breakfast TV, and to a national audience on CityLine. In both segments Ramsin shared his favorite Father’s Day gift ideas.

Ramsin demonstrated different ways of using this unique and decorative door and window stop, and everyone in the Cityline audience was given a Stoppy to take home. Available at Home Hardware Stores in Canada, click here to see the clips of the segments with Ramsin.

We are proud to announce that Liette Tousignant, company founder and inventor of the Hang & Level picture hanging tool, has been named French Female Entrepreneur of the Year by the Coalition des femmes de l’Alberta.

The Prix d’Excellence is awarded by The Coalition des femmes de l’Alberta and is given to business women who believe in the importance of offering services in both English and French. As Under the Roof is bilingual in all aspects including website and other media, product packaging and how-to information and videos, Liette was extremely qualified. The award also spotlights the value and importance of French culture in the work environment. Liette was awarded a beautiful photograph taken by artist Denise Parent.

Click here to learn more…

We are thrilled to announce that Hang & Level has been identified as one of the Outstanding Products at the 2009 National Hardware Show underway in Las Vegas.

Now in its 64th year, the National Hardware Show in Las Vegas is the leading sourcing, trading and learning event for the $343 Billion dollar US “home after market” industry. Selection by the awards committee indicates that they believe the product is unique and has the potential to be a home improvement industry best seller – and so do we!

I’m thrilled that Mag Ruffman recommended Hang & Level as one of “The right tools for the project” in today’s New York Times. If anyone is thinking of hanging artwork or other wall Décor, give Hang & Level a try and please let me know how your project turns out! Thanks Mag for your support!

Liette,

Hang & Level Inventor

Click here to view the article