PressSplit
Anita Stretcher and Eckart Baier. © christoph boeckheler*
Anita Schnurr and Eckart Baier are using their last years of work to do something that excites them: at the age of 60, they founded an online shop.
High-quality materials and timeless design: “My grandchildren can still use this if they want,” says Anita Stricher about the blue upholstered sofa on which she sits. The online shop that she and her partner Eckart Baier founded is also about quality, durability and clear lines. Noor Disain, the Estonian name, means young design. Stretcher and Baier offer furniture, living and kitchen utensils, linen textiles, jewelry and art from the Baltics. The world of mail order is new territory for both of them, as they previously worked as editors.
On July 28th of this year, the two put the website noordisain.de online. It was a long road getting there: taking out a loan, registering a business, drawing up a business plan, clarifying tax issues. New things were constantly coming up that he had to deal with, says Eckart Baier. The Frankfurt center for business start-ups “Kompass” helped him with the business aspects of starting a business.
You can tell from the website that Schlitzer and Baier can handle texts. Instead of gardening, the two of them wrote about 250 product descriptions this summer. Under the “Creative Baltic States” tab, the designers from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have their say in interviews. “We want to share the enthusiasm we feel for Nordic design,” says Rumpf.
The now 60-year-old wrote for various departments of the “Frankfurter Rundschau” for more than 20 years. That ended at the end of 2011. Stretcher left the editorial team and worked as a freelance journalist and in public relations for the drug department of the city of Frankfurt, the latter to this day. Baier was editor-in-chief of the book journal of the German Book Trade Association for a long time. He has been experiencing the changes in the book industry for years. Chains like Thalia and Hugendubel published their own book magazines, and more and more was done through online marketing. The circulation of his journal fell steadily. “The crucial thing was to think about what I wanted to do with the last few years of my career,” says Baier.
Stretcher and Baier had been thinking about the idea for Noor Disain for some time. It was created in 2021 during a trip through Estonia, where Baier’s mother was born. As a five-year-old, she fled there with her family after the USSR annexed the area as part of the Hitler-Stalin Pact in 1939. They were thrilled by Estonia: sparsely populated areas, endless Baltic Sea beaches, birch forests, moors – and a lively design and art scene. They noticed the many shops that offer and cultivate local design. “Around four percent of the population works in the field of design,” notes Stricher. When she talks about the workshops and the attention to detail and meticulous design, she quickly becomes enthusiastic. Ultimately, at the end of the trip there was a need to make young designers from the Baltics known in Germany. The plan to open an online shop became more concrete last fall. This was the starting signal for Stricher and Baier to put their idea for the online shop into practice.
The two store smaller items in the attic and ship them themselves when ordered. Larger items such as sofas or armchairs are delivered to customers via dropshipping. In such cases, the Baltic companies ship directly and Noor Disain provides the platform. For most manufacturers, their inquiries hit open doors, as Schlitzer explains. For many, Noor Disain is an extension of the marketplace, because Baltic providers are hardly known in Germany. The German market is therefore very interesting for designers and furniture producers, says Stricher.
The conservatively calculated business plan is currently on target, says Baier, even if it is normal for a business to initially be in the red due to the many expenses. Over time, both want to expand their range, for example to include Baltic ceramics. The couple is confident that their company and their business idea are solid and long-lasting – like the furniture they offer at Noor Disain.
