Text and photos: Magnus Lindkvist for Megafonen
Agnieszka and Konrad Boeske have an office in The Great North and thrive in the town of Skellefteå. "The atmosphere is fantastic", says Konrad. A year and a half ago, they moved to Skellefteå from a Polish city – Poznań; and now, they have recently won a limited company from the municipality.
When Konrad Boeske was researching where he could do his master's in wood technology, he and his wife Agnieszka looked at universities all over the world. Among others, there were a couple of alternatives in Switzerland and Canada, but they decided to give Skellefteå a chance.
“I've always been interested in Scandinavia and one of the world's best wood technology programs is based here. However, they only take in 4-5 people each year so I wasn't sure it would be me”, says Konrad. Another aspect that the couple took into consideration was whether the new hometown would be a good environment for startups in the IT industry, as Agnieszka previously worked with such. “
We had never heard of Skellefteå, but when we looked up the city we saw, among other things, that The Great North existed and that in fact there were many startups, including several gaming companies”, says Agnieszka.
After Konrad was admitted to the University, they moved to Skellefteå at the end of summer 2017. “When we got here, we didn't really know what to expect and after our first walk around town we wondered what we had given up on. All the streets were empty and it felt completely deserted - in hindsight though, we understood that it felt this way just because it was raining,” says Konrad and smiles.
Winning a company
Now, 1.5 years later, they have fallen in love with Skellefteå.
“We come from a city with a population close to 700,000 and we were afraid it would feel like it’s too small here, but in fact everything we need is here. The wood industry, the arena for startups, shops, cinemas and restaurants. And the best thing is - it only takes 10 minutes to get wherever we want,” says Agnieszka. At the end of last year, they heard about the Vinn et AB competition, which Skellefteå’s municipality organizes together with the business community in Skellefteå. It is a competition that has existed since 2014, in which the winner receives SEK 50,000 in share capital to start a company, as well as some advice from about ten companies that also act as a jury.
”We’ve had a certain idea for some time, that we just sketched out a little, but when we heard about the competition we wrote it down and submitted it. In total, there were 30 submissions so naturally we didn't think we would have a chance,” says Agnieszka.
However, it turned out that the jury liked the idea and their win was announced at the Alvargalan.
“They saw the potential of the idea and our drive, and they just believed that our product would have a growing target group,” says Konrad.
Scandinavian Design
The company they now started goes by the name Feels Like North and produces handcraft with Scandinavian design, which is connected to the Lapland region. “What sets us apart from the already existing companies is that we will have completely animal-free products. There is a lot of skin, reindeer horns and fur used in the classic design in this area, but not everyone wants to keep dead animals at home,” says Agnieszka, who believes that this target group of people is growing.
“And it will only get bigger and bigger as the awareness of animal suffering grows.”
They will not primarily try to sell the products locally, in northern Sweden, but aim at Europe and North America. “Scandinavian design is hugely popular in, among other places, Poland - where we come from, but also in the rest of the world. If we succeed in reaching these places, we’ll have a large market, ”says Konrad. Their product portfolio will consist partly of handmade wood products made by Konrad, and partly of mass-produced items.
“To reach a large audience, we need both. The mass-produced part will consist of, for example, jewelry and photo posters. However, the common theme is always Lapland and Scandinavia,” says Agnieszka, who has a background in marketing and creative creation.
Living up here
The work on products and the online store is already in full swing, and they hope that the online store can be live within a few months.
“We have a very hard job ahead of us, but it feels inspiring and fun,” says Agnieszka, who has no plans whatsoever, to move out of Skellefteå.
“When we moved here, we thought we might want to move further south when the studies were over, but we see no reason for that now. The people here are so nice and everything that we need is here, in Skellefteå.