INTERVIEW
Every love is unique. And that is exactly what UNIQUE LOVE stands for: love for our children, for ourselves, for our surroundings. UNIQUE LOVE offers a way of expressing ourselves and showing how we want to shape our lives.
As the team behind the brand, it is important to us to create products that are linked to very special memories and therefore have a high emotional value. In this context, design plays an important connecting role. If our products become loyal companions and are happily passed on to future generations, we have done everything right. UNIQUE LOVE is a brand for families who value high quality, timeless design and long-lasting aesthetics as well as naturalness.
How do the products reflect the brand name and thus the love of uniqueness?
All products are produced with attention to detail and great passion; the materials are also selected with great care. The brand name UNIQUE LOVE still embodies our values today.
You founded UNIQUE LOVE in 2010, shortly before the birth of your first son. How did this idea come about?
After the birth of my first son, I especially missed baby clothes that were timeless and of high quality. I was looking for something pure, natural and durable. As a qualified communications designer with a special eye for aesthetics, the range on the market was often too loud or too colorful for me. So I created my own product samples and produced them in small quantities for myself and a few friends. As demand grew from friends and acquaintances, the idea of a brand for the whole family was born.
Everyone knows the memory box as a loving memento of different, formative phases of life. The first lock of hair finds space there, as does the favorite cuddly toy and much more. Do your products belong there too?
Definitely! Our products in the Kids range have exactly this basic idea. We want to develop real favorite pieces that are linked to wonderful childhood stories and the beautiful first years as a family and that are kept as a memory.
UNIQUE LOVE has a clear signature. What makes your products so unique? How would you describe your style in a few words?
Each of our products bears my individual signature as a designer, as the entire creation process, from inspiration to sketches, to patterns, to the finished product, is in the hands of me and my team. In our Hamburg studio and office, we oversee the entire product creation process and always keep an eye on the individual steps and details. For us, the words that best describe UNIQUE LOVE and our style are: timeless, puristic, select, high-quality, natural, grounding.
“UNIQUE LOVE is a brand for families who value quality, timeless aesthetics and a natural lifestyle.”
Speaking of family, UNIQUE LOVE is also the product of cross-generational collaboration. How exactly can I imagine this collaboration?
UNIQUE LOVE is a true family business. My husband has supported me from the very beginning and has now joined the management full-time. He is responsible for the majority of production, which we now carry out largely in-house and with our selected manufacturers in Germany and abroad. In this way, he brings our design to life as a team.
Our Hamburg team now includes almost 10 great employees.
My in-laws also provide support with their many years of experience from both Germany and Turkey, as they live there alternately.
My mother-in-law knitted the first knitted boots, which are still part of our range today. Since the company was founded, she has trained around ten other family members who are now part of the team in Turkey as knitters.
My father-in-law, on the other hand, ensures the quality of the work in the Turkish production facilities and is always on hand when support and expertise are needed. He often visits traditional markets, always looking for high-quality raw materials and, above all, the special details of our products.
UNIQUE LOVE is characterized by genuine handcraft and a loving family bond.
UNIQUE LOVE products bring the world a little closer together. You produce in Hamburg and also in different countries. Why?
We value great craftsmanship and love to see what hands can do - young or old hands creating beautiful products for everyone's enjoyment. Real craftsmanship is a dying activity that we want to preserve and through which we express our appreciation for producers, materials and the environment.
We have been continuously expanding our own production since 2020 because we appreciate the potential when the design team can work closely with the tailors. This is how great products are created.
We often choose small, international manufacturers as additional production sites and base our selection on the location of the respective expertise: Germany, Belgium, Turkey, Mongolia. We have learned that where the raw materials occur naturally, the expertise in processing is often exceptionally high and the local people are extremely knowledgeable in their traditional craft.
We also attach great importance to ensuring that the materials we process are sourced sustainably and that we can build a personal relationship with our partners within the supply chain.
More and more people are avoiding excessive consumption and are shopping consciously. They are focusing on quality and high-quality, long-lasting products. The key word is sustainability. How do you deal with this responsibility?
As a company, we aim to make our brand sustainable through conscious decisions. That's why we question these aspects every day in our everyday work: during transport, packaging or product materials.
For example, to meet our high quality standards, we always use renewable and natural materials. We also pay attention to durability in our design, because we believe that timeless design is loved and passed on for generations. We are happy to donate rejected goods or samples that arise during the development process of a new product to social institutions such as women's shelters or aid organizations and those in need.
Whenever possible, we choose the sustainable path.
Your product range is broad. There are products for babies and children as well as for adults. Where do you get your ideas from? What inspires you?
Our greatest source of inspiration is our everyday family life.
Each stage of life brings new challenges and awakens new needs in us and our children.
From these changes in the environment and our surroundings we draw the greatest ideas to rethink products, design them better or close a gap in the market.
Our product ideas are particularly influenced by traveling, getting to know other cultures and gaining insight into the customs, traditions and lifestyles of different people.
Our brand grows with us and our demands and constantly reinvents itself with our own personal touch.
UNIQUE LOVE seems very approachable. Antje, you are the face of the brand and can often be seen on social media. That ensures a great deal of identification. How important is transparency for the company to you?
Transparency is an important issue for us. That's why we're happy to take you on our journey. For example, we give you a glimpse behind the scenes of our everyday work, explain individual steps of production and the processes as well as the complex processing of our materials.
This transparency helps us to create and convey the appreciation that our products deserve.
As the company behind the brand, it is important to us to always be open to questions and always approachable. In the future, you will see a lot more of us as a team and our everyday work at UNIQUE LOVE.
UNIQUE LOVE has grown strongly in recent years. Where do you see the brand in the next few years?
Our mission for the coming years is to continue to create products for all the special moments in life. UNIQUE LOVE should accompany you in many different phases of life and make them even more beautiful. The connection to our brand unites people across generations. The fact that our timeless designs are happily passed on or inherited is a great compliment to us and we will continue to build on this in the future.
That's why we want to expand our range. In addition to our well-known kids essentials, we are already planning products for moms, dads, your home and for your self-care routine.
What attitude to life should UNIQUE LOVE evoke?
UNIQUE LOVE combines the best of different lifestyles and cultures. Many influences flow into our design: the puristic aesthetics of the Scandinavians, the cheerful way of life of the southern Europeans, the high value placed on family and a considerate social interaction with one another. From this we create an attitude to life à la UNIQUE LOVE.
Is there a code of conduct when working with your cooperation partners? What criteria do you use to select them?
Yes, there is. We consciously create the code from our values. On this basis, we select our dealers, cooperation and contractual partners with whom we work.
For example, when it comes to cooperation partners, a modern, conscious lifestyle is just as important to us as a feeling for beautiful design and a desire for quality and sustainability, combined with consistent implementation.
Where can I purchase UNIQUE LOVE?
To ensure good customer loyalty, we rely on personal advice as well as digital service. Our lovingly designed shop in Hamburg is of course also available online. Families can browse and shop there 24/7 to their heart's content.
We are also delighted that more and more retailers are adding our products to their range. Selected retailers all over the world are now selling our products and are accompanying us on our great journey with UNIQUE LOVE.
