Dizaina Studija. Telpa Forma Laiks

Clearly positioned, contemporary, qualitative and provocative – this is how you could describe the an&angel brand. A lot of time and resources have been invested in its development, and the results are obvious: currently the business orients itself almost completely towards the foreign market and demonstrates an incredible immunity to all local and more widespread problems.

The company Angel Glass Design was founded in 2004 and its staff includes Artis Nīmanis (glass artist, designer and creative spirit) and three people, whose main job is to sell this product of industrial design: Agnese Garā-Nīmane (a graduate of the School of Business Administration Turība), Vanda Dauksta (responsible for marketing and the European and Northern American markets) and Ivo Urbanovičs (seeking opportunities for collaboration in the Near East and Japan). Daily business involves tireless communication in various languages (a knowledge of French has been particularly useful, because, typically of the French, the syndrome of cultural self-sufficiency has been ingested along with mother’s milk), while on Fridays the common office language is English. Market analysis is conducted, collaborative partners are identified, and scrupulously written applications to the bigger international design exhibitions are produced. In actual fact, the brand has been seen and admired a number of times at Paris’ Maison & Objet, Frankfurt’s Ambiente, and international exhibitions in Japan – Design Tokyo (2008) and Interiorlifestyle (2009). However, a large amount of resources have been invested to be able to progress this far and to encourage interest in the brand in Japan and the US A, both in terms of quantity (money and time) and in terms of courage and tenacity.

Cosmogenesis

The idea to establish a company surfaced as a natural continuation of Artis Nīmanis’ M.A. graduation work in 2004. Ironically, the piece was interpreted in a contradictory way at the Latvian Academy of Art. Artis worked on the graduation work together with fellow student Andžela Auzarēja-Auzere, and as distinct from the usual practice in the Glass Design Department at that time – to create an original work which lays claim to the status of art – Artis and Andžela chose to producē an industrially manufactured series with a contrasting poetic title: Nebula (an interstellar cloud of dust – from Latin). The young artists were encouraged to take this step due to their experience in the studio (thanks to lecturer Dainis Gudovskis) in collaboration with the Līvāni Glass Factory, which was still operational at that time, and – who knows? – perhaps also a premonition of the near future. As a result, the graduation work was produced in an unusually large volume (around four hundred pieces) and gained the highest possible grade; however, with the note that each artist would only receive half, meaning – five marks each.

The series of works, Nebula, was the first product with which the newly established business began. Andžela soon left, leaving only her name, both in the brand and the website address. Artis worked in parallel in the design studio Pieci Ezeri, and later in the advertising agency DDB. The business grew slowly and modestly, with no easy wins or large bank loans (Artis and Agnese joke: “Back then we had nothing to mortgage!”).

Nevertheless the support of friends and relations was considerable (and still continues), as was their own creative initiative, which is trained on the rational and economical use of resources – this principle has become the leading philosophy of the work of the company. That is why an&angel consider it a special achievement that they themselves created the exhibition stands for this year’s Maison & Objet trade show. The exhibition stands were created frugally, with imagination and simplicity, which allows for them to be transported and set up easily. The result has been impressive enough for there to have been a number of offers to buy the stands during the exhibition.

The company has private investors, who, by investing resources and becoming co-owners of the company, have not just significantly encouraged turnover, but have also granted the credit of trust.

The 2006 Nebula collection received the annual Deko magazine award for design, and as Artis remembers,“it was a kind of turning point – a stimulus for activity”. He admits that “we were noticed and valued, therefore we are not completely off the mark” and this was both a thrilling and faith-affirming turn of events. At that time, however, a number of colleagues warned that things would only really begin when the company was ten years old; a point when the longevity of the company would be defined, and the real products and the real buyers will be identified. In hindsight, Artis and Agnese can vouch for the truth of this prediction.

Searching for a Place of Manufacture

In 2008, with support from the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia and the European Regional Development Fund, the brand was shown for the first time in an international exhibition in Frankfurt, during which time useful contacts were established and the first orders were placed for products from the Nebula series. On returning home, an&angel was met with a nasty surprise – the Līvāni Glass Factory, which was the only possible place of manufacture in Latvia, had been sold, and after a short while, its bankruptcy was announced. Luckily, “some good Poles” had been met in Frankfurt, who could be visited on “excursion” in a search for partnerships. “In Poland glass is at a very good level, there are many manufacturers, each has their own specialty – we had a few to choose from!” remember Artis and Agnese. Currently an&angel dishes are manufactured in two separate glass factories.

The concept

“Why bowls? The dishes we manufacture are not everyday items that are used and manufactured in large amounts, for example, glasses or plates. A bowl is the central object of a table setting, the main accent – and this is why we lift it one level higher. We create products that are useful for both women and men, dishes that all match each other, so that after buying one, you can place another one next to it after a time”. The brand representatives explain that they have chosen to work in the mid-price range, emphasizing quality rather than quantity (the ideal run is 100-300 of each item in a collection). “Our pricing policy has been set up to cover manufacturing and sales costs; we have no particular mark-up as a nod to artistic surplus value. At international trade fairs we have encountered the opinions that our products are expensive; and have also been asked, why is it so cheap? There are different types of people, each comes with their own level of information and education”, says Agnese.

To answer one of the most frequently asked questions – are the dishes painted? – an&angel representatives take a large shard of a dish with them to exhibitions, created specifically for this purpose, where one can see a side cross-section: how the colourful layers of glass are layered one on top of the other. In their office at Andrejsala there are a number of samples of dishes of differing quality, so that the client can see with their own eyes the connection between price and the characteristics of a product, for example the tone and clarity of glass etc.

Collections

When the technical and practical questions had been mostly solved – this required work over a number of years – and new creations could be worked on, Mirror-Mirror, the limited edition crystal collection was created. Artis coated each dish in this collection with a layer of stainless steel, creating a breath-taking impression that the dish is made of metal, the mirrored surface perfectly reflecting the surrounding environment and in this way merging with it. Each dish has the signature of the designer; the series is numbered and is considered to be an exclusive product line.

In 2009 the Black & White series was released, which in 2009, along with Znak wallpaper and Munio Candela candles were displayed at the Maison & Objet exhibition. Although the idea of a unified offering from Latvian design businesses was not bad, it did not prove to be effective in the context of the exhibition: due to the large volume, customers dedicated their attentions only to the type of product that interested them. However, the exhibition organisers admired the work of an&angel enough to invite them to exhibit their works in the tableware hall in the following year.

As a testimony to the growing ambitions of the company, a new collection, Northern Lights, was released in 2010. This is characterised by sculptural forms and gentle, unobtrusive shades, with a white or black outer shell. A number of collaborative partners in Europe and Japan have been impressed by the collection. A “Spirit Dance” (this is what American Indians call the Northern Lights) provides the basis for the visual image of this last collection, and this is why the idea occurred to play on the motif of movement. Dancers were engaged for this purpose, who improvised with the dishes, at times even standing in them.

“I love these photo sessions, because you can go crazy. We make art and now and then we get carried away, but then Agnese comes along and says ‘shush!’”, says Artis. The company’s advertising materiāls really do grab your attention – they are full of humour, provocative and of high artistic quality. When selecting photos, however, one always has to consider the specifics of the market and national traits: how the image will be understood elsewhere. There was a scandal in 2008, when the series of Nebula dishes created a stir in the Ambiente exhibition, which espoused the values of green living and vegetarianism: a photo of a young, carefree woman carried a hunk of raw meat on a platter. Other images include a grandfather in a deer-stalker cap, connected to an IV drip, holding a plate of chicken legs in his lap... a friend is the photographer, Māris Ločmelis.

Packaging and Logo

Corrugated cardboard was chosen to make the boxes, in order to protect the fragile content. These could just as well be interpreted as packaging for gifts. The rows of supposedly random letters on the lid of the box become legible when another layer of packaging is placed on top, revealing the name of the product. The designer of the packaging is Artis. In turn, the basis of the logo is a play on words and belief in “classic values” – the two colours (orange and grey) have been chosen so that the title would be prominent on both dark and light backgrounds, be simultaneously colourful (in contrast with the first monochrome collections) and economical. The authors of the logo are Agnese and Artis.

Assessment of the Situation and a View to the Future

Currently an&angel products can be bought in around ten retail outlets in Riga. “Earlier, we offered our products to Garage gallery and to the interior design centre mc2, while other traders approached us themselves”, Artis and Agnese remember and add, that the presence of an&angel in the Latvian market is a type of patriotism, because the market is so small that it does not make a lasting impression on the overall activities of the company. Also, in the Latvian business milieu it is an accepted practice to settle accounts only after the sale of the product. There have been instances whereby due to the bankruptcy of a store, the order has been returned, but no longer in good condition. The trend is emerging for large orders from local businesses, which wish to use the dishes for corporate gifts.

This is why the main target audiences are in the foreign market, where the resellers pay at once, accepting the risk of successfully on-selling the product. The moment is approaching, where long conversations and introductions may be beginning to bear fruit. The next aim is to establish contacts with a wider chain of stores, which will allow for large-scale work, which the company is now ready for. “We are not feeling the crisis, because we don’t have anything to compare it with”, admits Artis and Agnese. “We could even say the opposite – communication has improved during the crisis, people who work with us have developed their sense of responsibility.” With the growing turnover of the brand, the hypothesis seems believable that, “irrespective of the crisis, there will always be people in the world who value beautiful, qualitative things”. Keeping in mind that “valuing” in this instance means “are able to afford”, the only things left to say are that it is unfortunate that in Latvia there are few people in this position, and to wish the company, using the real tailwind – optimism and tenacity in their Professional team – to meet new horizons with billowing sails.