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TUUCI founder Dougan Clarke turns the focus on outdoor environments
TUUCI founder Dougan Clarke turns the focus on outdoor environments
Born and raised near Florida’s coastline, Dougan Clarke’s lifestyle revolved around the outdoors. As a teenager, he landed a job working at the boat shop of a family friend, Fred Herman, followed by a stint at a patio shop in his early 20s. When he decided to start his own company 25 years ago, he went back to the boat shop, launching TUUCI in a few hundred square feet in the back.
What led you to launching TUUCI? There was a moment while I worked in the patio shop when I realized there must be a better way to make an umbrella, one that could prevent the constant service calls our company had to make on account of cheap umbrellas not surviving Miami’s brutal oceanfront, wind, and salt spray conditions. I knew I could craft something far more durable at the boat shop where I had spent so many years rigging boats and making custom products for one of the most demanding environments on earth: the open ocean.
What is the company’s philosophy? Our focus continues to be on form and function. We’re committed to the mission of providing the most durable and design-driven shade equipment. That same commitment extends to the experiences shared with our internal team members, vendors, and the communities we support.
The Solanox cabana’s sleek modular design can be built to custom specifications, making the outdoors feel luxurious
How do your products enhance the outdoors? Creating comfort and accessibility in open-air environments embodies the definition of hospitality. Although the creative process itself is enjoyable, true delight comes from knowing that someone, somewhere may appreciate a moment of comfort and tranquility beneath a TUUCI parasol or among our collective furnishing designs.
What trends are you paying attention to? The pandemic caused a tectonic shift in lifestyles. Our focus remains on creating enhancements to open-air lifestyles and experiences via products that create comfortable spaces to extend the day, night, and entire outdoor season.
What is your best business advice? Replace yourself. Replace yourself. Replace yourself. There is so much value in embracing and applying these words within the variable and imperfect science of building a company. Being humble enough to realize that many other people can perform any job better than yourself is a strength to lean into. Our business philosophy is to empower the right talent and help them achieve their personal goals. The intersection of personal fulfillment and peak professional performance is a place our company endeavors to occupy.
Rotating 360 degrees around its vertical axis, the Stingray shade sculpture can create shade at any time of day
This interview is part of a series highlighting some of the hospitality industry’s most successful manufacturers. Read our previous interviews with Bryan Ashley, Fabric Innovations, Durkan, and Bernhardt Hospitality.
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