Bubuland - Love Grows

Blog
22.01.2020
Bubuland - Love Grows
22.01.2020

Bubuland is a new company from Sibiu, founded by Alexandra and Andrei Deak, which makes handmade products for children. All the products created bring a lot of joy to people's homes and extra color and creativity to the little ones' rooms. Bubuland brings something new to the market, not only quality products, but also unique models that children will always remember.

1. Who is BUBU and what should the people of Sibiu know about Bubu's Land?
Bubu is our daily inspiration and motivation. Thanks to Bubu's Land, it exists and we enjoy it every day. Bubuland is a very dear family project, which allows us to make swings and small pieces of furniture for children. All our objects are handmade, one by one, with passion and a lot of dedication. We believe that we bring goodness and beauty to a world of consumerism, speed, cheap and poorly built things.

2. You bring joy and color to families with children ☺. When did the Bubuland story begin?
Along with our little boy came the idea of creating our own objects for his room, an idea that later materialized in the Bubuland project. From the beginning, we wanted to create objects that children, but also their parents, would love and remember as part of their childhood.
In 2017 we began with a chair for the little one's room. Initially we wanted aesthetic, but useful products for us to enjoy at home. But then I thought they were too beautiful to keep them just for ourselves and I took the courage to post the first objects made by my husband.

3. I know that you are currently using the online environment to reach your niche of customers. Is the online medium an easier way to approach clients? Do you also participate in handmade fairs?
From the beginning we relied on the online medium and it still is the environment through which we reach our clients. I wouldn't necessarily say it's a simpler way, because every method of approaching customers involves effort, but our niche is very present online.
Last year we were invited to the fair organized by Andreea Esca in Bucharest, A’Kids, where we were extremely surprised to see how many people knew us from the online environment. We received a lot of appreciation and it was a confirmation for us that we are creating things that people love. We also met client couples who came from other cities to get to know us personally. It meant a lot to us.
4. The first clients were from Sibiu. Are you planning to also open a workshop/store in the city in the near future?
The first client was from the Republic of Moldova :) A lady who initially bought a table and a chair for her little girl, returned to us with 3 more orders, furnishing the whole room of the little one with Bubuland products.
This year we moved into a new workshop in Cisnădie and we are very excited to see how we will do in the new space. We would very much like to have a physical store, as well, but this remains in the long-term plan for the time being.

5. What inspires you to create beautiful objects for the little ones?
Initially we got our inspiration online, from objects made in other countries. Along the way, however, we relied on our own ideas, many inspired by our life as parents. Swings, for example, were an idea of our little boy. He was so excited every time he used the swing that I said „let's try to make a swing that looks nice, but is also safe for such small children” (T. was 6 months old when we made the first swing). Ever since we put a swing in the house, he asks to use it almost daily, even though he is two and a half years old now.
Many times our customers are an inspiration for us, as they have all kinds of furniture ideas for the little ones. We are happy every time we receive a new challenge, especially if the objects fit our profile.

6. What do you think the biggest challenge is, that people who create handmade objects face?
Two major challenges come to mind at the moment. The first is related to price. People expect a handmade object to have the same price as a mass-made one. We will never be able to match those prices, for several reasons: the raw material is more expensive when you do not buy industrial quantities and when you are looking for quality, and the amount of time invested in creating objects is considerably larger when everything is done manually.
The second challenge I would say is customers’ expectations. We only work with solid wood, and wood by its nature can present certain imperfections. A hand crafted object made of wood will not look like a plastic one. Moreover, you can't manually paint an object, so that it looks like the one made with industrial machines. We try our best and make efforts to finish each product that leaves the workshop as best we can, and the customer feedback has confirmed that we are doing the right thing.

7. What are the 3 main adjectives, the defining ones, that best describe the products created by Bubuland?
Creative, beautiful, practical.

8. The objects created are for the little ones. Do you use more special materials because of this? Or maybe more resilient, knowing that sometimes children easily break the objects around them?
We only work with solid wood for small furniture items. We use water-based, non-toxic paint. The swings are made of beech or oak wood, and the textiles used are 100% cotton.
We believe that only by offering quality products, parents are satisfied with the investment they make.

9. How long does it take to create a swing, for example? Or to create a set, play table with two chairs?
It depends a lot on the model of the swing or the set of table and chairs. The crafting of objects involves their design, development, production. We think about how we want a product to look, we look for the raw material we want, we process it, we make changes if necessary, we finish the product, we test it. There are several stages that any object we create for the first time goes through. For a swing, building and sewing takes about 4-5 hours, but for a set of small table with chairs all stages (woodworking, sanding, painting, applying protective layers) take up to 3 days.

10. Can buyers order customized products?
Do you receive such orders, as well?
Yes, we make customized products. The swings are always available or they can leave our workshop in 1-2 working days. For furniture orders we do not have products in stock, and the completion term depends on the orders we already have in progress.

11. Compared to the foreign market, how would you define the Romanian handmade industry?
What would be worth changing, if you had the opportunity?
We don’t know the foreign market, but we have felt several times that the Romanian handmade industry is not appreciated at its true value. However, when your customers are people like you, that is, lovers of beauty and things done with love, you remain motivated to bring joy to parents and children.

12. What are the future plans for Bubuland? ☺
First of all, the online store was an important plan that has just materialized. We worked on it for a while, but we managed to launch it a few days ago. The products are much more visible, easy to find and we are glad that through the website we facilitate the ordering process for our clients.
Second, we will focus on diversifying the range of swings. They are a must have when it comes to entertaining the little ones at home. They are versatile, can be hung indoors or outdoors and are very popular with children.
We also want to address the foreign market this year, precisely because we have had a number of requests from abroad and this is an opportunity that we want to exploit. We also have a number of new objects and ideas that we want to carry out.
We always want to come up with useful and beautiful objects. With our little boy growing, we also realize what objects would be useful for him.

13. Thanks for your answers. Please send a nice thought to the people of Sibiu who follow you and buy your products!
We thank those who follow us and those who purchase Bubuland products. Every order is important to us and we hope that parents and children enjoy our products at least as much as we enjoy making them. We want the people of Sibiu to continue to support small local businesses and we look forward for them to get to know our products live and to encourage us in our future plans.

Photo by: Bubuland - Love Grows