John Bowler interviews Luc Bertrand CBA
Luc Bertrand CBA is one of the most high profile and well-travelled designers
and instructors in the balloon industry. With his wife Ines they run the very
successful shop and décor business called WAW Balloons in Anzegem,
Belgium.
Was it you or your wife Ines who was first inspired to get into balloons and
when did you open your shop? (what inspired this?)
19 years ago we were visiting a Fair in Belgium. One booth displayed balloons
and promoted the idea to start a balloon shop. We had never worked with
balloons or seen a proper balloon shop. We loved the idea and I challenged
Ines to start such a shop. That was definitely not for me as I then was running a
fairly successful business as an interior architect. Imagine, I was specialized in
office design, dealing with very serious businessman on a daily basis.
Shortly after we decided to start balloons we opened a 36m2 shop
in our house. We had a half a day crash course and were convinced we knew
everything about balloons. Reality struck after a few days when we learned the
hard way that we needed more knowledge on hi float. (our client moved the
balloons into a freezing cold room after we inflated them)
Soon people came into the shop asking for personalized or special
creations and Ines happily called me in to help them out, as I was the ‘creative’
one.
After no more than three months we attended the European
balloon symposium in Paris where we entered all the competitions “as we got
the balloons for free to play with”.
At that point Ines was asked to teach for the Belgian distributor.
Horrified she came over to me and told me. My reaction was “Do so, I will help
you and we will have a blast” and we did. We were asked again and my wife
now gently handed over that towel to me. And that is how it all started, I then
was asked by Pioneer and soon had to decide if I wanted a ‘glamorous’ balloon
career or continue my settled life in the office branch.
Note if I call it glamorous, then that is when I am with colleagues.
Explaining to non-balloon mortals what I do for a living is, well let’s call it
‘challenging’.
I do not regret for a second I went for balloons as they brought me
many (international) friends, fine colleagues, joy and satisfaction
What % of sales are balloons verses other products that you sell?
We started out with balloons and a small range of pluche items. Later we
added greeting cards and tried party products. We dropped these as they
seemed not profitable in our region. A few years ago I monitored sales and we
then had balloons representing 55% in sales, pluche 35% and greeting cards
10%. The sales of pluche has since dropped significantly. Customers now buy
smaller (read cheaper) items. However sales of balloons increased. So you will
not hear me complain: less inventory and bigger margins.
What would you say is your top selling balloon?
Without hesitation: that is the 20” clear Deco bubble. The balloon is magic and
the stuffed latex balloon will make it personalized for any customer.
How and when did you become an industry instructor? Which do you prefer
most, running your shop or teaching?
As answered above. I love the technical side of the shop. Both Ines and I have
a very distinct role in the shop. Ines deals with retail clients, where I will deal
with decor clients.
Where do you get your inspiration for new designs and how do you go about
creating a new design?
I like to challenge myself, you will very sel