By Dominik Lobkowicz
Judy Bernier, of Waldoboro, and Chris Sneesby, of Yorkshire, England, the original designer of the Archipod, built this pod in Bernier’s backyard in Waldoboro. Bernier’s company, Podzook, is now the licensed manufacturer of Archipods in the United States. (D. Lobkowicz photo) |
A Waldoboro woman has started a new company called Podzook to manufacture a British-designed spherical structure called the Archipod in the United States.
“It’s just really something different. I’d never seen anything like this before I saw the Archipod,” said Judy Bernier, who started Podzook last September.
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Judy Bernier, director of Podzooks, stands inside the first Archipod built in the United States. (D. Lobkowicz photo) |
“They’re fun. I can’t look at this pod and not smile,” she said.
The number one use of Archipods is for backyard offices, Bernier said, but they have also been used as a playhouse or as a space to meet with customers.
Bernier has even had an inquiry from someone in Hawaii who wants to use one of the pods for a shaved ice shop.
“It’s really whatever you want it to be, for someone who’s looking for something different,” Bernier said.
According to Bernier, Chris Sneesby, of Yorkshire, England, invented the Archipod after he wanted a place to work from at his home but didn’t have the extra space.
Sneesby didn’t want the “same old, same old square shed,” so he came up with the Archipod, Bernier said.
“It’s a way of getting it away from the house without having to travel too far,” she said.
Bernier’s connection with the Archipod came about in a somewhat similar fashion. She was working for another company remotely from her home, but was looking for something to use as a work space outside her house.
The Archipod came across Bernier’s Twitter feed, but when she contacted Sneesby he told her the pod was too expensive to export.
“The only was I was going to get one was to start my own company and make one, so I did,” Bernier said.
Sneesby receives many inquiries from potential customers in the U.S. and Canada, but had no way of getting Archipods to them, Bernier said. With Maine’s natural resources – particularly lumber – and talented boat builders, producing the pods here seemed like a natural fit to Bernier and Sneesby, she said.
After working through the details, Sneesby and Bernier decided she would start her own company here and work as a licensed manufacturer of the Archipod, Bernier said.
Bernier went to school for architecture, and worked in that field and for 25 years as an interior designer.
“I actually love making stuff. I love how at the end of the day there’s something there you’ve actually done,” she said.
Bernier originally planned to call her business Maine Garden Pods, but wanted a single-word name. She came up with Podzook by tying the product together with the English exclamation gadzooks, she said.
So far, Bernier has built just one Archipod in Waldoboro, which is serving as a showroom customers can view by appointment at her home at 623 West Main St.
Bernier’s pod, currently unfurnished, will be multipurpose, but the company is willing to discuss options for interiors and furnishings with customers to meet their needs, Bernier said.
The pods, which are built from plywood using jigs and computer numerical control machines, are insulated, and can be equipped with heating (Bernier has electric radiant heating in her pod) or prepared for air conditioning. The pods can be hooked up with electricity in a similar fashion to an RV, and include lighting around the pod’s dome as well as three outlets and a data port.
The interior of the pods measures 9 feet, 6 inches across at the widest point.
Prices range from $32,000 to $40,000 depending on options, according to the Podzook website.
Bernier plans to build the pods with assistance from one or two local boat builders, and use as many locally sourced materials as she is able.
The domes will come from EZ Tops World Wide in Calais, shingles for the pods come from Longfellows Cedar Shingles in Windsor, and other supplies come from N.C. Hunt Lumber and America’s Wood, Bernier said.
Bernier buys one part of the pod from Sneesby, the pod’s gull-wing door, which serves as sort of a commission for Sneesby, she said.
For more information, visit www.podzook.com or http://archipod.com, call 617-291-0445, or email enquiries@archipod.com.
