Friday Follower - Tristan

I'm delighted to present eco-entrepreneur Tristan Bauer as this week's Friday Follower. At age 24, Tristan has already achieved so much and I'm certain it's only the beginning. I thought it would be interesting to find out more about his business so do read on.

What is the name of your business and where did it come from?

The business is called Innergreen (see my previous post). I chose this name because I feel as though it most accurately represents the business and what we do... I wanted a name that said "we fill with green stuff"... so Innergreen seemed perfect!

What do you sell?

Our current product range consists of 4 products:

1. Cushion Inserts

2. Reusable Shopping Bags

3. Toy Filling

4. Quilting Wadding

All of our products are made from 100% corn fibre and are Australian firsts.

It's amazing that you are using corn fibre. This must have taken some research, how did you come up with the concept?

Actually, the concept came first; eco-friendly cushion inserts. It wasn’t until later that I became aware of the possibilities of corn fibre. Before we started using corn fibre, I used to take my van out to the Dunlop flooring factory in Western Sydney and buy their left-over recycled foam. This would usually end up in landfill, so I thought why not use it to fill cushions…

After a while, I realized that people didn’t really like the texture, so I started looking around for an alternate filling. I can't giveaway my top secret but after a lot of research, I eventually found out about a new range of bio-fibres that were coming into the market. I then partnered up with a bio-tech company off-shore and signed a few contracts, shook a few hands, and hoped for the best…

Do you think you will be expanding the business to include other materials?

I don’t plan to include any new materials, but I do plan to introduce more and more corn-based products. We have some new lines coming out in March 2011 that will include fabrics, bedding and packaging.

What is your professional background?

As I struggle with dyslexia and ADHD, school was never for me, so I left during year 10 to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. This was really when I started my first business called Vienna People. The business was involved in event management, band management and venue bookings. After the first year of operations, we expanded the business and built a recording studio in Sydney. A few years passed, all was going so well that I put the business on the market and sold it to a competitor.

Soon after, I started getting involved with organic textiles and design and this is when I came up with the idea for eco-cushion inserts… I then re-invested the money from my first business into this new venture and so far so good!

Would you share something interesting about you that isn't common knowledge?

Sure, why not. Here’s 3 things I find interesting about myself.

1. I always sneeze when I get out of the shower.

2. I’m addicted to chicken schnitzels.

3. I can’t leave the house without making my bed.

Very impressive! Thank you Tristan for answering my questions on very short notice. It will be interesting to see your range develop further.

This will be the last Friday Follower post for this year and I am teaching my last screen-printing class for 2010 tomorrow so stayed tuned for those images.

Images are courtesy of Innergreen.