How we manage is important to us! To you too?
It is likely that very few customers of webshops and shops know what kind of company the trader has - the main thing is that everything is reputable and reliable. However, it is also important to us how we do business - and that is why we would like you, our customers, to know our thoughts on our company form. Because, of course, you are part of the big picture:
New ways of doing business?
We have long been fascinated by the idea that business and economic activity can function differently than purely profit-oriented. The idea that people are at the centre of a company and not maximum turnover and profit drives us to look at other forms of doing business and to try to break new ground.
The Dutch way
In the Netherlands we have already taken a decisive step: with De Beeldhouwwinkel we joined the Sleipnir Foundation. This means that the working capital no longer belongs to individual shareholders who personally earn money from it, but to a non-profit foundation in which several companies have joined forces to operate together for the common good. All this has a lot to do with trust - and is an exciting task.
People at the centre
The starting point for all considerations are the needs of the people involved in a company: customers, employees, suppliers, entrepreneurs, investors. Their needs should be balanced, i.e. everyone should receive as fair a price and fair payment as possible and pay as fair a price as possible. The company should find its optimal size, not its maximum - it is not about constant growth, but about a balanced measure.
Our pricing
You may wonder about some of the pricing at bildhau: With our prices we are sometimes above the prices of other shops, sometimes below. This has to do with the fact that we don't simply want to be the cheapest. Rather, it is about finding a price that is as fair as possible to balancing the actual needs of all parties.
Our company capital
We have contributed the company capital of bildhau to the Dutch foundation De Beeldhouwwinkel in conjunction with the Dutch foundation. The focus of our business activities is thus on the purpose of the company, namely to trade as fairly as possible in tools and materials for sculpture. We as directors see ourselves as trustees of the company's capital.
The search for the right way in Germany
In Germany, we are still looking for a suitable legal form for bildhau, such as a cooperative or a model similar to a cooperative, in order to be able to live our ideas. If you want to know more about our thoughts on doing business, just contact us!
Carsten Langediers & Reinoud van Bemmelen