How do you weave them back into everyday life? I would say we’re storytellers.” “There are so many things that are existing that are really cool. “We deal with what’s existing,” Wallau says. Ward Wallau holds an Oakland A’s opening day 2017 base. Wallau is careful to say he isn’t a collector himself, but his office is built out with existing materials - how could it not be? Some artifacts are in the sports realm, others not so much… like an enormous chunk of Boeing’s Pan Am N880PA airplane. Some of Wallau’s favorite products that he’s released include bottle stoppers made from celebratory corks popped after the San Francisco Giants’ 2010 World Series, plus a beanie that was knit from the wool yarn located inside MLB game-used baseballs. In the decade-plus since, Tokens & Icons partnered with the MLB, NHL, PGA, NFL, the Cal Bears, and other college programs. Manufacturing sports-centric pieces helped expand the Tokens & Icons business model, and in 2008, Wallau relocated to his current office space in West Berkeley. In 2006, he and his partners moved into the sports realm, where there are plenty of trinkets and materials to mess around with it was a natural transition for Wallau, who was once a New York Knicks season ticket holder, unfortunately for him. Back then, he was making cuff links from retired New York subway tokens. In 1999, Wallau’s business became a full-time venture out of his basement in Berkeley. “I thought I was out of the woods, and I was looking for someone to take the baton,” he says.Ī San Jose Sharks game used hockey stick bottle opener (top), and an Oakland A’s game used baseball bat bottle opener (bottom). The buyer fully ghosted him once it was clear the pandemic wasn’t going to end soon. He says he found a potential buyer in March, and then, you know what happened. His retirement has already been on hold for longer than anticipated. His trepidation in speaking to me makes more sense: If he were to say something that might lower the perceived value of his company, it could throw a wrench into his plans, so he’s feeling extra cautious. His dad lived to 98, and so he believes he has three good decades left. He says online sales were up 100% for the first few weeks of December, and at the tail-end of an enormously challenging year, Tokens & Icons is still going to turn a (smaller) profit in 2020 thanks to its products selling well in the ecommerce space.Īs it turns out, Wallau, 66, is ready to retire and sell Tokens & Icons to someone else. “YES, I’m game,” he writes.įrankly, the week-long delay means it’s too late for you, the reader, to order something from Tokens & Icons and get it for the holidays, though I suspect Wallau isn’t too upset at that. A week later, he gets back to me via email, no less. Wallau decides to mull over my interview ask. As I explain to him, it’s the holidays, and I want to highlight a Bay Area business selling out-of-the-box gifts for sports fans more pertinently, I’m hoping to hear about how the Tokens & Icons founder and workers have been doing this year.
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