Maria Dermengiu, Romanian in Bucharest
“I am a visual artist, meaning that I am both a painter and a designer, more of a painter at specific moments and more of a designer in other occasions, depending on the context and the mood. Thanks to my passion for art, I have developed a project of applied arts that has become a brand, or even a love brand on the Romanian market – Marie Nouvelle. The covered product segments are the following: luxury fashion items & accessories (silk scarves and other clothing items – dresses, shirts), casual accessories (tablet/Smartphone pouches and handbags for holidays), as well as a Home Deco line (lamps, tapestry & ceramics).
I am a creative person with an artist soul and a pragmatic mindset. A bohemian duel – I easily switch from the left hemisphere to the right one and the other way around. Maybe because I am ambidextrous, I don’t know. I think that somewhere, in the Romanian culture and past there is a pure form of creativity and suppleness or flexibility; in other words, the capacity to adjust to the environment.
I am proud to be a part of this new generation of young entrepreneurs, ambitious and creative, who think outside the box and differentiate themselves by offering their own vision of design and of the world we are living in. I am motivated to create here in Romania, to work with local people and companies as much as possible and to develop my brand in order to make it a reference in Romania and even abroad. As a painter, I will continue to grow and create.”
Maria
Facebook Page Marie Nouvelle Studio
Facebook Page Marie Nouvelle Home Deco
Click here to read the article in Romanian
Link towards the campaign “I’m Romanian”
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There are some questionable things in this interview. The lady says that the project became a brand, and then it turned into a “love mark” (the correct spelling is “lovemark”). To be a brand it requires a much greater awareness of the identity, of the name, which eventually differentiates it from some serious competitors. If we ask some people in the street about this “brand”, few, very few will be those that will recognize it or distinguish it from other manufacturers. Specifically, the public here consists of some Facebook friends and other acquaintances, a few hundreds maximum. It would be interesting to have some statistics – the number of buyers, the number of products sold etc. This is not Brainconf, nor Ikea, Coca-Cola, Napolact or Matache Măcelaru’.
And if you want to create a “lovemark”, the issue is even more serious. First it is necessary a greater awareness of the brand, a wide audience of tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands or millions of people (in relation to the category of the products). Then it is necessary to make the history of products known, a longer history, one that transcends the mere personal life experience. And that history should convey emotion, a lot of emotion, which can be perceived by many, many people: tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions. I saw some time ago some attempts of individuals who post on their Facebook pages pieces of their personal life with the (very transparent) purpose of capturing de goodwill of the readers and artificially impress them with their more or less inflated story. A trick easily discovered, especially if you do it for marketing purposes, before becoming at least a brand that commands respect among competitors. This article might have been more interesting if it told more about the products, about their innovative quality and not about their creator.
Finally, the most important thing to grasp is that there is a clear contradiction between the idea of the brand and the idea of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is generally (as in this case), a small-scale business, one focused on a particular market opportunity and innovation, while the brand is a developed business, which is based on products that have a steady demand, and which has as target a higher development. Even the author says she wants to “develop” this brand to become a prominent brand in the accessories market in the country and abroad. If it is already a brand, then it should already be prominent, and, if not, then it may become one through development. It is interesting the creator’s desire to make it a prominent brand abroad. Who exactly will it compete with? What “brands” and what designers?
What I would be interested in particular is the innovation that should characterize these products. What is innovation in this case?
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I smell some hate here..
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My comment is not about hate. It is about brands and lovemarks with arguments. Please state your counterarguments if you want a serious discussion. Are you friends of the “brand”? If so, I understand your anger.
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it amazes me what a great amount of time is someone willing to spend online just to hate others work. It’s always the case with romanians in particular. We look around for opportunities to hate each other every day, every mintue of our life. such a pity.
a brand isn’t born after night. It’s a vision that needs time and a lot of passion and perseverence to eventually become a brand. there is a lot to talk on the subject but in short is something that you grow and mold in time. coca-cola for example was nothing but a very strate forward name given to a new drink made from coca leaves. it took a history to be part of the american culture. In time, after a lot of efforts and a clear vision it became a “lovemark”. “lovemarks” is, by the way, the philosophy of one of the most famous advertising company on world. it talks about the relationship between people and brands. it goes beyond brands because it inspires Loyality Beyond Reason. If you take a brand away from people, it’s going to be another one taking its place. Not the case with a lovemark, people will fight to bring it back. So, just by puting Ikea and cc together with napolac and matache macelaru’ is a silly thing to do.
we are all professionals when it comes to highlight a typo or to give enterprenuership lessons.
just hate less and put your hands together and write a better articol or come up with a better idea.
don’t loose people’s time with hate for the sake of hating.
a proud romanian who’s just proud of his imperfect english.
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My comment is not about hate. It is about brands and lovemarks with arguments. Please state your counterarguments if you want a serious discussion. Are you friends of the “brand”? If so, I understand your anger.
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i am not a friend of the brand at all. it’s the first time i come across the brand and its creator. it’s just common sense. so stop hating man it’s bad for your health. 🙂
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I see, instead of responding to a person’s arguments you respond by attacking the person’s character. That was your first move. The second move was to enlighten the readers with some pieces from the history of Coca-Cola and from the lovemark’s birth. No news and nobody asked for that! Your third move was again to attack the person presuming that the first reviewer highlights a typo just to claim some kind of professionalism. Dear friend, it’s not the case. I highlighted the misspelling (not necessarily a typo) just to be exact and nothing else. By the way, to inform us that you are proud of your imperfect English tells us something about the value of your judgments. However, the chance made it possible that you wrote something worth discussing. You said, “So, just by puting Ikea and cc together with napolac and matache macelaru’ is a silly thing to do.” The question is: why would it be silly and what does it have to do with my argument? There was no implied similarity between these brands in my wording. The idea was they are all brands. Nothing more. Or perhaps you do not like Matache Măcelaru’, but that’s very relevant as an example of an old local entrepreneur – a brand in itself – if we admit that we had entrepreneurs in the past. So before making an appeal to common sense, make yourself a favor and read carefully the text. This is especially applicable if you really want to deal with brands professionally. I hope I will not get from you another response in which you play the doctor.
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Hello,
Thank you for your interest in our blog, a real source or food for thought 🙂
Apparently our post troubled you a little bit. As we have mentioned in a precedent post/comment, our purpose is not to promote already well-known brands at a national and international scale with a large audience, but to encourage Romanians living in the country or abroad who want to set up a decent business. Their business is not necessarily big, but can be small, in the initial phase, when it barely enters the market and not many people have heard about it. In the phase when the owner/creator/entrepreneur needs some help to get launched, test his/her idea and get feedback.
Today, any person has the right and can aspire and try to create a brand / love brand and we want to give a hand to those that have the courage to create a business on the Romanian market or even the international one, as it is the case as well of this young painter, Maria Dermengiu, for whom, applied arts represent both her passion and her source of revenue. At this very first step, her initiative doesn’t have a huge impact, nor a great awareness and it doesn’t raise the same admiration as other bigger brands, but we hope that, in the future, she will develop her brand project and that people will react positively to her work.
Today, she is a member of the young generation of Romanian entrepreneurs. Her creations may not please everybody, but it is normal to be like this, because each and every person has his/her own preferences and tastes. People don’t all like the same artists, they don’t enjoy the same music, nor wear the same clothes and there is enough room for everybody to express his/her identity. There is time and space for each and every one of us to try to launch a new business, develop ourselves and evolve as time goes by, without any rush. Only time will tell us if her initiative will be successful or not.
Innovative or not, the post presents the initiative of a Romanian who wants to share with the world her vision about art, in her own way and she is free to do so, as we are free to talk about it. And, in the future, we will also present other initiatives of other Romanians (men and women) that won’t necessarily have successful businesses, but who aspire and try, with their means, to develop an idea or a project, instead of doing nothing and letting others talk and make decisions for them.
We don’t intend to do a contest and give an award to only one person; no, we believe that by presenting several Romanians and talking about the different initiatives they have, we will suggest and help people have a clue (not irrevocably define) a Romanian spirit / style / way of thinking, that can of course evolve in time.
“I’m Romanian” is a sort of campaign we have launched in order to present Romanians who are active in different fields of expertise. If you are interested in reading more about products and not people, we invite you to read our recently created category called “Made in Romania” where we intend to present several Romanian products. It will only be dedicated to products.
Thank you !
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Hello! As you may see, my comment does not include any criticism against you. What I found arguable was the claim of the creator (not yours) that her project of applied art “has become a brand, a lovemark in our market” (quotation from the creator). In the presentation, the creator does not talk, therefore, of the “aspiration” to become a brand and a lovemark, but it talks about them as a fact. I do not want to insist and to write about the illegitimate use of some concepts from branding. I say just this: I can read! Therefore, I know what I wrote about, what statements I made and what responses I should receive after my comments. Otherwise, I appreciate your polite response that does not imply that I utter some hatred toward anyone (as some other commentators have insinuated). Therefore, you’ve got from me a very important point. Finally, I remind to all those pursuing a brand and a lovemark that it is necessary to tell the consumers the truth that you want to hear if you were in their place, and that the status of the brand is given by the consumers and not by the exaggerated or fraudulent advertising spread by the manufacturer or by the advertising agencies.
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One more thing to note, in the English version of the creator’s presentations, some wording is different from the Romanian version. She wrote in English: „I have developed a project of applied arts that has become a brand, or even a love brand on the Romanian market”. Probably, this was made to sound like that for the foreigners that are presumed to have less knowledge about the Romanian market. Again, who are the competitors of the manufacturer in the Romanian market?; what are the sales figures?; how does it compete in the market?; how was love measured in the assessment of the lovemark („love brand” – as she writes)?
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