Entrepreneurship stories: Seen Archive
We are truly happy to present last episode of “Entrepreneurship stories” for this spring with amazing Seen Archive!
For our entrepreneurship series we will share inspiring stories from young business minded entrepreneurs with courage to pursue their dreams!
Tell us about yourself?
My name is Emilia Ståhlhammar and I’m a student at Aalto University School of Business. I finished my bachelor’s degree a year ago with a major in marketing. After graduating I decided to take a break from studying to clarify what I would want to concentrate on in my master’s studies. I have now had the time to develop my own company and in addition, ended up doing a part-time internship with a Finnish designer Samu-Jussi Koski. After a year of working as an entrepreneur and discovering more about what interests me I’m continuing my studies in the fall. I’d say that I’m a highly curious person by nature and eager to constantly develop myself. These qualities have taken me to many interesting places both in my personal and professional path alongside my studies.
Introduce your company, what is Seen Archive all about?
Seen Archive is a circular fashion studio that focuses on one-of-a-kind secondhand pieces and up-cycled clothing. It all started with an idea of an online space through which it would be easy to buy quality vintage pieces. I wanted to create a brand that advocates a slow and circular view of fashion consumption in a creative way. The secondhand selection for Seen is curated with four main aspects; clothes that are good quality, that can be worn on many occasions, are unisex by heart, and are made out of natural fabrics. Lately, I have concentrated more on learning about different circular clothing design practices and worked with our first own upcycled collection.
Can you remember the moment when you first came up with the idea of Seen Archive?
Yes actually. It was a moment in which many small previous experiences and thoughts kind of rushed together all at once. First of all, from a really young age, I have always enjoyed thrift shopping and visiting different flea markets. I love the excitement of discovering unique clothing items not to mention the sustainability aspect of buying secondhand. When this drive towards secondhand was combined with my previous work experience and bachelor’s thesis about circular consumption I felt that Seen Archive would be a perfect sum of the things that interest me. To be more specific about the exact moment I think I had just arrived home from a vintage haul and was laying on the floor explaining my idea to my best friend.
How did you find the courage to build your own business? Did you have any previous experience with entrepreneurship?
I have always been quite sure about wanting to create something of my own so I knew that I would need to put myself out there at some point. Through Seen, it felt like the most natural way to start learning about entrepreneurship hands-on. Also, I figured that life is not that serious and through being an entrepreneur I get to express myself and my interests.
I had some previous experience working as an entrepreneur in a new marketing agency. I feel like the can-do attitude that I learned from there gave me the courage to try my own thing as well. Besides some work experience in a few other startups, none of my close friends or family members are entrepreneurs.
What challenges did you have to overcome at the beginning of your entrepreneurship journey?
I would say that I’m still at the very beginning of my entrepreneurship journey and this is something that I have learned to accept and be patient about. But in the very early stages, my biggest challenge was how to manage myself and my time in a way that was effective but not too exhausting. Now after being at a point where I have a proof of concept and a lot of positive feedback I need to evaluate Seen Archive’s potential and future. I guess the challenge is still ahead for me since I have a lot of different ideas that I would like to do in the future.
Can you describe your typical day? How many hours a day do you work on average?
Usually, I plan and divide all of my workload based on a given week. Now I have been working with Seen for approximately 2-3 days a week. Daily tasks are related to order handling, sourcing for new garments and fabrics, creating content, and developing our website. Currently, I’m also spending a lot of time benchmarking, researching, and reading about circular design practices for our up-cycled collection. My workdays are usually anything ranging from a few hours to 12 hours since the line between work and free time gets sometimes a bit blurry.
How do you generate new ideas for your business?
I’d say anything from a more systematic benchmarking from someone sitting next to me on the bus. I love to concentrate on small details in my surroundings. Also making connections from random stuff I read or watch nurtures my creativity and brings me ideas.
Share one or few tips you would give someone starting her own business? Maybe something you would have liked to know in advance?
Create a business plan, be authentic, and tell others about your ideas. I would highlight that there is no one right way to start a new business. The path can be very different depending on what you are trying to achieve and in which order. Also, the realization that there is no rush, things take time, and that your idea does not have to be perfect to try it out. I would recommend reading from inspirational figures since they always remind me that every successful company was created by an individual with only an idea in their mind.
Thank you Seen Archive and Emilia for participating our interview! Remember to check Seen Archive’s website and social media for more inspiring content!
Stay tuned for the next autumn for more entrepreneurship stories…
