We Are Growing. We Just Must Not Lose Ourselves Along the Way

Interview for the Zaměstnání (Employment) supplement of MF DNES, September 2025.

“For twenty years I taught literature and philosophy at the Arabská grammar school in Prague. Under the communist regime I had contact with the dissent, so after the revolution I was well read. At the same time, I was helping my husband get a Christmas lighting company off the ground,”

“When we then bought a property to reconstruct in Dobrovíz, not far from Prague, I initially organised theatre performances and other cultural events. Of course, it soon became clear that we also had to earn a living, so I threw myself wholeheartedly into business.”

What exactly did that mean for you?

I plunged into the business of light decorations with my typical dedication, but also with poetry and a need for creativity. Thanks to empathy and a fairly wide range of interests, I talked with customers about almost anything. To my surprise, it all worked. At home I would sometimes say: give me three years and people will know about us! I tried to develop the company in terms of content, business and culture, and I was delighted by the recognition when Prague was named the most beautiful Christmas destination in the world. National borders did not stop me, not even the borders of Europe, and today I believe that the world can be conquered. After everything I have been through in the past, it is a great satisfaction. I am grateful that I can travel and spread awareness of the Czech Republic as a nation of wonderful people from the heart of Europe. That is an idea that would never have occurred to me before. I now understand that those doors have to be opened gradually, and that I must be prepared to open the unfamiliar ones too.

So is expansion into other countries the main focus of your work?

At the moment, yes. At home we light up some 70 shopping centres and 250 to 300 towns every year, and that does not include small orders; mayors can now buy light decorations themselves through our e-shop, just like private customers. Today we operate in 13 countries, for example in Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Croatia, Switzerland… We would like to move into other countries as well.

How do you approach new customers?

It has rather turned around, and today they seek us out. We even have to turn them down. I take it humbly, though, knowing that it can change at any time. I used to think I would never see over the heads of the competition, and today we are on a par with them. Of course, you have to take risks, not be afraid, and put everything on the line.

And that does not frighten you?

Not at all, I love the fullness of life: doing everything wholeheartedly, even though there is a risk of losing it all. You have to work and want it very much, and it will work out. Or it won’t.

It works out for you; a small family firm has gradually become a medium-sized enterprise…

In the beginning, when the team was smaller, it was simple. Now the company is bigger and needs good management; it must not lose direction because of day-to-day worries. So we are trying to pass the enthusiasm on to the team, to bring the story back into our work, so that everyone lives it and does not get lost along the way.

How many employees do you have now, and where do you find reinforcements for the season?

There are 70 people on a permanent basis, and in peak periods another 200 to 250 external collaborators join them. That is such a large team that you can no longer see across it, so we now need some clear online system, digitalisation and the like, to manage it all. We have bought further industrial premises: in Nové Strašecí and in Nová Bystřice in South Bohemia, where the labour force is more readily available than in Central Bohemia. Along with them we also acquired the Art Nouveau villa of the original owners, where I would like to revive the cultural life of salons and turn it into a place for occasional gatherings and for our exhibitions.

You make seasonal goods, but you work on the preparations all year round.

Exactly. We need to light up all the places at once, so we prepare throughout the entire year. With a touch of exaggeration, I say that after Christmas is before Christmas… and from August the season really begins for us.

How does an order actually come about?

We have to survey the space we will be lighting. I tell the designers and graphic artists my visions, they add their ideas, and we agree on a creative solution that matches our production capabilities. But to fulfil my task, I have to understand what the customer wants to convey.

Besides the light decoration of houses and towns, in recent years you have also been creating public exhibitions.

Yes, we call them light exhibitions, and we install them in parks, chateaux and castles, gardens, on lookout towers, in treetops… all across Europe. I even think that this year the economic profit will come more from abroad than from the Czech Republic. We try to cultivate public space so that visitors to our exhibitions are given joy as well as something to learn.

In Prague the exhibition is traditionally held at Žluté lázně (the Yellow Baths). What are you preparing for this year?

We have prepared an interesting exhibition about Europe. I would like to present the light landmarks of the old continent and point to the values that unite us. All the hearts of Europe will meet in the heart of Europe, in Prague. We are preparing an interactive educational trail, on which visitors will be guided by important historical figures, for example. We even have our own song, with captivating, poetic lyrics in English, Story of Lights.

Can any trends be traced in light decorations? And do they differ from country to country?

Definitely. There are different cultural paradigms in Europe, even though we experience life in similar ways. Towards the west, the demand is for more discreet decoration, towards the east for more colourful. Rather than a Christmas theme, everyone now wants winter motifs. While we hold on to angels and other spiritual symbols, elsewhere there are fewer of them. But all people long for beauty, and they appreciate not only its form but above all its content.

You run a family business. What is it like working with your husband and children…

Wonderful and demanding. Like any partnership. Of course, we sometimes see things differently, but the hardest thing is not to turn family gatherings into business meetings. My son has been involved in the company since he was 15; he came up with the e-shop, for example, and found a supplier in China. At university he already worked in the company full-time. He perceives everything more through numbers, media and technology, whereas I do so more poetically and creatively, so we agree on what we want, but each of us speaks a different language. And we are trying to develop the brand. My son has three children, and we would like it to be part of the developed world.

Can you rest from work? Do you go on holiday?

I do it differently: I do not distinguish much between working days and days off. Every day I try to do something for myself; I prescribe myself little holidays of several hours: I swim, ride a bicycle or a motorbike, write a little, record podcasts, go to a club, to the theatre, to concerts… I live a social and family life.

And what are your business plans?

To stay active in my work and fill every day with what gives me joy. I would like us to live in peace and be able to carry on with what we are doing now. And I look forward to what the universe has in store for me next and how I will respond to it. I will probably never have the feeling that everything is done and that I am entirely satisfied, because, as they say: when the house is built, death comes…

Published in: MF DNES – Plzeň Region and 11 other regional editions (Zaměstnání supplement), 4 September 2025.