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Have you ever found yourself wondering how a small business gets from Point A to Point B and beyond? Where does it all begin and how do you plan for where it’s going? We definitely have, which is why we reached out to Schneid, bold designers of enduring and elegant products who have grown their shop from the ground up. And, with the help of Squarespace’s e-commerce platform, they’ve been able to leverage their brand in new and exciting ways.
Founders Niklas and Julia Jessen say that the name Schneid encompasses their brand’s entire philosophy, so we dug a little deeper to not only find out what the word means but what it means to them.
“When we started with our studio, our first investment was a laser cutter, with which we also designed and manufactured our first light series, the Series A. So we cut wood, which means “schneiden” in the German language. But the expression “Schneid haben” also means to be courageous and to dare something. Our name Schneid is derived from these two meanings of the word. With our name we simply want to express: We are a small studio, but we have a big claim – that is to deal with design in a holistic and mindful way. We want to design sustainable products that are manufactured fairly and locally and emphasize that it is essential to be more aware of our consumption behavior.”
Schneid offers a robust collection of creations – lighting, ceramics, furniture, and textiles – but it didn’t begin that way for Niklas and Julia. Rather, they started off with a few pieces that had legs of their own before evolving Schneid into the range of materials and products that it is today.
“With our Series A and our Zappy lamp we started our studio in 2012 and already got a lot of national attention. But when we launched the Eikon lamp in 2013, the demand for our products in the international market grew. With its versatile system, the lamp is also a great way for architects to personalize their projects and to create a minimalist yet color-coordinated look. That’s why Eikon remains our bestseller. So we started with designs for lamps, but through the intensive work with other materials, the idea of working with textiles and ceramics evolved. This is how our first tableware series and our own ceramics workshop were created in our studio. We are currently working on the development of an ecological material that is completely biodegradable with the help of the European Economic Development Agency and with which we intend to create future lamps and furniture.”
Can you believe it? They’re creating their own ecological material based on Schneid’s beliefs and business practices! Quality, ecological consciousness, and sustainability all play large roles in their process, making this a brilliant move and one that gives back at that.
“We love our job as product designers and entrepreneurs. It’s great to be able to work creatively and have your own project that you see grow and develop. However, we also see the development of new products with a critical eye, as we don’t want to support global phenomena that involve mass production, such as exploitation and pollution, but rather counteract them. This is our core idea: We want to communicate and promote conscious consumer behaviour by showing possibilities for a different form of production and consumerism.”
Every business needs some outside help in one area or another, and Schneid relies on Squarespace’s e-commerce platform to help them run a successful online business. The shop component needs to be and intuitive, smooth experience to ensure maximum satisfaction and return customers.
“Before we started working with Squarespace, we had already set up an online shop in cooperation with a developer, but we were not very satisfied with the implementation, so we immediately started with the shop feature of Squarespace. The user interface for the online shop is very intuitive, so we were able to build our shop in a short time without the help of a developer. With the help of the “Style” area in the backend, we were also able to independently adapt the design to our CI and thus create an aesthetic and minimalist shop interface. And just one day after the launch of our website via Squarespace we had the first sale! That was a fantastic experience.”
Thanks to some help from Squarespace, Schneid is thriving and looking towards what the future holds for them and their brand. We can’t wait to see what’s next!
“We are already looking forward to many upcoming projects next year. As already mentioned, we are developing a promising ecological material that will be included in our designs in the future. Ceramics will also play a greater role in our upcoming collection, as we are currently exploring the possibilities and potential of our recently established ceramics workshop. The designs are still in early phases, but we are very excited to see where this is going. In addition, we are currently working with other companies for whom we are creating several designs and aim to work more frequently for different clients in the future.”
Visit their website at schneid.org.
Ready to get started for yourself? Use coupon code DESIGNMILK at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase. Take the first step with Squarespace, all-in-one website builder that provides everything including domains, website building tools, analytics, and marketing tools that empower people with creative ideas to succeed.
Photos by Noel Richter.
from Design MilkDesign Milk https://design-milk.com/growth-e-commerce-schneid/
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