Happynest

a 25-year-old who wants to make running a shop easy and fun.

He realized early on that buying and selling was Johan’s thing; already at the age of 14, the entrepreneurial soul Sjöstedt made his first deals:

-“Things were pretty tough at home, so in order to afford the same Levis jeans and video games as my friends, I had to earn my own money,” says Johan.

The talent he realized he had also came in handy when, as president of the high school student union, he managed to turn a large cash deficit into a healthy surplus. This includes organizing ski trips and much more.

-“Somewhere along the line I felt that it is possible to create things by being a little creative and I decided that, before I turn thirty, I will have started my first company,” says Johan.

Glass as a gateway
During a vacation trip to Germany, he met a family friend who suggested that Johan become a dealer of Leonardo glass. Johan jumped on the proverbial bandwagon and started his first own company. He had just turned 22:

-“I just knew that I wanted to work in sales, the fact that it was in home decoration was a pure coincidence, it could have been anything!

Twenty-five years later, Johan’s company Happynest Interior AB has gone from zero to 600 customers, from a one-man operation to having twelve full-time employees and additional staff during the industry’s peak season of September to December. And Leonardo’s glass? Yes, they are still with us! Now together with 11 other brands.

Happynest’s basic idea is to be able to offer home furnishing stores a complete range where the products are widely distributed without the brands “cannibalizing” each other. Johan explains:

-“One and the same customer should be able to buy all our brands, there should be a match,” says Johan and gives the example that you can pick napkins that match a table setting with wine glasses from Leonardo, plates from Blomus and LED lights from Uyuni Lighting.

“Great feeling when you make a product fly”

Johan and his Happynest can be proud of having brought some real volume sellers to the market over the years; the Feather lamp from Umage that was launched nine years ago and really took off when it was displayed in Bianca Ingrosso’s home, Uyuni’s LED light with its natural flickering glow and the curved glasses with the Mickey Mouse logo in relief from Leonardo, to name a few.
Johan describes:

-“When you see something and get a picture of how you could get it on the market and then make it fly, it’s a great feeling!” he says.

It is with great warmth that Johan talks about his customers. Over the years, many relationships have been built and now that Johan is responsible for Happynest’s 14 largest customers, he describes Formex as the obvious meeting place where he also gets to meet early customers:

-It’s extra fun to meet the people I’ve started businesses with, that’s one thing that’s incredibly fun about Formex!

Happynest customers are driven and very good at what they do, they know what they want. But for the more uncertain buyer, all possible help and support is available:

-“The dream is to get to a stage where the customer comes to us and asks for a mixed order for, say, thirty thousand kronor. Like a bag of candy you used to buy when you were a kid – mixed for ten kronor,” says Johan, laughing.

Visit Happynest here.