Screw and manage

It was a race against time. Many thought that such a rebuild could not be accomplished in one night. That was two years ago at the WEF in Davos. Gogo Gärtner and her partner had taken on the job of transforming the pool room at the Grandhotel Belvédère into a festively styled party room within a few hours. "The difficulties already start at the entrance. If the people from security think we're not allowed through with our articulated lorry, then you simply can't get through. Or the entrances are suddenly clogged with cars from other suppliers. " But Gogo Gärtner knew: "If we don't make it, we'll never be in Davos again. If we make it, we're in!" In such a situation, even Gogo Gärtner and her partner René Kaufmann got nervous. "But we were a super team. We finished on the seconds. The guests were already standing in front of the door when we directed the last spotlights."

Three 17 meter long walls with four different colored fabrics on top of each other had to be stretched and illuminated with a sophisticated system of LED lights. The rest of pool-room was lined with an abrasive wall. "The lighting effect, the height, the stability and the workflow: everything had to fit exactly. The preparation had to be absolutely perfect. We therefore rehearsed the entire conversion in our warehouse. With such a short setup time, there are not two minutes left to try something out again or to rethink it. There must be no surprises. Which is otherwise the case with every event."

After the success experience two years ago, Gogo Gärtner and her team were again at the WEF this year. Nolina supplied a lot of signage. Also for the opening of the Durchmesserlinie last summer, Nolina was allowed to deliver a large part of the decoration for the inauguration ceremony of the Zurich train station. In addition, important elements for the lettering and signaling were supplied. The oversized lettering "Thank you" is now emblazoned in Nolina's studio in Rickenbach near Winterthur.

We make the impossible possible

In just nine years, Nolina has grown from a one-woman company to one with over ten employees. The company specializes in articles and decorations for advertising, events, anniversaries or trade fairs. The offer also includes adhesive foils for cars or locomotives. With several high-tech printing machines, everything from T-shirts to huge billboards can be printed.

Nolina's clients include event and advertising agencies. Rufener Events, for example, has been one for years. For such assignments as well as the regular jobs for the watch fairs in Geneva and Basel, the specifications are clear and Nolina works exactly according to plan. In Basel, Nolina is also often called in as "the express people" when tireless creatives suddenly have a last-minute idea. "For other jobs, we can be creative ourselves. We have all the necessary specialists on our team," explains Gogo Gärtner. The founder of Nolina, who is still active in daily business, trained as a typeface painter. Today this is called "Gestalter Werbetechnik ". 15 years the young woman in the Aargau worked "with enthusiasm" on the occupation. For a short time Gogo Gärtner also let herself be employed in the decoration department of IKEA. "But that was not creative enough for me. There were too many guidelines." Later, the font painter "unplanned" to get away from her learned profession and slipped into the cosmetics industry. In the beginning, she enjoyed being allowed to work "on people." Later she ended up in sales. Finally, she became the manager of a wholesale company. "The trade thing came about, that's how it is in life sometimes," she says today, looking back on this successful development of an important market player. But with her ever-increasing responsibility for sales and employees, at some point at the helm of an entire company she only had numbers on her mind. "That didn't fit anymore."

Gogo Gärtner thought it was a cheeky idea to take the plunge again at 40, and opened his own studio for lettering painting. "With this work, I soon realized: I learned the right thing. Designing advertising technology is still a dream job for me." That was nine years ago. Her studio needed to fit into 60 square meters. The trade woman who had just left the business wanted to keep the risk measured. "After all, after ten years I was out of the window. A zero start. You also missed a lot of the technology. In my early days, I still cut and drew by hand. Today there are machines for everything. I had to catch up a lot." After three months, though, she knew, "I'm back in the right place." True, she could have gone back to retail at any time. "That gave me the security I needed. Nevertheless, I then sold my shares in the trade while the new studio was still being set up."

Müli barn becomes a creative factory

After a year, the first apprentice daughter has joined. After four years, the company with the fantasy name "Nolina" counted three people. With a "healthy growth", the studio became so big three years ago that Nolina had to look for a new location. Since November 2014, the motley team has been working in the old mill in Rickenbach near Winterthur. With this mill stylishly hollowed out and newly refilled with life and machines from the field of graphics, further growth is naturally limited. With more employees, however, Gogo Gärtner would no longer have as much fun as in the current ideal constellation. "Likewise, I can no longer maintain the philosophy of the company if it becomes massively larger. From a certain size, I would be back to just the numbers as I was back then in cosmetics. I still want to be able to help screw things along myself."

Gogo Gärtner was also able to live this out extensively during the conversion of her studio. For decades, the barn of the old Müli in Rickenbach stood empty and fell into disrepair. The entrepreneur breathed new life into the 200-year-old building and turned it into the business headquarters of her Nolina applica. Gogo's partner also helped with the planning and implementation. He works in a related field and runs his own company for scenery construction. In addition to decorations at the POS or at events, the company also regularly works for major events such as the SIHH watch fair in Geneva. One of the high-profile projects there three years ago was the gigantic aircraft carrier for luxury brand IWC. Six semitrailer trucks of material were "used up" in this operation. After five days, the whole illusion was over again.

Synergies with the partner

Such commissions from their partner always generate synergies for Gogo Gärtner as well. Nolina supplied many of the graphic works for the aircraft carrier in Geneva. The two companies also regularly pull together at the WEF in Davos and the watch fair in Basel. Nevertheless, the two life partners do not want to merge their life's work. "It's much more exciting when both have their own responsibilities. But I think joint projects are really strong," Gogo Gärtner reveals. And she mentions, as if in passing, that her workload at her job can usually fill 70 to 90 hours a week. "That suits me and gives me joy and energy." The eleven other employees at Nolina are all advertising technicians. Four of them are apprentices. "We're a bit of a catch-all for stranded apprentices. We've already taken on five and it's turned out well for all of them," the boss says happily. "I like training people. That was already the case with my detour into cosmetics, where I also specialized in adult education. I want to pass on what I've learned."
 
Andreas Panzeri