The President meets… Gloria Krüner
In this episode, the IAHSP® EU President meets Gloria Krüner, the Founder of the first Russian language Home Staging and Redesign school.
Sanja Radovanovic: Gloria, please tell us more about yourself and your staging company.
Gloria Krüner: I am an interior designer and re-designer with a post-Soviet background. I was born Belarus and raised in Riga, Latvia, the former Soviet Republic. I graduated from the International Baltic Academy, Riga.
When I discovered Home Staging I was quite fascinated by it, I fell in love with it. I realised ‘This is what the vast area of the former Soviet Union has been missing!’
So, in 2019, I founded the first Russian Home Staging and Redesign School in order to give people the opportunity to receive a comprehensive, systematic, and high-quality education on European standards and to improve that market. I was sure I could bring Home Staging concept to the Russian-speaking audience.
S.R.: What is the mission of the school and the aim of your Course?
G.K.: Our mission is to spread Home Staging ideas on the post-Soviet real estate market and form a professional community. Everyone who completed the course “Home Stager As the Most Delicious Career of the 21st Century” can be sure to have all the necessary knowledge and skills to start their own Home Staging Business. We launch a new profession for people, give them a chance to realise their creative potential and make their dreams come true. At the same time, we improve the aesthetics of the post-Soviet real estate market.
S.R.: Russia and the former Soviet countries are considered emerging markets within the Home Staging Industry. How well are the benefits of Home Staging services known and how many Professional Home Stagers live and work in that vast area?
G.K.: The Home Staging industry is just emerging in Russia and former Soviet countries. A couple of years ago, real estate professionals hardly ever heard the term. There were individual enthusiasts, for sure, but the market was not ready.
However, a pandemic year of career shifts and the e-learning revolution brought new Home Staging specialists to this market. Their list grows every day, I would say, now we have a great potential for industry exponential growth in the vast area. The career of Home Staging professionals is a subject of great interest to the representatives of different partner areas, for example, interior designers and decorators, professional organisers, etc. We are glad to give high-quality Home Staging education to people all over this region who want to become our colleagues in the future and make the real estate market better and better.
S.R.: In that same geographic area, do you see more room for occupied home staging projects or for vacant ones?
G.K.: The Russian real estate market is nothing like European or American ones. There is a deplorable legacy of the Soviet Union such as for instance Khrushchev huts – cluttered pocket-size apartments with old ugly furniture. In Russia, they call them “babushka’s flats”. Even a little makeover of such reality leads to a big transformation and surge of customer’s interest.
On the other hand, for the last 20 years, they have built a lot of newly constructed buildings that I would call “faceless”. They go on the market and don’t catch the buyer’s eye. Home Stagers could make them stylishly furnished, and therefore way, more attractive. As you know, Home Staging tools work effectively on both segments: no matter if it’s for sale or for rent.
S.R.: Who do you think are or going to be the best clients for the Russian Home Staging Professionals?
G.K.: The landlords, mini-hotels and apartment owners were the first ones to hire Home Staging services. Home Stagers become more and more popular in the sector of resort property rental, especially in the south of the country.
We believe that our best clients and partners are real estate professionals. They have already realized the necessity of home preparation and are ready for cooperation. I believe in the near future there will be more and more people (property owners, investors, etc.) who are aware of Home Staging effectiveness and use the services.