Company of the month

Styrian opens a farm store with a difference

"Design ab Hof" is the name of the 43-year-old's business concept.(Bild: langbichl)

Karin Heschl-Polzhofer combines agriculture and design in Schönau near Pöllau (Hartberg-Fürstenfeld). She has been running a farm store for one and a half years, selling eggs and jam as well as ceramics and hair ornaments. She also offers creative workshops. This earned her the "Company of the Month" award from the SFG.

It is almost a kitschy picture that is painted on the East Styrian farm: Karin Heschl-Polzhofer lives here with her husband, two children, her brother and her mother. Her grandparents once ran a farm on the property, complete with forest, orchards, chickens and fish ponds - but Heschl-Polzhofer transformed the place into a unique business concept called Design ab Hof.

Right next to the barn, she opened a farm store in 2023, which keeps the farm alive while bringing modernity to the farm. "The combination of design and agriculture is still rare," explains the 43-year-old, "but it goes well together." A farmer can be seen as a creative person just as much as a designer - the regional added value also unites the sectors.

Creative workshops are also offered in the farm store.(Bild: BERNHARD BERGMANN)

You can also learn how to make wreaths in Schönau near Pöllau.(Bild: BERNHARD BERGMANN)

In the run-up to Christmas, the farm store offers regional gifts.(Bild: BERNHARD BERGMANN)

Virtually everything you can buy in the farm store is regional: From jam to syrup and eggs to apple juice - she even produces much of it herself. Locality also counts for greeting cards, puzzles, napkins, chopping boards, hair accessories and ceramics. "I often come across the design products through Creative Industries Styria exhibitions," explains Heschl-Polzhofer, who used to work in the industry herself. "I work as a one-woman show, but I now have a large network."

The SFG named "Design ab Hof" as the company of the month.(Bild: SFG / Oliver Wolf)

Preserving jam as a workshop
The farm store with its somewhat different range is open seasonally - gifts and other items can currently be purchased until November 30. Graz residents also find their way to the shop and enjoy a welcome coffee and the decelerated shopping concept. The Styrian Business Promotion Agency awarded the company the Company of the Month prize for this.

The additional range of creative workshops was also particularly impressive in the vote. From hand lettering and wreath making to jam preserving, these can be booked individually. In line with Heschl-Polzhofer's basic idea: "The people behind the products are what make them valuable."

Every month, SFG puts forward three candidates for the company of the month. They introduce themselves in a video. Everyone can then vote on unternehmen-des-monats.at.