– At Heymat, we combine Scandinavian design with functionality to create doormats that both elevate the interior of your home and keep your entrance clean and inviting. In collaboration with leading designers, we develop mats from high-quality, sustainable materials that are made to perform well and last a long time. This is what founder Sonja Djønne, one of the founders of the company, says.
The story of Heymat began in the harsh and beautiful Northern Norway, surrounded by fjords and mountains… and lots of stormy weather. Here, founders Sonja Djønne and Thoralf Lian combined their expertise in industrial mats with a desire for beautiful design.
What started as a practical solution for a busy family life has evolved into a collection of stylish and functional doormats that bring a piece of Scandinavian design into homes around the world.
Sustainability is important
Heymat wants to create products that not only look good, but are also good. They want to have a positive impact on both society and the environment, without compromising on the requirements for materials, functionality or lasting quality. – At Heymat, we know that the decisions we make today will have far-reaching consequences tomorrow, say the founders. – We work closely with all our suppliers and business partners to reduce our environmental footprint and further develop sustainable solutions across our entire product portfolio. The mats are made from recycled materials, and are specially adapted for entrances and hallways in private homes.
Design is essential
Good design is the starting point for everything Heymat does. They use some of Norway's leading designers to develop the designs.
They have exported right from the start, but in the first few years they focused mainly on building a market in Norway. From 2019 they focused more on exports. They have their own online store, and deliver to large parts of the world. They currently export to Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Germany, the BeNeLux countries, Switzerland, the USA, Canada, Japan and Taiwan.
– Our goal is to become an international brand. Then we have to ensure protection in an international market.
Sonja Djønne and Thoralf Lian
Sonja Djønne and Thoralf Lian
Clear IPR strategy
The mats are automatically protected through the Copyright Act, but the owners believe that design protection provides even better protection if someone tries to copy them.
Heymat has a clear IPR strategy, and protects designs they believe should be protected in countries where they sell or want to sell the products. They have also trademarked the name and logo. Until now, they have started with design protection in Norway, and then expanded this to other markets. Now they are considering doing all the protections at the same time, at least on the products they see will be the subject of copycats. Eventually, they have got a bit of a gut feeling about which products these will be.
They very often experience being copied. Everything from Norwegian actors to Chinese, Indian, German and American. They always react to copying and try to enforce their rights.
In the beginning, they themselves applied for rights. Eventually, however, they saw that the work was becoming too complicated. Now they have joined a law firm that specializes in this. It costs a lot, but this is specialist expertise that they do not have themselves, and they therefore choose to invest in help in the area. They assist with both protections and enforcement.
Awards
In May 2021, Heymat won the international industry award NYCxDESIGN AWARDS in New York, the design world's answer to the Oscars, in the category "Residential flooring". They have previously been nominated in this competition. They have also received the DOGA mark for design and architecture, and won the German Design Award on two occasions.
Advice to others
- Take IP seriously. If you have already been copied once and have not reacted to this, the next person who copies you will point to the copy that already exists and say that this "is a common design, which several people make". Then you have little to contend with and all the work put into the development of good design has been done by you, but the profit is taken by others, says Djønne.
