Success stories

New entrepreneur:
Teresa Egger (Austria)
Age: 29
Company name: teresaegger.com (Start-up)
Sector of activity: Furniture, domestic appliances and cleaning products

Host entrepreneur:
Hanne Willmann (Germany)

Company name: hannewillmann.com (8 years of experience)
Sector of activity: Furniture, domestic appliances and cleaning products

Teresa Egger is a young product designer from Austria with an editorial and advertising background who has been self-employed since late 2021. To start her career, gain more experience in product development and expand her network in the design field, she decided to go on an international exchange. For these reasons, she decided to participate in the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs programme as a new entrepreneur. Finding Hanne Willmann as a possible host entrepreneur confirmed this decision, as she seemed to be the "perfect match" in every way: Field of interest, exchange of strengths, size and location of the studio. Hanne Willmann founded her own product and furniture design studio in Berlin in 2015 after working for renowned design studios such as Autoban in Istanbul and Werner Aisslinger. Starting out as a young designer herself a few years ago, she quickly developed into one of the big names in international furniture design in recent years.

The main goal of the relationship was the exchange of skills: While Teresa mainly wanted to gain more insights into product development and brand/studio management, Hanne could benefit from Teresa's background in brand copywriting and editing. From day one, Hanne set Teresa guided design tasks, and acted as a mentor for her. During the exchange, Teresa took over social media activities as well as preparing PR appearances for Hanne. After familiarising herself with the clients, the CAD and the render programmes used in the host entrepreneur's company, Teresa was involved in the daily activities of the studio, which didn't follow a strict routine. The tasks were varied and ranged from sketching, product development, model making, PR and social media activities to assisting with photo shoots.

A highlight during the exchange was certainly taking on the main responsibility for a client in the field of children's furniture, which involved presenting product development renderings and technical drawings. The design will be realised within this year. In June, the entire team took part in the Salone del Mobile design fair in Milan, where some of Studio Hanne Willmann's designs were presented and shown for the first time. But Teresa also exhibited her own designs there as part of a group exhibition for young design talents, which was a great learning experience for all sides!

For more information, please contact the local contact points involved in the exchange:

New entrepreneur's contact point:
WIRTSCHAFTSKAMMER ÖSTERREICH (Vienna, Austria)

Host entrepreneur's contact point:
Unternehmer ohne Grenzen e.V. (Hamburg, Germany)

« Back to the overview