Meet Vinnie Mai and Jessica Wangler of Tipsy Oak

Today we’d like to introduce you to Vinnie Mai and Jessica Wangler.

Vinnie and Jessica, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
We’re the owners and designers of Tipsy Oak. We’re a couple with a passion for design, architecture and handcrafted home decor and furniture. Our first table we designed and built was for our first apartment together back in LA made out of repurposed wood. After gaining such a great response, we decided to play with the idea to share what we love with others and offer them for sale on Etsy. As orders began to trickle in we began designing in our one bedroom apartment and building on our tiny 5×6 patio. It didn’t take long for us to realize this wasn’t going to work as we were nearly evicted due to noise. We had to make quick changes if we were looking to continue with our idea. The only option at the time was to drive over an hour to a friends house just north of LA and build in his yard. Each day was a struggle having to set up and tear down the workspace. After making it through a very tough year of commuting and working strictly outside with a multitude of weather and insect conditions, we pushed on to keep up with orders until we figured out the next step. It wasn’t until then when we decided to follow our dream to move to Phoenix. In a very short amount of time, we were able to establish a true workspace out of our home and was able to fully establish Tipsy Oak. By establish, we also mean finding our design niche. We’ve been able to utilize our love for different architectural and design styles to create an eclectic mix of furniture and home decor. We have been so overwhelmed with the love, support, and resources this city had given us to help make Tipsy Oak what it is today.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
No, aside from the challenges we mentioned back in LA when we first got started, it’s been a huge learning curve for us which I’m sure is a struggle for any entrepreneur. The entire process of trying to start and run a business takes a lot of time and research, such as creating the right business structure, managing taxes, marketing, as well as networking. Every obstacle has been a great learning opportunity.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Tipsy Oak story. Tell us more about the business.
We design and handcraft a stretch of home decor pieces and furniture – Tabletops, wood art, painted art, coasters, entryways, media units and more. We like to draw our inspiration from all architectural and design styles of all eras to create a unique, eclectic style. As we focus mainly on the use of wood for our work, we try to keep our work interesting and unique by incorporating other types of media.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Some of the proudest moments would probably come from interactions and feedback we received from customers. It’s always such a great feeling to hear how much they love and enjoy a piece we created. We had a customer who had purchased a table from us online a few years back. She was visiting Phoenix from LA and happen to recognize our work at an event we were attending. She made it a point to come over and tell us after two years she still loves the table and received many compliments. It’s moments like these that are priceless.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.tipsyoak.com
• Phone: 7169091686
• Email: TipsyOak@gmail.com
• Instagram: Tipsyaok
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tipsyoak/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/tipsyoak
• Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/tipsyoak

Getting in touch: VoyagePhoenix is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.