Hello guys! We want to share with you another brand that has caught our attention. Today we introduce you to Gemeo, a Belgian brand that was born from the idea of offering aesthetic high-quality tableware at affordable prices.
Check out more → Design Hunger
According to the founders Pieter and Jeroen Gysels, everyone must be able to enjoy a delicious meal on a nice plate or served in a nice bowl. And that’s precisely why they carefully select the designs they make available for their customers.
Pieter and Jeroen have a passion for food and especially how to display food aesthetically. As both are industrial engineers, they know how to evaluate production processes to keep the high quality at the lowest possible price. Sounds perfect, right? We love it so much that we had to do an interview with them!
Hello Pieter and Jeroen,
Could you tell us more about yourselves?
Pieter and Jeroen: We are both 30 years old and Chemical Engineers, live near Antwerpen and sports lovers. This is important for us to find a good balance between life and work. We both have no children but they will come in the future. We love food and we love to cook.
When did you start Gemeo? What is the idea behind the brand & the name?
Pieter and Jeroen: Gemeo started in December 2017. The love for food, materials, chemistry and entrepreneurship brought us to the idea of Gemeo. We are both playful but strict and honest in the way we do business. This playfulness can be seen in our designs, which are not over the top but still special. Gemeo comes from the Portuguese and it means “twins”. We fell in love with Portugal and its rich ceramic history when we went on holidays 3 years ago. The people, the food, the nature, all is great.
Where is the production located? Can it be considered ethical/sustainable?
Pieter and Jeroen: The production is in China. We go there every year and ask for BCSI reports to be sure that everyone involved in the production process works in ethical circumstances.
Where do you get your inspiration from?
Pieter and Jeroen: Our inspiration comes from our daily life activities. We wanted to combine Scandinavian influences with the playful organic life we have. This is why we use in most of our glazes the reactive glaze. You never have the same effect on each plate and it gives dept. We still watch out to not go over the top because the food on the plate still needs to be the eye catcher and not the plate itself.
What is the material you like the most to work with and why?
Pieter and Jeroen: We mostly work with stoneware at the moment. We don’t have a real preference, this depends upon the use and type. We are technical so we see which ceramics are the best in which circumstances. For household ware we use stoneware, since you can have more different glaze results with it and it’s a bit cheaper than porcelain. It’s a little bit less strong than porcelain, but still perfect to use at home. For hotels and restaurants we will start working with new lines in porcelain, since they need to look good but also to be strong.For the cutlery we work with SS 18/0 and SS18/10. Both are corrosion resistant, but 18/10 is even a little better. Again here, 18/0 works perfectly and certainly at home and is cheaper than 18/10. As engineers, we prefer 18/10, but as entrepreneur and cost effectiveness, we prefer 18/0.
What is your favorite piece so far from Gemeo collections?
Pieter and Jeroen: We love the Wade collection. This was the first design in our collection and still one of the best sellers. In combination with the Serwa cutlery in bronze, it looks amazing. The design of the cutlery in combination with the organic design from the Wade is perfect.
What is your most remarkable memory from Gemeo’s journey?
Pieter and Jeroen: For sure the start. We had an idea, but really didn’t know where to go. We took the wrong production region, the wrong contact person, the wrong shipping company. But this is life and we wanted to chase our dream, so we kept going till we found the production facilities where we work with now. You really put your head on the ground when you receive bad quality goods and lose money, but because of the dream we had and still have, we kept going. We cried and we laughed, and in the end we are who we are now and keep getting more and more interest from companies to work with us.
How do you think the worldwide lockdown is affecting your business?
Pieter and Jeroen: On a short term it affect our business, of course. On a long term we think the way we do business will change. At this moment, the way of doing business is different in each country, but we think we will go more to online shopping, even B2B. People will have less contact with sales agents to reduce the risk of infection. What the impact will be on China is still unknown. The local government will need to change things to avoid a boycott from Europe and the US. Time will learn…
If you had one advice to give to new brands, what would it be?
Pieter and Jeroen: Don’t start too early. Work out your idea, look already for partners, shipping companies, possible customers, and when all is ready, then you can start. This will save you time, money and you will grow faster. In the beginning you have no money, but talk with the bank, they are still open to invest when you want to keep all in your own hands. If you want to grow fast, you need to look for investors, but be aware because then you don’t have all in your own hands. So it depends on what you want.
Any new exciting projects coming soon? Do you intend to expand your line?
Pieter and Jeroen: We will attend Maison & Objet in September 2020 and Ambiente next year, both for the first time. These are the major fairs in Europe and we can’t wait to start with them and meet new people and possible customers from countries all over Europe. In the meantime we are looking for sales agents in countries outside the Benelux.
What is your morning routine?
Pieter and Jeroen: We don’t need a lot of time in the morning. Let’s say the time between stepping our of bed and jumping in the car is 20-30 minutes. We get dressed, eat a bowl of yogurt with muesli and fruit, checking the news in the meantime on the cellphone, and after that we just jump in the car.
And finally, could you tell us what is your favorite city in the world? Why?
Pieter and Jeroen: You would probably think we love Lisbon or another Portuguese city (these cities are great without a doubt), but Rome still is our favorite. The history, the buildings, the food, the wine. It’s really great.
We will end this article by showing you our favorite designs from Gemeo! Our pick is the Zino line, we are fans of the minimalism of the white color combined with the organic shaping of each tableware. Simple but totally elegant!
