The Plant Box is blooming
BUSINESS | 10/10/2022
THE PLANT BOX BLOOMERS
FROM EDITOR
The two founders Anne Baltes-Schlüter and Alice Sare Özserin impressed people with their sustainable plant creations in the lion's den about six months ago. In the interview they reveal what their everyday work looks like today and what they have planned for the future.
ABOUT HALF A YEAR AGO YOU WERE AT "THE HAVEN OF THE LIONS" AND WAS ABLE TO SECURE A DEAL WITH JUDITH AND CARSTEN MASCHMEYER - WHAT HAS CHANGED FOR YOU SINCE SINCE?
Since our appearance in the cave, we have been able to significantly expand our production and the corresponding team and have also moved into new production and office space. Our collection now consists of 30 different creations that make colorful, beautiful and, above all, ready-made plants for your balcony at home all year round. The very clear conclusion is that the broadcast gave us great visibility and we were able to grow accordingly. We have also expanded our founding team to include Laura Jassoy and there are now three of us.
WHAT DOES YOUR DAY-TO-DAY WORK LOOK LIKE CURRENTLY?
In addition to the ongoing production and shipping of our autumn creations, we are currently preparing for the Advent season. Here we offer our do-it-yourself Advent wreath sets every year, which enable a creative and individual introduction to the Christmas season. Otherwise, Q4 is of course heavily influenced by planning the new financial year - this of course also includes the development of our 2023 collection of finished creations. Despite the energy crisis and inflation, we plan to expand into several European countries.
HOW DO YOU MANAGE TO GET YOUR START-UP AND YOUR FAMILIES UNDER HOME?
We try to use every minute efficiently, are flexible and take each other into consideration. Of course, family and job often mean doing things left behind in the evenings or on weekends or when the children are asleep. In general, we also receive a lot of support from our families.
WHICH OF YOUR CREATIONS ARE STANDING ON YOUR OWN BALCONIES AT HOME?
All 😉 We live our product and in addition to the joy that each and every one of our creations brings us, we naturally want to feel close to our customers and closely follow the development of each individual creation. This is the only way we can live up to our high quality standards and optimize our collection every year.
Of course we each have a few favorite creations. Alice loves the White Flower, while Laura likes something more colorful with the Wild Fall. Anne is a big fan of the Yellow Jungle.
CHRISTMAS IS COMING SOON - YOU ALSO HAVE SOMETHING VERY SPECIAL IN YOUR RANGE FOR YOUR CUSTOMERS.
Yes, apart from balcony plants, we love wreaths. This year we have expanded our DIY range of Advent wreaths to include door wreaths. But for us, DIY also means convenience. Our sets really have everything you need. We have been making these sets for the third year now and we always receive endless photos and messages from happy customers who are super happy with their results. We also designed our new winter creation, Christmas Rose, together with Judith. A romantic, elegant and festive creation. We are excited to see how it will be received by our customers.
DOES THAT MEAN I CAN BUILD THE ADVENT WREATHES MYSELF WITHOUT HAND-CRAFT AND CREATIVE SKILLS?
Absolutely, all the components needed to create an exceptional and beautiful wreath are included in the delivery. Our instructions also help you tie a wreath step by step and then decorate it. Different, great and individual Advent wreaths are created from identical sets. We are always surprised at how much skill and creative ideas customers approach the task, even though they claim in advance that they have no experience at all with tying wreaths.
WHAT NEW PRODUCTS CAN WE LOOK FORWARD TO IN THE FUTURE? CAN YOU REVEAL SOMETHING HERE?
In previous years we only started spring with our colorful spring creations in mid-February. Next year, for the first time, there will be a new creation from January onwards to welcome the new year and replace the Christmas decorations.
In 2023 we will also be offering a Valentine's Day creation for the first time - with which we would like to declare war on conventional flower bouquets. 😉 There will also be several new and different creations for later seasons to meet the different wishes and locations of our customers.
We cannot yet reveal whether there will be any further innovations in the hardware area of the Plant Box.