Johanna and Antonia are the founders of the board game brand [ COMPLICES ]
Year founded: 2024
Location of design and office: France 🇫🇷
Location of raw material sourcing: Germany 🇩🇪
Location of manufacturing and production: Ahlden, Germany 🇩🇪
Meet the founders
Let's introduce them: Johanna and Antonia, sisters and founders of complices. It was in the spring of 2020, while doodling on a beach in Cuba, that the idea for this project, which means so much to them, was born: cards to encourage intimate conversation between two people. Their relationship with each other has played an essential role in particular, teaching them the importance of open communication. This is how the founders eventually came to design their first product: 90 questions that bring you closer. The project benefited from Johanna's studies in communication psychology and Antonia's practical experience in media and communication. Johanna fell in love 10 years ago with a Frenchman and now lives in Annecy. It was therefore only natural for the founding sisters to choose to adapt their question boxes into French. This is how, four years and 100,000 copies sold in the German-speaking world later, beherzt. launched its sister French brand, complices.
About the brand
The story of complices. begins in Cuba, where the sisters Antonia and Johanna Buchholz, in January 2020, doodled their first ideas on a beach. Their dream: to create a set of questions to encourage courageous conversations between two people. They first launched their brand in Germany under the name "beherzt." ("with heart") and then in France under the name "complices.". Their first yellow question box is called "90 questions that bring you closer", and guides two people through an open and authentic conversation. Encouraged by the success of their first card game, which has prompted so many people to communicate courageously, they then designed "à nu.". This new coral-colored addition is a taboo-free card game for bold conversations about sex and intimacy, developed in collaboration with sexologists. The two founders make no compromises in the development of their product: they develop the concept, the categories, and the questions of the card game themselves, set standards for sustainable and plastic-free production, and collaborate with female artists on the design and text. They follow the founding principle of their brand: live with courage and determination. Today, they have twelve inspiring women on their constantly growing team, who support complices. across all digital platforms and physically in the warehouse.
Eco-responsible impact
The brand's products are manufactured in Germany, in a family-run printing house. The paper chosen for these products is 100% FSC. No plastic is used in the products. The logistics provider (boost.) is also eco-friendly: no plastic, recycled and recyclable packaging, powered exclusively by renewable energy, and participating in social reintegration.
The brand's values
🧴 Zero plastic ↓
No plastic is used in the products, including during delivery.
👤 Expertise ↓
Collaboration with a German family-run printing house that provides valuable expertise.
🇪🇺 Made in Europe ↓
The boxes are made in Germany.
🌳 Forest preservation ↓
The paper used is 100% FSC certified.
🚺 Women Empowerment (Women only) ↓
The company was founded by women and its team is currently 100% female.
👐🏽 Social and solidarity impact ↓
The order pickers are undergoing social reintegration.
[ With complices., get closer through 90 questions for authentic and taboo-free conversations. ]
