Product Info
Unwined is a flat-pack picnic table built around the one thing every wine picnic needs and almost none provide: somewhere stable to put your glass down.
A rounded-triangle top in 9mm birch ply holds four wine glasses in routed holsters and a bottle of wine in its own cradle, while a cork-inlaid food zone keeps snacks within reach and stops them sliding. Three legs fold flat for carrying and open out into a triangular stance that stays steady on uneven ground.
It's built for the picnic as Cape Town does it; a bottle, a few friends, a blanket on the lawn at Kirstenbosch or a wine estate where the best available option has only ever been plastic cups and a hunt for flat ground. The idea behind this brand is happiness, excitement and memories. The table exists to frame those moments, not to compete with them.
My role: I led the small business team, guiding choices being made at each point in the process, from ideation right through to production and go-to-market.
Problem Statement
Cape Town picnics often include wine, but the gear hasn’t caught up. Carry-tables are built for camping, and the few wine-specific options are either imported or flimsy wire frames that hold just one glass or bottle. Picnickers end up hauling awkward loads, balancing drinks on uneven ground, and settling for plastic cups.
People already bring the wine, the food and the company to the picnic — what's missing is a stable, good-looking place to put it all down.
Users & Persona
The research found three overlapping user groups: couples, friend groups, and families who enjoy wine and picnicking. Most respondents picnic with all three. Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens was the most popular spot, and its Summer Sunset Concerts (November to April) draw 2,000 to 6,000 people each, alongside wine estates and slow-food markets. The market spans ages, genders and backgrounds; only non-drinkers fall outside it.
Persona: Jess, the Sunset-Concert Regular. Jess picnics with friends and family at Kirstenbosch most summer weekends, bringing the cooler bag, cutlery and a cheese-and-fruit spread. Her recurring frustration is having nowhere stable to put a glass or bottle on the blanket. She doesn’t want more gear, just a table that makes the spread feel intentional.
How Might We
- How might we give every glass and bottle a stable place to sit on any outdoor surface?
- How might we make the table light and flat enough that it's no effort to bring along?
- How might we make it the centrepiece of a social space rather than just equipment?
These map directly onto the research: nearly half of respondents said putting down a glass or bottle is always a struggle, around 70% already pack cutlery and more than 60% pack napkins and a cooler.
Research Approach
Research was carried out in three layers. First, an online survey of about 67 Cape Town residents asked nine questions about their picnic habits: how often, where and with whom they picnic, what they pack, which wines they drink, how they keep them cold, and whether they struggle to find places to set things down. Second, we reviewed existing picnic and wine products to map the competitive landscape. Third, we consulted stakeholders and users throughout prototyping through expert and semi-structured interviews. Participation was anonymous and unpaid; participants could opt out of any method, and all were told their responses would be used for research.
Findings & Insights
Three findings shaped the product most.
Nowhere to put a glass. About 48% said setting down a glass or bottle is always a struggle, 37% just hold them, and only 15% use a dedicated fix like a wine spike. This became the core of the design: every glass and the bottle get a purpose-cut slot.
Wine and food go together. Over 80% drink wine at picnics at least sometimes, and 58% bring a full spread of cheese, charcuterie, fruit, chips and crudités. A wine-only table would leave half the picnic on the blanket, so the cork food zone became a core feature.
People already pack like hosts. Around 70% bring cutlery, over 60% bring napkins and a cooler, and 78% chill wine in a cooler bag or box. With that much already being carried, the table had to stay compact, making flat-pack legs and a light 9mm top essential.
Prototype to Final
Hand-drawn concepts were validated by the team, modelled in SolidWorks and CNC-cut into eight physical prototypes.
Prototypes 1–2: too much effort. A 12mm pine plywood table on a single spiked leg stood too tall and had to be pushed into the ground. Its successor used three short legs linked by rope so they opened together, but it was stiff, slower to assemble and no quicker to use, so the rope was dropped.
Prototypes 3–4: simplifying. Lighter 9mm birch ply replaced the heavier marine ply without losing strength. After feedback asked for four glasses and a purpose beyond holding a bottle, the fourth prototype dropped the round form, moved the bottle off-centre so its hole doubled as a handle, and added cork. The legs still didn’t fold flat, though, and food had no home.
Prototypes 5–6: finding the shape. A larger form with an all-plywood hinge failed because the ply flexed and the joint’s lifespan was doubtful. The sixth adopted a rounded equilateral triangle, which used the surface more efficiently, replaced the hinge with a hidden steel pin, and rotated the grain so the legs flexed less and folded flatter.
Prototypes 7–8: refining the finish. The seventh added a cork inlay, leg tabs and feet for soft ground, but the cork was too thin, its recess clashed with the hinges, and varnish left the birch blotchy, so sanding sealer replaced it. The final prototype has a thicker 1.5mm cork inlay, hidden rubber washers that keep the legs tensioned, and a better-angled bottle holder.
The Final Product
One table and one swing tag, designed to frame the moment rather than compete with it:
Form & capacity — a rounded-triangle 9mm birch ply top with four glass holsters around the outer edge and a single bottle holder in the top corner, sized for champagne, with a notch in the largest leg that locates the bottle's punt so it never rests on the ground.
Food zone — a cork inlay on the lower section gives snacks a non-slip surface and a quiet nod to the wine bottle, finished with a food- grade, weather-proof coating that keeps its grip.
Legs & hinges — three flat-pack legs in a triangular stance that stays stable on any gradient or ground, tensioned by hidden recessed rubber washers, with feet that stop them sinking into the ground.
Finish & details — CNC-cut with chamfered outer edges that lower the visual weight, 45-degree routed edges around each holster for a comfortable glass fit, and two coats of weather-proof, food-grade finish over the whole body.
Brand — "Unwined" is a play on unwinding in your free time, deliberately misspelt to say wine. A glass-shaped logo with a corkscrew through it.
Packaging — a minimal swing tag shaped like a wine glass, with a how-to-open illustration, a QR code to the website and the social handles on the back. Kept deliberately minimal.
Price & break-even — roughly R98 per unit (14 tables from one sheet of birch ply) against a R449.95 retail price for customers.
