An Interview with the Founder of HORN FACTORY

To kick off our series of interviews with young entrepreneurs, E-HUB sat down with the super trendy Alex, the founder of HORN FACTORY, a brand specializing in naturally beautiful, real horn products of highest quality. Horn is a natural product, which means that every item is as unique and special as its wearer. 100% handmade with love!

Behind HORN FACTORY are Alex and her team, based in Berlin. Alex herself has been wearing horn jewelry for more than a decade after first discovering it whilst travelling. The natural characteristics and textures of horn have always fascinated her, which led to the decision of launching an exclusive collection in 2017 within her inner circle. After an overwhelmingly high interest in her unique and creative designs, the first collection was born.

Today, HORN FACTORY jewelry is worn all around the globe. During the design process of each piece, the main objective is and has always been the ease of wear. Therefore creating pieces which fit to nearly everything, whether worn casually with jeans and a white blouse for example, or more traditionally with a Dirndl. Natural horn flatters its wearer on every occasion and in every season – it’s simply timeless!

EHUB: First off, please share a little bit about your business with us. What was the process to develop your business idea? Did you see an opportunity with COVID or have you been developing your business model for some time?

ALEX: In April 2020, I founded my own jewellery brand, the HORN FACTORY. For years before that, I had always toyed with the idea of starting my own business in this way, but I never found the time to do it alongside my normal job. Due to COVID19, I was put on short-time work in the spring and suddenly had a lot of time to devote to this passion.

I started my brand from my own savings and have been reinvesting everything I take in ever since. This way I can grow healthily and decide for myself where the journey should go.

The name HORN FACTORY is made up of HORN as the main material my jewelry is made of and FACTORY as a reference to Andy Warhol's Factory in New York, which was a workshop for ideas and a place where great artists and impressive people came together.

COVID19 has definitely shown me that an online store is indispensable in this day and age, as it gives me the opportunity to operate even during the lockdown.

EHUB: What is your favorite aspect of being an entrepreneur? Main challenges?

ALEX: I can decide myself where the brand grows. However, I am also 100% responsible for every decision and have to decide everything on my own.

EHUB: In what ways did the pandemic change your business model?

ALEX: From offline to online. I was very scared to open an online store and felt it was "easier" to promote the brand in stores and not being reachable 24/7. However, the fact that the shops had to close during the lockdown quickly proved me wrong.

EHUB: How has the pandemic altered the way you plan for the long term of your business? Do you focus more on the day-to-day business? Or do you think it’s still important to focus on long term?

ALEX: Both. You should always have the bigger picture, long term, in mind. The way to get there is day to day business.

EHUB: What advice would you give to someone wanting to start their own business? Any skills you believe an entrepreneur should have?

ALEX: I would not found a company alone today. Another person is always good, not only because of another opinion but much more because they contribute other strengths that could be beneficial for the company.

EHUB: What additional skills do you think are necessary to develop now as an entrepreneur during the pandemic and ongoing challenging times?

ALEX: You should not be afraid that circumstances can change quickly. Therefore, you should be dynamic and have the strength to react quickly to changes and not always see them as an obstacle but more as an opportunity.

EHUB: Do you believe that the pandemic has also benefitted your business? In what way? Why did you choose to start your business at that moment?

ALEX: Absolutely. It literally forced me to build my business 100% digitally. However, this gave me the opportunity to increase my audience to the maximum.

EHUB: Did you take the financial aspect and challenges into consideration that might arise when starting a business during the pandemic?

ALEX: When you start something, you always take a certain financial risk. Since I founded HORN FACTORY in the middle of the pandemic, the risks were of course much higher. At the same time however, the motivation to turn my passion into a profession was so much greater.

EHUB: How do you believe the pandemic will reshape the entrepreneurship world?

ALEX: It will have an impact on the digitalization of our society. We will have to come up with solutions more quickly and adapt to different, new circumstances. As a founder today, you have to plan for more contingencies that no one knows about beforehand. It can always be a little worse than expected.

EHUB: Which industries do you think are benefitted most from the pandemic? Are you implementing some of their ideas/characteristics into your business?

ALEX: E-commerce and logistics. Of course you look at how the big ones do it. How do they ship their goods? How long does it take to ship, how do they present themselves in their online stores, etc.? That increases the pressure, but you don't stand still and always challenge the status quo.

EHUB: Anything else you would like to add?

ALEX: Making mistakes is part of it, you only learn from them.

THANK YOU ALEX FOR YOUR TIME AND INSIGHTS!

FIND MORE HORN FACTORY ON INSTAGRAM @HORNFACTORY

AND SHOP THE COLLECTION AT HTTP://WWW.HORNFACTORY.DE