Company: ceramics again; Huttel, von Nell & Oelke GbR
Founders: Maria Huttel, Sophie von Nell, Sandra Oelke
Date of establishment: July 1, 2023 (business registration), October 15, 2023 (opening)
Industry and company: ceramics painting studio

What drives you? What is your motto?
Creative hobbies make people happy, help them relax, slow down, and offer a valuable counterbalance to our performance-oriented society. We are making Wiesbaden colorful!

What is your start-up about and what makes it special?
We want to create a new, relaxed DIY creative space in Wiesbaden that appeals to all ages. Our aim is to create a workplace for ourselves and our employees where sustainability, inclusion, integration, and family friendliness play a central role. We have known each other since our school days in Wiesbaden and are connected both privately and professionally in Wiesbaden.

What are your first successes? We were
fully booked and had our hands full in the second week after opening. We were quite overwhelmed because we hadn't expected it to go so well! Based on the positive feedback from our guests, we realized that we had opened in the right place at the right time.

What is your professional background?
Maria Huttel: Studied political science, American studies, and Japanese studies, spent time abroad in the US and Japan. Merchandiser in a fashion retail company. Second degree, yoga teacher.

Sophie von Nell: Sign language interpreter, certified educator, family assistant for families with deaf parents. Board member of the sponsoring association.

Sandra Oelke: Speech therapist in my own practice in Wiesbaden-Dotzheim. Course instructor for various continuing education programs. 

What prompted you to start your own business? We have been passionate
about painting ceramics for years and have traveled to other cities to do so – we missed having a ceramic painting studio in Wiesbaden. At first, we jokingly thought: Then let's open one ourselves! Based on this idea, we opened our own shop about 13 months later.

Who advised you, who are your helpers and mentors?
Several people at BerufsWege für Frauen e.V., from the first online seminar on starting a business in general to business plan consulting and accounting seminars. D&S Malstudio-Consulting in Berlin (seminar on opening your own ceramic painting studio). Naspa (Ms. Donhauser) – KfW loan and financing.

How did you experience the first few days as founders?
It started much faster and more intensely than we had expected! We kept thinking how lucky we were to be three of us, because none of us could have done it alone!

What was your biggest challenge and how did you overcome it?
At the beginning, we had so many guests that we could hardly put the painted ceramics down, and we were under time pressure to glaze and fire everything on time. This immediately made it clear which processes needed to be optimized and how much time the preparatory and follow-up work outside opening hours took.

How do you promote your business? What is your best marketing idea?
So far, we haven't used any paid advertising. We were lucky that newspapers, television, radio, and others took notice of us, which allowed us to reach many customers.

How did you finance your start-up?
Approximately 30% KfW loan, 40% private loans, 30% own funds.

What dream would you still like to realize?
To remain grateful that we have already been able to fulfill a big dream of ours! A healthy work-life balance, being able to make a good living from the business, and maintaining fun and passion. 

Please complete the following sentence: If we had more time, we would... relax
in a hammock – preferably in the Caribbean. 

What is your special tip: What would you recommend to founders?
Don't just think, "What if not enough customers come?", but also, "What if it goes much better than expected?" And besides, founding a business as a team is not always difficult – for us, three was and is the best constellation.