MASTERS TO WATCH: Experience the new world with Le Feu

Le Feu, a Danish company that produces high-quality bio-fireplaces, made its entrance at MASTERS EXPO last year. This eye-catchers are suitable for interiors, terraces and gardens and are also environmentally friendly and portable. In conversation with co-founder Maikel Horn.Text: Bart-Jan Brouwer
Online editor: Patrick Stoffer
Image: John van Helvert

New world

“I come from the real estate industry. We also import women's fashion brands and have sold the loose-leaf diaries of the famous English brand Filofax to 450 dealers in the country for twenty years. Due to my work in real estate, I attend many interior design fairs in Europe and the Far East. Eighteen months ago I discovered Le Feu at Maison&Objet in Paris. I was impressed by the bio-ethanol fireplaces from this Danish brand and initially wanted them for my own projects. I was curious who their representative in the Netherlands was, but they didn't have one yet. I saw enormous potential in the product and thought: why not do it myself? Only, in addition to all my other activities, I couldn't do that on my own. My friend Lizet Baars also fell for the product and wanted to embark on the adventure with me. I then managed to inspire my good friend Jur Nederpelt. After being an F-16 pilot in the army and then a captain at KLM for more than thirty years, he had retired - although still young and energetic. Le Feu opened a new world for him. He was also impressed with the product. Jur and I took it up financially together and at the end of 2019 the establishment of JuMa Trading BV was a fact. We immediately started to find out which other countries were not yet in the distribution network. As a result, in addition to being the exclusive importer for La Feu in the Netherlands, we also serve the Italian market and take care of distribution in Germany, Spain and Portugal with local partners.”

Cargo bike

“We presented Le Feu for the first time in February 2020, at the Ambiente fair in Frankfurt. We had a large stand there with fifteen employees from all the countries we distribute to. We had an incredibly good fair. We had received 120 to 130 orders for Germany, placed a container here, a container there... Unbelievable! In March, Covid overcame it and 95 percent of all European orders were cancelled. In one fell swoop everything was gone. That gave us time to look at the business in a different way. We adapted the idea of ​​selling the fireplaces as a wholesaler through retail and shops: we started our own shops and also built two fantastic websites, one for consumers and one for B2B. We have transformed the strategy by first making the brand a brand instead of doing it at stores, as was traditionally the case. This beautiful place at Prinsengracht 529 came into view at Jur's initiative. We started there in November 2020 as a temporary pop-up store. The first Saturday we opened, we immediately sold 15.000 to 20.000 euros to Le Feu's. Customers even drove up on a cargo bike: "Put it in." We have now also opened a store in The Hague.”

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