11.01.2022
A small group of guests from Van Ansem Group was visiting Saga Furs head office in Finland. The two-day visit included a variety of sources for inspiration.
Despite of pandemic restrictions and tight safety controls, Saga Furs was glad to have guests from Van Ansem Group (VAG) at the office in the beginning of January. As the Van Ansem Group is an important shipper of high-quality mink for the Saga Furs’ auctions, it was really valuable to meet and share knowledge with each other.
Representing the new generation of the family-owned mink ranching company with more than 55 years of operation, it was inspiring to discuss topics which are relevant specially for the younger generation, such as sustainability, traceability, and social media. The group of guests included Jullie Van Ansem Goossens from the USA offices, Nicoline de Wit from VAG in the Netherlands and Mitchyka Endhoven from VAG in Romania.
“It is valuable to build relationships between different actors and exchange ideas within the fur industry. It’s also valuable to discuss the fur industry in general. It was a pleasure to see our guests’ enthusiasm when working with fur during the creative seminar,” says Leena Harkimo, Chief Officer, Saga Furs Creative Hub.
Everything from grading to fur techniques
During the two-day visit the guests got a chance to visit Saga Furs’ warehouse and learn more about grading, as well as see other premises and the Saga Furs’ archives of hundreds of different fur techniques. They also participated in seminars about RFID and social media, both hosted by Saga Furs’ personnel from sustainability and communications.
The guests also had the privilege to have a hands-on seminar where they made the unicorn logo of the company with mink fur.
“This is our first time working with fur in a creative way,” the ladies said with big smiles on their faces. “This is really exciting…our hands are sweating!” With no experience in fur craftsmanship beforehand, but under the guidance of an experienced Saga Furs’ furrier, the result turned out to be really beautiful and well made.
“We enjoyed our stay a lot. We learned a lot more about all the different levels in fur. There was so much information, that we need to process everything we heard and learned. It was amazing to have visited Saga Furs in Finland and to meet new people in the fur trade! Working with fur and learning about the different techniques was also very exciting for all of us and we loved our experience sewing with mink fur,” says Jullie Van Ansem Goossens from the Van Ansem Group.
About Van Ansem Group: The Unicorn label is the flagship brand of a family that dates back over 55 years. To learn more, head to their site: https://www.unicornfurfarms.com/en/about-us/