OUR STORY
NOOH NOOH is a brand from Stockholm that was launched in February, 2024.
The founder, Karin Bjärle, is a pioneer in the equestrian industry when, in 2013, she founded PS of Sweden, one of the best-known brands in the industry. As owner and product developer at PS Karin created several world-class innovative products that are loved around the world. Karin sold parts of the company in 2022 to fully focus on the development of riding boots.
Together with Pernilla Schönbäck, former Head of Design at PS, they create the riding boots of the future.
HOW DOES AN INNOVATOR THINK?
With one of the most famous equestrian brands on her CV, NOOH NOOH's founder, Karin Bjärle, is known for her creativity, her way of developing products and for her nerdy focus on details.
WHAT DRIVES YOU?
I love creating and building things, whether it's a product, a new business idea or a brand.
HOW DO YOU COME UP WITH NEW PRODUCTS?
I realized quite early on that I think differently to what many others do when it comes to creativity.
It was a colleague who described it quite well I think when she said "When we read the text on a piece of paper, you see everything that is not there."
I see everything very clearly inside my head. It's almost like in a cartoon when things fly around and somehow magically land in the right place, haha.
WHY RIDING BOOTS?
It's a must have for every rider and a product group where nothing exciting had happened for as long as I could remember. I felt that there was clearly potential for improvement and then I think it's a bit of a stone age warning that we have to torture ourselves with walking in boots or buying expensive boots that you then can't walk in but have to put on right before you jump up on the horse.
KARIN BJÄRLE
INHERITANCE
Karin uses her grandfather's old rulers, some from when he was in the fourth grade. He passed away in 2023, aged 100.
HOW DO YOU SEE THE FUTURE OF THE EQUESTRIAN SPORTS INDUSTRY?
I think it is becoming more and more important to create completely unique products that fulfill a purpose or solve a problem. Anyone can sell saddlebags in different colors, but inventing something new is more difficult. The innovation factor will be decisive for companies in the future because customers will begin to demand more and more. You should come up with something new, not with something everyone else has already done.
HOW IS IT DONE PRACTICALLY?
I always, always build prototypes. For me it's super important but they're never particularly fancy. I built my bridles on PS from electric cables and seat belts and it doesn't have to be more advanced than that.
I also spend a lot of time in my father's and uncle's workshop and also have my own small workshop in the office.
HAVE YOU ALWAYS WORKED LIKE THIS?
Yes, I grew up in a family of entrepreneurs and at an early age I learned carpentry. It started with me building my own obstacles when I was younger and then it just kept going.
My grandfather was an extremely skilled hobby carpenter and I learned a lot from him. However, he refused to help me unless I could give him an accurate sketch of what I was going to build. Maybe that's when I developed my way of "thinking in 3D" because I always thought it took too long to make sketches, so when I later made my own things I made the sketches in my head. But grandfather got to see sketches on paper, haha.
