Beautifully wrapped gifts always bring a lot of joy at Christmas, Easter or birthdays - until you see the mountain of rubbish they create. Katharina Lehmkuhl and Melusine Bliesener have made it their mission to take action against this mountain of rubbish. And so they developed PÁPYDO, a sustainable wrapping paper made from grass. In the interview they explain how they came to this.

Kati: Like a dream. The day was so well planned and we were greeted so nicely by everyone and taken here, taken there, something was discussed, there was powder here and at some point we found ourselves standing in front of the lions. The whole day was incredibly exciting, full of emotions and nervous ups and downs. We will certainly never forget him again.

Melusine: A lot! We have brought our company to a level that can withstand and cope with an increase in public attention as it is broadcast. Among other things, we have changed a lot of our internal processes: new website, new tools and programs that we have been using since then. We also got help with logistics, customer support, accounting and marketing.

Kati: Like everything in life, this way of running a company has both advantages and disadvantages. One advantage was certainly that we could both complete our master's degrees, that we were able to do important internships and live where we feel comfortable. We didn't have to "sacrifice" that much for the company - except for time, of course. Our collaboration was good in that we communicated a lot with each other and also had to learn to do this particularly well and efficiently.

Melusine: We certainly gave ourselves the freedom to do everything for as long as we could and to do what we were most passionate about - which we value enormously. And, although communication and collaboration have often been challenging, we and our relationship are emerging from this time stronger than ever before.

Kati: Good time management through timeboxing. A good self-assessment of how long it takes you to complete activities is also helpful. I also choose my courses at university based on whether they fit well into my work schedule. In itself, the agreement works quite well, the only thing that is now and then eliminated is the classic Netflix marathons or semester breaks in which you do nothing for weeks.

Melusine: The combination of studying and managing the company only works so well because we can work extremely flexibly. Every course of study has certain peak periods, such as the exam periods. Here we do a little less for PÁPYDO, while in the quieter phases we focus more on our company. Luckily there are two of us and we can relieve each other of some of the work in tricky situations.

Kati: The business idea came about in spring 2019 on the sofa in our living room in St. Gallen, where we studied. At Christmas 2018, a few weeks before, I first came up with the idea of ​​a sustainable alternative to conventional wrapping paper under the Christmas tree while looking at the mountains of rubbish. But that was more of a thought like “that would actually be really cool”. In the weeks that followed, the idea stuck with us and we familiarized ourselves a little more with the paper industry. The exact business idea for what we are doing now came in February/March.

Kati: I like to be inspired by nature, flowers and leaves, by other cultures and their cultural elements that I discover on my travels. I also love walking through beautifully decorated houses or browsing interior design magazines. I always get a good feeling for what works aesthetically. I always have my phone at hand and as soon as I see something, I immediately take a picture and save it to my inspiration folder.

Melusine: I also like to be inspired by travel and the art that one encounters there. For example, we launched a Portuguese tile design in summer 2022 after I fell in love with the so-called azulejos in Lisbon.

Kati: Consuming less and more consciously, repairing and reusing and reusing and preferring regional solutions.

Melusine: Ecological responsibility for the preservation and protection of natural resources and ecosystems, social justice, fairness and equal opportunities as well as economic profit management under the condition of the first two points.

Kati: The fern fronds

Melusine: The fir forest