“Christmas time is here
Happiness and cheer
Fun for all that children call
Their favorite time of the year”
-Vince Guaraldi, “Christmas Time is Here”
You can tell that Christmas is many of our employees’ favorite holiday. The very first work day after Thanksgiving, office decorations started popping up in cubicles, lights were strung along hallways, and Christmas sweaters (or Christmas jumpers, as our friends on the UK call them) were brought out of storage. Everywhere you go someone tells you Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas.
I think Christmas resonates because celebrations are highly personal and ever changing, but rooted deeply in traditions that go back for many years. Thus we see one person wearing a traditional Christmas sweater, while another has a sweatshirt with one of the Three Stooges wearing a Santa hat; some employees exchanging gifts while others instead collect items to donate to local charities; some cubicles decked out like the North Pole while others offer a more subtle presentation.
As we end 2015 and reflect back on the #YearOfDraper, I can see some of the same language can be used to describe Draper. Ever changing, but rooted in tradition.
Sure, we started way back in 1902, a window shade manufacturer providing daylighting and solar control solutions to schools. And, sure, we developed our first projection screen, the V Screen, in the 1950s. But that’s not the end of the story. It’s the beginning. What gets lost in the “since 1902” line, is this: Draper hasn’t just been sitting around gathering dust; we have a long and proud tradition of product and process innovation. Yes, we are a family-owned company in the same small town where we started out; how we’ve never had a layoff. Ever. But we were also the first screen manufacturer to develop and patent the “case now screen later” Access concept! And don’t forget we’ve spent millions researching and developing the award-winning Optically Seamless TecVision line of premium projection viewing. This list could go on and on but nobody has time for that. Every day our staff of engineers and chemists are looking at ways to improve products and developing new solutions, and those of us in sales, marketing, and management have to keep up!
This has been a good year for us. We’ve brought home several awards for our product innovations, including TecVision, Access Fit, and LightBloc Zip. In addition, at Greenbuild, our Topspin solar control solution received a Product Innovation Award from Architectural Products Magazine, while at WFX our Screen Boom mounting system received a “Best” Award from Worship Facilities Magazine.
So I guess you could say the secret to Draper’s 113-years-and-counting success has been in providing highly personal customer experiences, ever innovating as the markets change, but keeping contact with the tradition that made us the strong company we are.
Enjoy our electronic holiday greeting, and Happy Holidays from everyone at Draper!
