äventyr blog

äventyr bicycle bags owner DeAnn announces her side project of building the new American Swedish Institute Online Museum Store from the ground up, and its launch.

When I began working on äventyr I found myself existing loosely on three different planes (Cycling, Art & Design, and Fashion), often wondering why I had to be what felt like a ‘unicorn’ in these worlds that felt very disparate and where everyone else had picked one direct path.  Recently, all the disparate pieces of my past came together forming the perfect conglomeration ~ äventyr bicycle bags.

In honor of Women’s History Month, and Women Led Wednesday, and turning 50, äventyr bicycle bags owner DeAnn will be highlighting inspiring and influential women, discussing aging, and reflecting on what it means as a small Women-led business owner.

October is National Women's Small Business Month.  Concurrently, today there will be nationwide Women's Marches.  For me äventyr bicycle bags IS personal.  I am a woman leading a small business in a climate that ignores the importance and value of women.  I know personally how powerful and impactful women are in business, and for my business.  Women, especially women my age and older, have an immense buying power and are huge contributors to not only my small business, but the United States economy! ~DeAnn

Kurt and I are here to support our community, in turn ~ we hope you will join us and our passion for food, and supporting what has become even more in focus during a pandemic - the importance of a local and organic food chain. 

This week is Fashion Revolution Week.  We kicked off the week on Saturday, April 18th by participating in our first ever virtual event, Shaping Fashion.  It seems appropriate at this time to address something that has been talked about with ever increasing importance, before the pandemic ~ and that has now heightened conversations during the pandemic ~ sustainability, and what that means for us.

äventyr will be producing masks to support our local community for the foreseeable future.  More information here.

DeAnn is co-owner, and Creative Director at äventyr.  But also designs our products, makes our products, sources our materials, made our logo, designs our marketing collateral, built and maintains our website, runs our social, and is the one you usually see at events.  

But before that, she did a lot of other things that built naturally upon themselves to get to this point.  There are two common threads in DeAnn's life; biking and design.  Sometimes during a journey it is not easy to see where you are headed, until somehow you get there..

Part of our mission with äventyr is to share our knowledge, normalize cycling, and emphasize our core belief that life is better through cycling ~ no matter how you roll.   The level of attention we pay to our bike set up's is echoed in the thought and effort DeAnn and I put into our bags.  So on that note, here is a walkthrough of Kurt's 2020 gravel bike (äventyr 1.2).

How I time-block my day to help make äventyr successful.

Why would you have a ‘bike bag’ and a ‘life bag’?  Why wouldn’t you have a bag that works for your life?  äventyr handcrafts ‘sustainable’ bags.  But what do we mean by that, and what does it mean for you?  Sustainability has been an important consideration to äventyr since day one.  But the way we think about it is much more than just the materials.

Ever since we started äventyr, it has been important for Kurt and I to find a way to meet our customers in-person.  The puzzle for us has been the best way to do this and ~ not have a retail presence, and not be at a market every weekend. So this year we chose to participate in select events that aligned well with our brand and our beliefs.  This strategy was a success for us, and there was a bonus...  

Hand-delivering our product and interfacing with our customers one-on-one.  

Building a community; this has been what it is about for us from the beginning.