Hi Stan. You have just become a father. How were the first few weeks with your new baby?
“The first weeks after becoming a father for the first time is just amazing! I was feeling so proud of and so in love with my baby girl and with my wife. A feeling that is hard to describe but great to experience!”
Will your work-life balance change now? Will you try to spend more time with the family?
“My work-life balance has not changed much so far. I have always tried to balance work with time for my family and friends and with doing sports. In the near future my goal is to spend more time – also during office hours – with my baby girl, because I want to help her learn how to swim.”
How important is Joolz’ sustainable ethos to new parents at a time when everything in their life is changing?
“At Joolz we strongly believe the world needs to move towards a healthy, sustainable way of living and that corporations and business have both the ability and responsibility to lead the way. Within our Positive Design philosophy we look for innovative solutions that contribute to this transition.”
Very sensible! So how does that work on a day-to-day level?
“We have big ambitions and over the years we have already taken many steps in this direction. But most importantly it all starts with our high quality products; we believe that a pushchair is a sustainable purchase, and should only be bought once to last a lifetime. We design and manufacture premium quality products. Our lifetime warranty supports this!”
Very commendable. Do you do anything else to protect the environment?
“Absolutely! In 2011 we introduced reusable packaging, giving our packaging a second life. In 2013 we introduced the Joolz Birth Forest, where we plant one tree for each sold pushchair and in 2014 we launched the Joolz Day Sense, a pushchair made with 100% eco-friendly fabrics. We also moved to new energy-neutral headquarters in Amsterdam in 2016. We truly believe that sustainability is vital part as a whole approach; we work paperless and every Monday we offer our employees a meatless-lunch.”
An energy-neutral headquarters sounds interesting! Tell us a little about it?
“We had to move to a bigger location so we moved to and renovatedan old factory to create a sustainable office that breathes Positive Design. It was our aim to create a workplace where our employees can work in a positive environment, that represents our brand to the fullest. It has a built-in row of greenhouses which are used as meeting places and relaxation areas but which also create a positive atmosphere and naturally control our indoor climate system. The plants positively add energy to our employees and any guests.”
Sounds wonderful – we’re off to buy a pot plant for the desk! Thanks Stan.
