Editéur Plus Editéur Plus - The Fourteenth Issue | Page 47

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EDITÉUR PLUS
make it available for purchase to the public.
Their designs are all inspired by timeless sim-
plicity. Their secret is simple: “We don’t use
any unnecessary frills, but only lines that
withstand the test of time.” Bow ties and
suspenders have represented elegance for
decades and have withstood the test of time.
They strive to achieve the same with their
bag designs. To them, nothing is as strong as
designs that will be as beautiful in decades to
come as they are now.
Conrad and Nikke are still involved in the
workshop. All parcels are still packaged per-
sonally by Nikke, each with a hand-written
note. Although it can be very time consuming
for her, it is a great way of getting in touch
with their customers. When people put their
trust in them and their designs, they would
like to welcome the customer, with a person-
al note, to the Eden & Co. family. Conrad is
still involved with the quality control of every
product that they ship into the world. Each
and every bag that leaves their workshop, get
inspected and treated with leather food by
Conrad personally.
Seen as they started on a very small scale,
they had many successes that were big for
them, even though these may seem small in
hindsight. One example they give is when
they started to receive one order every day.
Today it seems extremely small and rather in-
significant to them, but four years ago, when
they were still dreaming of the Eden & Co.
they have today, it was a big deal.
one manufactures a new product, there are
no guarantees that others will like the prod-
uct. When a product is received well by the
public, it is a vote of confidence for them in
their ideas. When customers return to buy
another bag or bow tie, it is a wonderful com-
pliment. This is to Nikke the biggest and most
sustainable indicator of success: “that people
choose us over and over again”.
Even though they have achieved a lot,
they are still working extremely hard to get
everything in place to expand their interna-
tional footprint. They would love to attend an
international trading show soon.
When asked what advice they could give peo-
ple starting a brand, it is well known, however
not at all applied by most: “The sooner you
start the better. Starting a business is easy,
but building it into something successful is
extremely hard work, takes longer and re-
quires a lot of determination.” To them, it is
just as important to not be scared of small
beginnings, in that all successful companies
started somewhere, and probably small. They
add that you should not set your expectations
too high, too early on. Work hard and keep at
it every day, and you will get there.
They do what they love. Nikke loves design-
ing and the creative side of the business, like
taking care of visual elements, planning pho-
to shoots and marketing. Conrad, on the con-
trary, likes the operational side of things. He
thoroughly enjoys the challenges of organi-
zational structuring and keeping together all
the components of the business.
“When you wake up every morning with so
much gratefulness that you are able to do
what you love, you can keep on going and
pushing hard to make a success of a business
without it feeling like work.”
If you do your absolute best with your prod-
uct, service, and communication, success will
follow. They do not design to be successful,
they simply design. Success follows because
of the design, not the other way around.
Another example of an accomplishment they
will never forget was the first time they saw
another person in the streets with an Eden &
Co. bag. Today it’s a wonderful privilege for
them to know that there are Eden & Co. bags
on the streets of 11 different countries in the
world, and they are working on making the
process easier for people in other countries
to get access to their world-class craftsman-
ship.
Although there were many successes, the one
thing that stands out the most is that EDITÉUR
custom-
PLUS / THE FOURTEENTH ISSUE
ers choose Eden & Co. again and again. When