The architect behind a blooming business

With a small market share on the business and private events sector, Elena Toader intends to put YaU Concept among the top three players on Bucharest’s corporate flower arranging market in the next three years.

Anca Ionescu

Elena Toader, architect and managing partner of YaU (You and Us) Concept, took her first steps in the business world back in 2008, after having worked for almost four years in several architectural practices. “At the end of 2008 I realized that the intellectual and artistic challenge didn’t meet my expectations and didn’t offer enough satisfaction for my soul. That was the moment when we set up YaU Concept, a company specialized in designing events, a business line that came in addition to architectural activity,” says Toader. She based the idea on the “several heads are better than one” principle and managed to bring together people with different passions: architecture, scenography, photography, video, IT and management, in order that they could see things from different perspectives. “The business idea was simple: we didn’t work with catalogues because people are different and have had enough of mass produced things. YaU created the premises of a place where people could talk to designers. In short, the You and Us Concept means ‘Let’s create a concept together’ (Hai sa cream un concept impreuna),” remembers the young entrepreneur.

She adds that YaU was and still is a very flexible business that has adapted to the current economic conditions on the local market. “Things evolved from YaU Concept – design for events; to YaU shop – design for objects; and to YaU flowers – floral design,” says Toader.

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Toader graduated from the Ion Mincu Urbanism and Architecture University. As part of her course she spent one year in Belgium at Katholieke Universiteit-Leuven and also participated in cultural exchange programs in the US in 2002 and 2004. “The most significant achievement during my studies was that my university degree thesis made the shortlist of the President’s Medals Award, open to schools accredited by the Royal Institute of British Architects,” recalls Toader.

The idea to set up her own business came as a natural step, as she had been mulling it over for a long time. She says she is lucky to have a freelance job that allows her to be active in different fields of activity. “Generally, design is the same, regardless of whether it is about a master plan, a house, an event, an object or an unspecific floral arrangement,” says Toader.

The businesswoman adds that it was in November 2008 when she felt ready to make the step toward entrepreneurship. She strongly believes that in general it is difficult to anticipate the right moment to launch a business. But there are other factors. “If you have something to say, and believe in your talents and ideas enough, everyone else will do the same as a result. There are always people behind a business and if they believe in what they do, have passion for it and feel they are ready for what they want to achieve, than that is the moment to launch a business,” says the architect. “The success or failure of a company lies in this.”

She also thinks that to know what you want, to tackle a field or a niche from a different perspective and to be willing to take some risks are key factors in deciding to start a business. Asked the most difficult moment her company has faced, Toader says that each project is difficult by its nature, because it is unique. “When you create a prototype, the technical and emotional effort is double or even triple,” she says. Toader believes that the main task for her business at present is to communicate with the Romanian emerging market about design, what it means, and bring it to the customer. “It is a challenge to learn and tell a consumer that your product is unique and has a story behind it,” she says. “We haven’t had just one difficult moment, but we have managed to get through all of them so far because we communicated very well with our customers.”

If she started another firm she wouldn’t change anything. “I think you might want to change something if you had some regrets. But I have always tried to follow several principles, with having no regrets regardless of the situation being one of them.”

Speaking about the challenges her business has faced, Toader says that “challenge” is their motto. “The motivation is to always bring something new, to manage to be coherent and, last but not least, everything you do should be with your entire soul. Ultimately this is what makes the difference,” says the managing partner. She adds that the story behind the design is much more valuable than the object itself. “It is a challenge to transmit this story and especially to make people believe in it.”

Toader thinks that her firm’s customized approach to each event and its unconventional tackling of conventional situations differentiates it from the crowd. Regarding the future, the company intends to further develop its activity organizing business events, while in September it will launch a new collection of YaU signature objects. “We also want to become one of the top three players on the local floral arrangements market for companies in Bucharest in the next three years,” concludes the businesswoman.