“We make products for what the industry wants BEFORE the industry even knows they want them.”
-Ralph Canaphany
BrandStand® International
This week we are featuring Ralph Canaphany, the CEO of Brandstand® International and Makitso® USA. Having graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering, Ralph is the creator and designer behind all Brandstand® International products with distributors in the UK, Australia and USA.
BrandStand's® Beginnings
Shortly after graduating from New South Wales University in 1983, Ralph began working at a friend's manufacturing screen printing business. He got an idea for a new screen printing machine that would make the signs larger and more vibrant; it became wildly popular. Ralph then opened his own company, BrandStand® International, and began to create designs and products for digital signage, digital printing, and trade shows.
Ideas to Innovation
“My mind works in shapes and numbers; I see everything in lines and symmetry. I get inspiration from everywhere, from counting people on the beach to counting slithers of light shards through a curtain. I have notebooks chalked full of numbers and lines that become an idea, then a design, and later a product. Pioneering products is important to me because I know that from conception to execution this was my idea. We are an advocate for strong innovation with simplicity," says Ralph, "we want to make something that looks beautiful and complex, but is oh-so-easy to put together.""
BrandStand® International has a set of parameters for each and every product. If ideas do not align with these parameters, Ralph puts them aside. "Knowing the ins and outs of the industry makes it easier to stand by my products. I don't cut corners or try to make cheap products, but instead I make compact, cost-effective solutions the market needs, dealers can sell, and end-users will want. There is not one product by BrandStand® International that was not conceptualized and created by BrandStand® International,” says Ralph,“and I take much pride in that."
Leading the Industry
BrandStand® International is a dominating industry leader, being registered by the Chinese government as a high-tech innovation company and receiving multiple acknowledgements and awards. "My favorite award would be the 2011 EXHIBITORLIVE Designer Award for the Brandcusi™ Banner Stand Collection," says Ralph, "it meant so much because it was judged by fellow engineers and designers." BrandStand® International also the received 2018 Buyers Choice Award at EXHIBITORLIVE for WaveLight® Air Counter Collection.
