Ana Hrgovčić, Biljke.Plants: We Plan to Position Ourselves as Leaders in Terrarium Production in the Domestic Scene

Terrariums, the concept of smart planting of plants that require little maintenance, are an ideal gift for any plant lover, as well as for any beginner in this field. A specialized studio for designing plant terrariums, maintaining office plants, and plant styling named ‘Biljke.Plants’ has settled right in the center of Zagreb, on Ilica.

Although this store in Zagreb has been operating for over a year, the brand has expanded to the rest of Croatia, with a new store opening in Pula on the last weekend of May, following earlier openings in Osijek and Vinkovci.

We asked designer and store owner Ana Hrgovčić how the idea for the Biljke.Plants studio originated.

‒ The idea for the Biljke.Plants brand came spontaneously, as a desire to create ‘something’. After a trip to Amsterdam, I bought a souvenir – a mini tree resembling a Bonsai with red leaves underneath and green leaves with white spots on the top side. It is an understatement to say that I was thrilled by the plant, and upon returning to Croatia, I dove into surfing the net to identify the exact name of the plant. After that, I became more and more interested in plants and opened an Instagram profile called Biljke.Plants as a sort of diary for plant maintenance. In the meantime, I discovered terrariums online. The appearance of terrariums completely enchanted me, and I wanted to create such elegant living sculptures myself ‒ explains Hrgovčić.

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According to data from Poslovna Hrvatska, Biljke.Plants finished the last year with total revenues of €127,635.81, and operated profitably, currently employing, according to the owner, four full-time employees and seven students.

‒ We plan to hire two more full-time employees in the coming months to ease our production and sales processes. In Pula, we faced significant challenges with permanent employment since employees mostly work seasonal jobs during the summer and are not very interested in retail jobs ‒ says Hrgovčić.

Although they specialize in making plant terrariums, Biljke.Plants also offers interior greening services and monthly maintenance of office plants.

‒ We started providing interior maintenance due to the increased market demand for this service. Our team includes two agronomists who are experts in this field and take great care of leafy plants to ensure they grow long-term and beautify business spaces ‒ says the owner, adding that it is well-known that plants in spaces improve mood, reduce noise, increase concentration and productivity, and beautify spaces.

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‒ In large companies, employees do not have time to maintain plants, and management wants beautiful offices and productive employees. Therefore, we step in, a team for long-lasting green interiors that comes to your offices as needed to water and fertilize plants, repot them, and prune ‒ explains Hrgovčić.

The company is registered in Vinkovci, and as the owner says, the terrarium production is located there, where her family members also work. However, the plan is to expand further beyond the existing branches in four cities.

‒ It takes several months of preparation to open a location, and after that, it takes some time to establish the branch, train employees, and get everything in order to function without my daily presence. So, we definitely plan to expand further, but gradually ‒ concludes Hrgovčić, who also says that there are indeed many plans and they are currently working to complete their team with ambitious and dedicated employees who will help expand the business and position the Biljke.Plants brand as a leader in terrarium production in the domestic scene.

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