Hyvä has taken its place in the Magento ecosystem and continues to grow as an independent company under Willem Wigman and Vinai Kopp. It is time we share the success story of Hyvä and the role of integer_net that honestly fills us with pride.
Willem and his connection to integer_net
Willem joined integer_net in 2018 and initially focused on the development of our Magento 2 projects. Since he lives near the German-Dutch border, he was able to visit the integer_net office in Aachen several times a week. He became a valued member of our team and we developed a close friendship and a strong bond of trust. During his time with us, Willem became specialized in performance issues, especially in the frontend area.
Hyvä and the role of integer_net
In June 2020 Willem started to develop Hyvä, the new frontend for Magento 2, in his spare time. When he presented it to us at the end of July 2020, it already contained all the essential features of today's frontend. This new approach helped us to solve problems caused by the outdated technology available at the time, which had a poor impact on the frontend performance of the shops and development speed. We were extremely confident of this new solution, took the opportunity and started several projects with Hyvä - the outcome was more positive than we had dreamt of and it encouraged us to use Hyvä Themes from now on. To avoid any misunderstanding: Hyvä is Willem Wigman's project. That is why Willem has been working full-time on Hyvä in order to ensure focus on continuing development since the beginning of 2021. As a result he founded the company Hyvä Themes B.V. and has been managing it since then.
The team of integer_net joins in
As part of the first projects, the scope of Hyvä was then significantly expanded. Other team members from integer_net were thrilled by the new frontend solution and wanted to boost the project right away. In particular Lisa Buchholz and Fabian Schmengler joined Willem in the frontend and backend respectively and contributed relevant parts to Hyvä. A large part of the time Willem worked for integer_net, in addition to his private time, went into the further development of Hyvä, so that Release 1.0, published in February 2021, can truly be described as a joint effort between Willem Wigman and integer_net.
Our problems were solved — we now had a modern, reliable and high-performance frontend framework for Magento 2. At Hyvä, however, the work with the first release was far from over. It quickly became clear that this would fully occupy Willem's time and attention. To cut a long story short: we then mutually agreed to end Willem's employment and to enable him to advance Hyvä Themes even further — with continued support from integer_net as a partner.
Next Friday (12th) we celebrate the release of version 1.0 of Hyvä Themes.
— integer_net (@integer_net) February 5, 2021
On our aganda: Talks about Hyvä (🇬🇧) and lots of possibilities to engage with others (🇬🇧, 🇩🇪, 🇳🇱)
More info & link to registration here:https://t.co/zmd43g5wuv pic.twitter.com/Hxl1w8DKA8
The role of Vinai Kopp
Meanwhile, Vinai Kopp, long-time Magento legend and team member of integer_net, also focuses 100% on Hyvä. He is a well known developer and trainer in the Magento world, and enjoys a very good reputation — one of many reasons we included him in our team when we had the opportunity. However, it quickly became clear that he was predestined for the further development of Hyvä — which is why he and Willem Wigman are now forming the core team at Hyvä.
Conclusion
We as integer_net take great joy in the outcome:
- We were able to kickstart Hyvä and love to see it thrive since then.
- With Hyvä, we now have a frontend solution that can be developed effectively and performs well
- We have more Hyvä experience than any other Magento agency.
- We have a very close business relationship with Hyvä Themes B.V. and thus also insight into the further development of Hyvä.
- We are incredibly happy so see our friends at Hyvä growing Hyvä into strong company that will drive Hyvä forward as a product, community and ecosystem.
- We continue to organize community events around Hyvä, contribute and educate - as the main Hyvä partner agency.
Source of the featured image:
Photo by fauxels from Pexels
You want to start your own Hyvä project?
If you are looking for a technical partner to fulfill a project with a Hyvä Themes frontend, we are looking forward to hearing from you!