Text and photos: Taneli Rantala
Language skills and dauntless attitude are the keys to internationalization – your core customers might be abroad
Bianca Byggmästar has been an entrepreneur for ten years. After graduating as an interior architect in 2013, she became a freelance interior architect and is still today working on project-based assignments. In 2016, a new interest emerged, leading Bianca to pursue textile design studies at Metropolia.
Amidst the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Bianca secured an internship in Stockholm. She decided to take the opportunity. “Stockholm is my favorite city, and I speak Swedish, so in that sense, it was easy to go, even though the times were unusual,” recalls Bianca.
Before her studies in textile design, Bianca has lived and studied in Germany and the United States. Despite studies and family being nowadays in Finland, her work has taken Bianca around the world. Her designed textiles have been showcased and sold at events such as Helsinki Design Week, Surtex Show in New York, Maison et Objet in Paris, and Frankfurt’s Heimtextil – twice.
“Internationalization is crucial even for a solo entrepreneur,” says Bianca. “Finland, in that sense, is a small country with a vast pool of talented creators, but unfortunately, not all of them always have enough clients.”
Byggmästar specializes in designing interior fabrics, patterns for knitting, printing and weaving, but also other textile elements related to interior décor. Her inspiration comes from nature and geometric forms. “My style is colorful, bold, and unique,” shares Bianca. Sustainability is also a value that she cherishes.
European textile fairs have been positive experiences for linguistically skilled Bianca, both in terms of networking and acquiring clients. “I started at Habitare fairs in Helsinki in 2022, where I was alone for the first time. It was a safe place to begin,” Bianca explains. Events like these naturally lead to meeting new people, and sales may develop also indirectly, with a delay.
Speaking of language skills, Bianca considers it one of the most important prerequisites for internationalization. “It’s a completely different matter to be able to speak even a little of the client’s language,” says Bianca. “It enables also better consuming of other countries’ media and markets, when you understand what’s going on.”
The question about the future prompts Bianca to reflect. “It’s always challenging to predict the future. Working as a textile designer brings me a lot of joy and energy to push things forward. I’ve invested a lot in this, and I hope it pays off.”
Text & photos: Taneli Rantala
Fabrics on the video: @annalafabrics, annala.fi
Follow Bianca Byggmästars work:
- IG @biancabyggmastar
- www.biancabyggmastar.com
Empowering Solo Entrepreneurs through Volume!
The Volume! – Empowering Solo Entrepreneurs through Global Readiness -program offers free higher education in creative industries’ business and entrepreneurship, group consultations, workshops, and networking for solo entrepreneurs. We are publishing a series of entrepreneur stories from solo entrepreneurs participating in Volume.
The program is open until the end of 2024, running programs in both Finnish and English.
Learn more and sign up here: https://www.creve.fi/en/training-programs/
The Volume project is funded by the Continuous Learning and Employment Service Center, SECLE. The project is implemented by Humak / Creative Industry Business Service Creve from 1st January 2023 to 28th February 2025.
