- April 26, 2024
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It was a windy Fourth of July in 2022.
Ormond Beach residents Karen Thorburn and Amy Kolis were at a friend's barbecue, and the tablecloth was flapping around, knocking everything over. Thorburn had to hold it down by pressing her finger to the cloth underneath the table.
Thorburn and Kolis, longtime best friends, thought there had to be a better way.
"We joked around while we were there — the different things that are available, but many of them are cumbersome or in your way," Kolis said.
And that's how Table Teeth came into existence.
After that July barbecue, Thorburn searched online for a device that would solve their problem, but found nothing. Once they decided to make their own product, Kolis and Thorburn tried out different variations before deciding on a waterproof silicone "jaw" that attaches beneath a table, allowing users to slip the cloth between the teeth of the holder.
The first prototype was built using a 3D printer. Thorburn and Kolis filed for a patent last December.
"We are optimistic that it's going to go through," Thorburn said.
The local best friends participated in the Daytona Home Show at the Ocean Center last September and began selling on Amazon soon thereafter. Table Teeth retails for $12.99 for a pack of four.
Why did they name it Table Teeth?
Thorburn liked the idea of having a shark logo.
"I was like, 'That's pretty cool,'" Thorburn said. "The shark teeth matched the teeth [in the holder]."
Thorburn and Kolis have been friends since the late 1990s. They met in the Cayman Islands, when Thorburn's family moved there for her father's job. Three decades later, they live in the same neighborhood in Ormond Beach. Kolis moved to Ormond 10 years ago, and Thorburn moved to town five years later.
It's fun being in business as best friends, they said.
"We work well together," Kolis said. "We both have easy personalities and I think since we've known each other for so long, it helps too."
And they complement each other. Out of the pair, Thorburn said Kolis is the creative one.
When asked if they considered themselves to be inventors, the women looked at each other with a shrug and a smile.
"I guess so," Thorburn said. "It's weird saying that, but at the same time, it's cool because I'll meet little girls at the [home] shows and it's like, we came up with these, so you just keep thinking because one day you might come up with an idea. I just think it's great that new things are still possible."
Visit www.tableteethholder.com.
