Acquawerks is one of my top startups, and it began with a moment most people would have walked right past. I was walking in Santa Monica toward an art gallery when I noticed a simple acrylic piece in the window — slightly melted, painted a bright color, with a small stream of water running down the center. The price tag was $3,600.
Having already been in the acrylic business, I knew the material, the cost, and what it could do — and I immediately saw both the gap and the opportunity. A week later I returned with an idea: instead of letting water simply fall down a flat surface, I engineered grooves into the acrylic so the water would move, flow, and create patterns across the entire face.
I finished it with high-end automotive paint, scaled it from 48-inch pieces to full-size panels, and quickly developed a line that was more refined, more dynamic, and ultimately more valuable than anything else on the market. Within a month I placed my pieces into that same gallery — this time at even higher prices because the quality justified it.
Sharper Image picked up the line. Local demand surged, and within six months I had already outgrown my first 1,000-square-foot space. From there, the business expanded rapidly across the United States and then internationally — reaching over 40 countries within a year and a half and more than 100 countries within five years, with installations in Las Vegas, Florida, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, and London.
With full control over production, I personally designed every waterwall and pushed the limits of what could be done — moving far beyond acrylic into stainless steel, glass, bronze, stone, granite, onyx, copper, and brass. I learned how to alter materials and integrate them in ways no one had done before, combining engineering with artistic design to create large-scale architectural pieces that stood apart in the market.
That combination of innovation, manufacturing capability, and relentless design is what allowed Acquawerks to grow into a global brand — completing over 17,000 installations across more than 106 countries, with more original designs and patents than any other company in the industry.
