On a sunny afternoon in Pärnu, we met up with Inger and Franz, two of the three founders of Villa14. Open for its second summer, the bar-slash-restaurant-slash-hostel has quickly become one of the places to be in town.
Now summer is running out. The restaurant closed on August 29, the bar and the hostel will close in October. But before everyone packs up and goes home, we wanted to see what’s been going on behind the gates.
The whole thing began when Artur, their third co-founder, got an offer to rent the building. Handling a house this big seemed impossible alone, so he asked Inger to come on board. She agreed – but only if Franz joined too.
And then there were three.
The idea came from a pretty simple feeling: Pärnu needed something new. A lot of the places they used to hang out at when they were younger had either closed down or lost their spark. There wasn’t really a place where you could hang out, have fun and not pay a ridiculous amount of money for it.
They also wanted to make a place they’d actually want to hang out at themselves. Somewhere they could try things, throw ideas at the wall and see what sticks.
The first summer was pretty DIY. They did the programme, the marketing, pretty much everything. Somehow, it worked.
They also assumed the simplicity of the hostel would mostly attract very young people. A few weeks in, they realised their main customer group was actually 30+.
“They know a thing or two already and they’re not as price-sensitive,” Inger laughs. “The best clients!”
First came the hostel and the bar. Then the food.
Last year, a friend of Franz’s was serving tacos at Villa and ended up selling more tacos than he ever had before. “That was pretty solid proof that we needed a restaurant,” Franz says.
So this summer, there’s a restaurant too. “Big up to Janis, our chef,” Inger adds. “He’s the best.”
If Villa was a person, apparently his name would be Sander. They know this because he already exists in their brand book. Sander is thirty-something. Lives in Tallinn but spends his weekends adventuring. Open. Direct. Chaotic in a good way. Humorous. Makes people talk to each other. Doesn’t care about status. That last part is important.
“We’ve built the whole thing around accessibility,” Inger says. “You can buy champagne for €150, but you can also get a cocktail for €6.”
A friend of Franz’s has another description: Villa is a place for your second youth. “The first one is when you’re really tight on money,” Franz says. “The second is when you’re able to curate your night. Champagne? Oysters? You got it.”
“Or you want to sing karaoke? Be a little bit ratchet? You got it,” Inger adds.
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There’s no right way to do Villa. One night there’s a DJ set, another day it’s brunch, yoga or a run club. There’s a karaoke car in the garden, movie nights, bingo and trivia. Many of the activities are free.
It’s less about having endless stuff to do for the sake of it and more about giving different people different ways to be there. “For some, it’s body language – there’s dancing for them,” Franz says. “For some it’s talking – there are quieter spots in the garden for them. For some, it’s ping-pong or karaoke.”
It doesn’t really matter whether you’re NOËP or an office worker, dressed up or dressed down. Nobody gets a different version of Villa because of who they are.
For the people?
“For the people,” they say together.
People seem pretty happy here. “The music’s good. Nobody’s killing the vibe. Everybody’s just enjoying life,” Inger says. “After leaving this place and going home and thinking, damn, I made this place, is pretty freaking great.”
Which is particularly impressive considering Pärnu’s reputation as Estonia’s fight capital. Villa hired five security guards for its weekend events with that exact reputation in mind. They’ve had zero jobs. “The only cases have been some underage people jumping the garden fence,” Franz says. “So somehow the vibes are just so right here.”
To be honest, standing there makes us want to jump the fence too, just for the sake of it. “Yeah, happens here!”
Franz says another nice compliment is when people arrive and immediately start looking for ways to stay the night. Sometimes they leave with more than that.
Franz’s younger cousin moved from Pärnu to Tallinn to start a new life there, find a new boyfriend and everything. Then she met her new boyfriend – who is actually from the same village as her – back in Pärnu.
At Villa. Hearing that, Franz says, was a pretty nice moment.
We don’t know if there’s a Villa baby yet. Looking forward to that story too.
There will, however, be a Villa wedding. “At the beginning of this summer I made a wish that there would be a Villa wedding,” Inger says. “And it’s happening! A few weeks later a couple just wrote to us saying they’d like to have their wedding here.”
The power of manifestation, hey.
Then there were the students from Sütevaka Gymnasium who emailed Villa a 16-verse poem asking them to open the place for them for one night. So they did.
Of course, spending the whole summer together while running a hostel, bar, restaurant and events programme should create at least a few arguments. One of the biggest has been padel.
“The guys wanted to build a padel court here and I was like… we need 30K for that,” Inger says. “And they were like, and so?” “Yeah, I still don’t get it,” Franz says.
In the end, Inger says, it wasn’t even about the money. It was about timing.
Another argument was about the exact location of the mosquito-repellent machine. So yeah, not many arguments around here.
The harder part was the workload. Last summer, they were understaffed and working like crazy. Inger remembers moments when she thought she couldn’t do it anymore. Franz was equally exhausted.
This summer, they decided to move to Pärnu for the whole season. “I don’t think I’ve ever hung out with my friends as much as this summer,” Franz says. “Perhaps in primary school. People come here and stay for at least a few days.”
Inger recently met up at Villa with university friends she hadn’t seen in a while. They sat down and talked for about four hours. Drinks were right there. They could get up and dance when they felt like it. Or go somewhere quieter. Or do something else.
“Everything was just so… easy. And perfect. I left with my jaw and my belly hurting because we had laughed so hard.” That ease seems to be the thing.
Before we leave, we ask Franz what he wants people to feel after a night at Villa.
“Like they want to tell seven of their friends about it.”
Villa is about to close its doors for the season. Pärnu will go back to being Pärnu. Everyone will go home, get some sleep and presumably start having bad ideas for next summer.
Until then, something is still happening.
Go find out what.
PHOTOSHOOT CREDITSCreative Direction by Franz MalmstenProduction & Styling Assistance by Mery-Ly RiisStyling by Brit TammelehtPhotography by Rauno LiivandMain Models: Mirjam Aavakivi, Mattias NurgaSupporting Models: Egert Kadastu, Franz MalmstenNike Sneakers Courtesy of Nike Esinduskauplused