“Creativity knows no business hours.”
Getting established in the media industry is one thing. But being successful in the long term is something else. Katrin de Buhr, CEO of the advertising agency Designstuuv in Aurich, knows what it takes to be successful: creativity, communication and lots of passion.
Unsicherheit oder Bedenken bezüglich ihrer Berufswahl hat Katrin de Buhr nie verspürt: „Mir war immer absolut klar, dass ich etwas mit Grafikdesign und Kommunikationsdesign machen möchte. Aber als Praktikerin in der Umsetzung“, erzählt die gebürtige Oldenburgerin. Katrin de Buhr never had any uncertainty or misgivings about her choice of career: “I always knew exactly what I wanted to do: something with graphic design and communication design, but on the practical side”, says the woman born in Oldenburg. Creativity has been part of her life ever since she was a small child. Growing up in a family of photographers, she learnt to think in pictures early on. Her grandmother in particular played an important role. There were always pencils and crayons on the table, and they were always drawing things together. Everything was visual, recalls the mid-40-year old. At school, her art teacher saw her potential and encouraged her to do something with her talent. “I was fortunate in having strong role models and mentors at my side at all times”, says Katrin de Buhr today.
She heard about the possibility of training as a media designer from the teachers at the design college she then attended. The problem was that the training programmes in those days were still in their infancy and most companies knew nothing about the job profile. But she didn’t let that put her off. She went from one firm to the next and eventually convinced an advertising in Oldenburg with her ideas. Together with just three others from the whole of North Germany, Katrin de Buhr thus belonged to the first generation of media designers. Today she herself is involved in training new talent.
Quality over quantity
In fact, her advertising agency Designstuuv is a very popular place to obtain the necessary training. “We always receive lots of applications”, confirms the creative director who now lives in Aurich. She offers her three trainees 360 degree training. Graphic design, media design, photography, web design and video technology: the different aspects are so varied that plenty of career opportunities are then possible.
In 2022, the training offered by Designstuuv was even given the accolade “best in the state” by the CCI Lower Saxony.
Other awards are hanging on the corridor walls of the agency. Designstuuv has won the German Agency Award three times already. For Katrin de Buhr, cooperation with her team is the key to her success. “Energy simply flows when people come together. Everyone brings their own particular skills, which we pool in our team work. We grow with every project, thanks among others to our open feedback culture.”
There are no plans to increase the current workforce of 18 employees. Maximising is not a goal. “Each person wants to be seen, appreciated, encouraged and led”, knows Katrin de Buhr. But once a certain number is exceeded, that is no longer possible. She clearly puts corporate culture over corporate growth.
Flexible methods, flexible mindsets
The Designstuuv team cultivates close, grounded and direct working relationships with the mostly regular client base. That’s simply how things are done and appreciated here in Ostfriesland. Furthermore, the employees are free to organise their working hours when it suits them best. Some start first thing, others come later on in the morning. “Creativity knows no business hours”, says Katrin de Buhr. She herself often works in the evening or at the weekend. At lunchtime she’ll be at home to cook for her children and help them with their homework. Even so, she’ll usually have a pencil and a piece of paper close at hand to jot down spontaneous ideas for current projects. “I just love my work. I get so enthusiastic about everything that people keep having to slow me down a bit. I simply don’t have an off-switch”, says Katrin de Buhr with a laugh.
When her staff suggested the agency should close earlier on Fridays to have a longer weekend, she was sceptical at first. But now she appreciates the additional free time. “It’s a huge improvement now that I can spend the afternoon with my children. I’m of the generation that thinks the job has to be finished before you down tools. But my employees have shown me how important it is to let go now and then.”
The mother of three children had never actually planned to have her own business with nearly 20 employees. Once she’d finished her training, she worked for the advertising agency Frese & Wolff in Oldenburg where she met her husband and moved with him to Lake Constance. They lived there for eight years and started their family. But gradually they started longed to return home. “I always say I’m a dyed-in-the-wool East Frisian girl” grins Katrin de Buhr. Her family came originally from Leer, though she was born and brought up in Oldenburg. She always felt a close connection to her roots in Ostfriesland. She and her husband – brought up in the villages of Fiebing and Strackholt in the municipality of Großefehn – quickly decided that was where their new home should be.
Designstuuv is born
Once they’d arrived in Ostfriesland, Katrin de Buhr started looking for work. After several interviews with a major company in the region, she almost had the job in her hands. But when the young mother suggested flexible working hours to reconcile her working life with her family commitments, she was turned down. Although an equal opportunities commissioner had been present at the interview, she was told: “We’re not ready for that in Ostfriesland yet.” Instead, the job was advertised again and went to a male applicant on a full-time basis. “I was totally nonplussed because I knew I could have done the job”, says Katrin de Buhr, describing how she felt at the time. “Although I had the best qualifications of all the applicants, they slammed the door in my face. With a loud bang!” Looking back, this proved to be a seminal moment for the media designer. Her reaction was to set up business on her own, and she founded Designstuuv in 2010.
The next six years showed Katrin de Buhr that this had been the right thing to do. People quickly found out about the quality of her work and orders started to come in of their own accord. Despite giving birth to her third child in 2013, the flexible working hours meant she coped with her workload and finished her jobs on time. But gradually she found herself under pressure to take on some members of staff, something that was actually inconceivable for Katrin de Buhr at that point in time. “I still hadn’t discovered my entrepreneurial side. Simply doing my job was totally fulfilling. I didn’t want to change anything.”
Awakening her entrepreneurial spirit
In 2016, she received an award as creative pioneer from the state of Lower Saxony and started to rethink the situation. There was no prize money with the award, but it came with something else that proved to be much more valuable. For a period of twelve months, she had an opportunity for networking with various business people, creative labs and coaches throughout Lower Saxony and also in Berlin. The state had realised that creatives usually burn for their work but often don’t manage to take the plunge of entrepreneurship and fail to survive in the long term. Katrin de Buhr realised that she could suffer from the same fate.
When a major customer then told her they could only continue to work with her if she took on more staff to deal with the increasing volume of orders, the die was cast. “On the same day that I made the decision, a woman came into my office with a speculative job application. It was a lucky sign”, says the creative pioneer with a smile.
The first applicant became the first employee, and things really began to take off. “Once I saw that we can work even better as a team, we soon started to grow together.” The rest is history. Katrin de Buhr is now fulfilled by her role as entrepreneur and by encouraging her staff and helping them to develop. She is particularly proud that she was able to make it possible for several mothers to come back to work again. As an active member of the Zonta Club Leer-Ostfriesland, she also plays a voluntary role in advocating women’s rights and fair living and working conditions for women. “It gives me great pleasure to be involved in positive developments in society!” There are still not very many female entrepreneurs in the region, but Katrin de Buhr is confident that this will change in future. After all, “We’re really ready for that in Ostfriesland!”
DESIGNSTUUV Werbeagentur
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