The Docklanders defying gravity

When Taggart Blackwood and Lexi Hall of Docklands had to abandon plans for their 14-month overseas holiday and return to Australia upon the rise of COVID, they came home with a new dream.

“We had all this memorabilia from our travels lying around on shelves and so the idea to put some life back into our fond memories came from there,” Mr Blackwood said.

“The product – Floatnetics – is a display unit that is revolutionising traditional bookshelves.”

Seeing the potential for an “eye-catching”, aesthetically pleasing product display, Mr Blackwood designed and engineered a unit with embedded electromagnetic levitation technology.

It allows for possessions, collectibles and store merchandise to seamlessly rotate and float in a way that stylishly elevates the art of display.

Alongside Mr Blackwood, Ms Hall handles the marketing and accounts management side of the business, making them a local Docklander team that actively displays the importance of Australian technology start-ups.

“I think it’s good to get more local areas involved and to have local support, and to be able to say that this product is coming out of Docklands, it’s coming out of Melbourne and it’s out of Australia,” Mr Blackwood said.

A lot of Australian companies tend to go overseas because they are more used to developing start-ups over there, but I would like to see more innovation coming out of Australia.

Receiving a “good” initial response to their launch on Kickstarter on February 23, Mr Blackwood and Ms Hall are in the process of “educating and engaging with people” about their product.

“We just want to get the product out there and show people what is available, what we can do and how they could use the Floatnetics display unit,” Mr Blackwood said.

A couple with great ambitions, Mr Blackwood and Ms Hall have spent the past two years of lockdowns as an “opportunity to concentrate on the business.”

And while they moved to Docklands from Sydney eight months ago for “business and networking” reasons they are keen to see what Docklands has to offer.

“Docklands is a really great place. It was pretty quiet for a while, so we didn’t get to see what it was like in its heyday, but now that it’s opened up we have been able to walk around by the water,” Mr Blackwood said.

“It has a good vibe, nice cafes and feels like a community.”

While not available for online distribution yet, Floatnetics is in the process of receiving funding through their Kickstarter campaign and have opted for shipping to be available to all around Australia, America, Canada, Europe and New Zealand when they start actively selling •

Follow Floatnetics for updates : instagram.com/floatnetics and facebook.com/floatnetics