Adventsome

Interview with the Adventsome founders Lea Nikbin and Josias Hornstein.

The interview is part of Superior Magazine # 65 , which is as digital issue as well as print and download available.

Lea Nikbin and Josias Hornstein, can you please tell us a bit about you?

We are in our mid-twenties, are studying law and marketing and live in Cologne. As big cat-lovers we act as a foster-home for cats that stay with us until we found a nice forever-home. Besides that, we are always trying out new restaurants and stay active by running, swimming and yoga.

With Aventsome you offer a quite different Advent calendar. How did you come up with this idea?

We were not satisfied with existing calendars due to their quite monotonous nature. It is 24x cosmetics, 24x candy, etc. - essentially very predictable.

We thought why not mix it up to make it more interesting? Additionally, we focus on products from startups to make it even more exciting!

What do people find in the Aventsome calendar? Can you give 2 or 3 examples?

We cover products from different categories such as food, drinks, lifestyle, sweets, games and many more. You will find an Oatsome smoothie bowl, a bottle of Daisy Ginas well as the UDO, which is a coffee-lid that turns any mug into a ToGo-mug – very cool!

How did you select the daily surprises?

Our essential question was: What would we want in OUR calendar? We looked for the coolest products with an additional focus on sustainability, so most of the products are vegan, fair-trade, etc.

What role does sustainability play in your calendar?

Not only are most of the products sustainable, but so is the packing: The presents are wrapped in ecological, palm oil-free wrapping paper as well as in paper bags.

Instead of a large cardboard box that you throw away after Christmas, our presents find their spot in a cotton bag that you can use in your everyday life.

Besides presents every calendar contains four donations to four different small charities. That way our customers don’t only receive but also help less fortunate!

Finally, our calendars are shipping with DHL GoGreento our customers. So, sustainability for us is essential, which you can observe in all aspects of our business.

What are your aims with Aventsome? Is it a nice one-time project or do you like to establish and expand it in the future?

Next year we want to increase our output and if it works nicely again we plan to make this an annual thing. We love this project a lot and want to continue making the coolest advent calendars for people that care!

For all who like your idea, is it still possible to get an Aventsome calendar?

Unfortunately, we are already sold out for quite some time. We demand was overwhelming.

When 2018 Advent and Christmas is over, what are you doing next? The new innovative Easter bunny?

There is another event that is happening every year during the summer. We have some exciting ideas and will work on that right after this Christmas season. Stay tuned by following us on Social Media to be the first to know! 

Thank you for the interview and have a wonderful Christmas time!