Today we’d like to introduce you to Charles Chapus.
Charles, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was born and raised in France into a middle-class family. I wasn’t to excited by academic studies and I quickly turned my interest in manual jobs, design, and construction into a fascinating profession. I developed my skills and know-how in workshops surrounded by machines In France. My curiosity, my desire to learn how things work in addition to self-learning and peer-learning helped me acquire my technical and engineering knowledge.
At that time, my father was looking for new job opportunities and we decided to combine our passions and competencies to put up a pool cover family business: Abrisud. The company grew and production expanded quickly and eventually, became one of the leaders in France.
Azenco follows the framework of Abrisud with an expanded range of outdoor products such as innovative pergolas and carports. Azenco expanded first to all Europe and then to the United States. Our first U.S. production unit is based in Miami, FL. We create outdoor living spaces for local communities, businesses or residential projects in partnership with renowned distributors, contractors, and architects. Today, I proudly imagine and design all our outdoor products and take particular care in working hand in hand with the fitters and production operators. I always supervise every single piece in-depth quality testing prior to leaving the Miami factory because that’s what I love, that’s what I do the best.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I am not going to lie, the biggest challenge has been to create and start everything without having a formal engineering or business administration background but a creative and hard-working mindset, years of apprenticeship, experience, and business commonsense instead. This learning-by-doing process led to what the company is today.
Please tell us about Azenco Outdoor.
Azenco imagines, designs and manufactures a range of high-quality outdoor and pool cover systems. Today among the leading companies in the market with over 10,000 achievements to its credit, Azenco offers a comprehensive range around the outdoor layout. With unique designs and recognized quality and expertise, we constantly improve the technicality of our outdoor products. As an example of Azenco’s product uniqueness, our pergolas have no apparent gutters or screws, everything is integrated and hidden.
The company innovates by developing patents each year to bring new contemporary outdoor designs, exclusive options and more safety to any outdoor living space. From inground pool automatic solar covers or pool decks to carports or modular and bioclimatic pergolas, Azenco’s products are fully adjustable and fits all types of spaces. Additionally, our solutions are wind-resistant and don’t rust.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Well, there are so many childhood memories to choose from, but maybe my favorite, or at least the one I remember very well would be when I made my first sale, I was eight years old at that time. My dad used to take me everywhere, I’d helped and hanged around and I’d acquired a lot of construction knowledge and vision while playing with hammers, screws and wood boards without really realizing it.
One day, while my dad went for a coffee a customer came in. He was looking for a folding aluminum ladder. I attended him as my dad used to do and sold him the best ladder we had in stock explaining why he should purchase that one. When my dad came back, the deal was done, the money cashed and the customer gone! I was so proud of myself and I saw that my dad was too.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://azenco-outdoor.com/
- Phone: (305) 607-1722
- Email: azenco@azenco-outdoor.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/azencous/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/azenco.us/
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/company/azenco-international
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