Un tangle research bible crowdfunders edition by Daan Bak

UN-TANGLE

UN-TANGLE shows different possibilities to connect individuals within a collective. A collective consists out of many visions, which are all equally important. Tangled together, these visions create a world of new insights, which complement each other. People grow through the strength of the group and pass this on. We look at the future and the past to create contemporary views. We interview experts, research existing concepts, explore our own visions, question standardised opinions and analyse our findings. Together, these findings are the building blocks of this book. Every layer adds to the essence, which is togetherness in its purest form. With this book, we try to stimulate you to step away from the expected, and form a new perspective on sharing, collaborating, co-creating and everything else that belongs within the Togetherness-movement. Our goal is to reach out to you, and for you to pay it forward. You are free to interpret this however you wish. Whether you share your knowledge or simply share your vehicle, you are already a part of this united framework. If a chapter makes an impact on you, leave your mark.

Thank you

UN-TANGLE crowdfunders 6

Carla Peverelli Han Bak Babs Bak-Huibrechtse Mystery Review BV. Gerda Rahantoknam Marga van Doorn Onno Faber Stefan HEY Rick Thijssen Coos Schouten Thimon de Jong David Wouters Eric Hamilton Susanne Kuiper Advocatenkantoor Mariska Harbers Wessel Jansen Martin Eegerdingk Studio Dagmar - Dagmar Amels Ciska de Lange Jacqueline Wolfs Bas Delmee Gerard Leenders Liset Derks Maurits Peverelli Nicoline van der Heijden Tjalling van Halteren Martin Huisman Rob Moonen Saskia Fell Charlotte Lokin Jo Watson and the anonymous crowdfunders

For support and donations 7

list of content 8

chapter one

WE ARE IN CONTROL Page 16 - 18

How We Defines Me – Article

Page 20 - 22

Waarmakers | The Two Men That Can Replace Eachother – Interview

Page 24 - 26

The World Is In Your Hands – Article

Page 28 - 31

TEDx’s Patrick Newell – The Most Ridiculous Person I Know – Interview

Page 32 - 37

Blue Pill / Red Pill – Photoshoot

Page 38 - 40

Digital Independence – Article

chapter two

Page 42 - 44

Tryvertising | Paying Through Sharing – Article

Page 46 - 51

Personal Pieces – Photoshoot

THE UPPER TRUST

Page 52 - 55

Patta’s Running Crew – Interview

Page 60 - 62

Giving Without Expecting Something In Return – Article

Page 64 - 67

Less Is More – Interview

Page 68 - 70

The Future Of Anonymity – Article

Page 72 - 81

Anonymous Togetherness – Photoshoot

Page 82 - 85

Transition – Interview

Page 86 - 88

Togetherness Is Finding New Ways Of Trust – Article

Page 90 - 92

Fashion’s New Heroes – Interview

Page 94 - 97

Their Vulnerability – Photoshoot

chapter four

THE ART OF COLLABORATION Page 150 - 152 Collaboration In The New Creative Industries – Article Page 154 - 159 Fashion Heritage In The Digital Age – Interview Page 160 - 164 The Co-created Denim – Photoshoot Page 166 - 169 The TonTon Club – Interview

chapter three

THE (UN)SOCIAL dOUBT

Page 170 - 172 An Interior Is Like A Mirror Of The Soul – Interview Page 174 - 176 Community Art As A Trend – Article Page 178 - 185 sharing is the new owning and depth is the new black – Photoshoot Page 186 - 189 How is trendforcasting related to art – Interview

Page 102 - 107 Collaboration Of Icons – Photoshoot

Page 190 - 193 The Cloakroom – Interview

Page 108 - 111 Airless- Photoshoot

page 194 - 197 Fragmented Fruit – Photoshoot

Page 112 - 114 Togetherness: A Myth Concealing Our Individualistic Nature – Article

Page 198 - 201 Social Cohesion Through Community Art – Interview

Page 116 - 117 Transition Of Attitude – Photoshoot

Page 202 - 205 The Succes Factor Of Co-creation – Interview

Page 118 - 120 Together We / I Stand Strong – Article

Page 206 - 207 A Collaborative Industry – Article

Page 122 - 127 Together Alone – Photoshoot

page 208 - 211 Connected - Photoshoot

Page 128 - 133 Kingdom Of Isolation – Photoshoot Page 134 - 136 Sharing Is Caring – Article Page 138 - 141 Self-Deception – Photoshoot page 142 - 145 A Moment In An Ever Changing Economy – Interview 12

we are in control As citizens we can collaborate, elaborate and inspire each other. For centuries, authorities have had great influences on the decisions in our daily lives. The Internet has given us a platform to communicate with other individuals and to develop a critical mindset. We are now able to take a stand without having to follow a leader. Together we stand strong, and together we stimulate change.

Linda

text b y Elizab eth Tr

As a society, we feel the need to be unique in relation to others. We abandon traditional institutions such as work, religion and political beliefs to describe ourselves. We attempt to define ourselves in a way others still understand, in order to make us appear real, different and even possibly vulnerable. In this, we have become stronger, more outspoken and confident when compared with past generations. We long for variation and diversity with a widening worldview and opportunities to educate and learn in this very young century. We have the adaptability and tendency to show more labels at the same time in different densities. We find more and more that the different collectives we associate ourselves with define our existence. I cannot exist without a ‘we’ to define me. The new format of a collective is diverse and powerful. It describes more than just an abundance of professionals, joined together by titles and paycheques. We see experts of different fields rooting for individuals to develop curiosity, peers sharing experiences and insights, and groups of dilettantes discussing and debating.1 With the exposure of off- but mainly online communities, we gain the ability to define ourselves by gathering and melding resources from all different fields. Global exposure gives easy access and a lower threshold, in consideration of understanding what our interests are and equally as important, understand what our interests are not.

Selfish Collective In this modern age, we have the option to prove ourselves by evaluating information on topics we have invested time and interest in. We, and 16

more than a billion viewers and subscribers, have access to know more about scholastic curriculums by watching free online courses on a high school and college level, using platforms built on social media structures such as SciShow or CrashCourse (both Youtube). We are curating collectively in realtime as all individuals acknowledge or take away credibility around a source immediately. We sign up for Massive Open Online Courses to feed the desire to educate ourselves about a new subject, to broaden our current knowledge, to challenge ourselves, or to collect as many completion certificates as possible.2 Prestigious schools such as Harvard, Yale, and Stanford offer MOOCs as these in-between variations where access is no longer extravagant, costly and limited to a few, but provided for altruistic reasons other than monetary benefit.3 We benefit from this higher education hegemony where technology is combined to the already existing knowledge sources.

platforms and methodologies do not require direct contribution. We no longer need to give back straight away, or at all.

We as ‘experts’ We can now scavenge online communities to find peers when researching cases of rare illnesses or disorders. No longer is a doctor the only expert in recommending reliefs after diagnosis. Blogs have become outlets and the overload of ‘likes’, ‘notes’ and ‘shares’ creates a feeling of unity, confirming we are not the only ones.7 The experiences and actions of others help us understand potential risks or opportunities. Websites like Problems Of a Self Harmer (Tumblr), The Pillow Fort (support group) and This Star Won’t Go Out (DFTA community) all started as places to vent frustration or seek support, and have been creating experts based on people’s choice.

Maybe Fatima, Iev Vygotsky tattoo; 2014

HOW WE DEFINES ME.

This abundance of access to information has changed our motives for sharing. Money is no longer the only currency, and experts see additional benefits in interacting with non-professionals. Events such as TEDx and SSBA Salon are wildly popular as a stage and meeting place for individuals with ideas, dreams and most importantly; the hunger to be inspired and enlightened.4 We have come to a point in society where we can overcome our inherit selfishness by removal and lowering of barriers to quality information and dialogue. In the online world; apps such as Quora allow over 3.5 million individuals to shoot questions straight at experts and quality is amplified by allowing users to collaborate, editing questions and answers. Having said that, only approximately 65 thousand members are actively involved.5 Nearly everyone with Internet access has used Wikipedia before, however less than 0.05 per cent of visitors are also active contributors.6 Different than the traditional 1:1 transaction-formats seen in town halls and salons in the past, these

All too often now we will seek help and expertise using circles of contacts on such platforms, where we can create a real-time dialogue, before having to resort to actively pursuing knowledge directly from what could be perceived as a more credible source in published works of industry experts. We can read each other’s stories and interact, but are not obligated to. Our interests and hunger for new content can always be met with an endless string of information at the tip of our fingers. Fandoms spend significant time building social sites, exposing all complimentary gathered information. These socalled “fangirls” (with no consideration to gender) interact extensively about specific topics.t We can see we are not the only perverts to indulge in mobile apps like Secret or Whisper.

With just a swipe to the right or left, new posts appear in mere moments. Twitter and Facebook keep us updated without the need for us to give conscious data back. When personally fine-tuned, these collective resources validate and support our independent identity, making it clear and graspable.

My gain = Our gain Global collectives are easily accessible without preconditions or obligations. Gaining this information shortens and eases the search for identity, which creates a space to focus on our own personal ‘greater good’. Greater good can be different for different people, whether it means building our own business, pursuing a passion or simply enjoying life. This space makes an emotional bond to experiences possible, without the time consuming hassle of investigation and research. This will benefit professional institutes and communities in the future as it builds a healthy, global and social eco-system, even when immediate gains are not obvious. The collective is a space, a virtual location that permits access to knowledge and ability beyond my own. Through this, I gain better insight to my path, to my choices, and to make decisions on my life based on a larger context that is available to me alone. In essence, I am using the knowledge of the collective to define myself and, in doing so; I am using the existence of ‘we’ to define me.

Gabi Trinkaus, Just a little touch of star quality; 2009

expert interview

WAARMAKERS:

Which of the projects reflects Waarmakers’ ambition as designers the most?

THE TWO MEN THAT CAN REPLACE EACH OTHER

interview &t by ymke p ext everrli

Simon Akkaya and Maarten Heijltjes are two engineers from the TUDelft, but more importantly friends and founders of Waarmakers (freely translated: Those that make it happen). Waarmakers, written without the article ‘DE’ is a product design studio based in Amsterdam. Though, they do not design products for the sake of creating more stuff. They want to create positive products: products with a positive effect on its users and their environment.

You describe Waarmakers as a product design studio, whose focal point is user behaviour and its societal impact. How did Waarmakers start? S: “Maarten and I met during our study industrial design at TUDelft. We discovered that we had the same interest in the effect of products on its user and its societal impact. With this similar fascination and shared assertiveness we created our own vision on industrial design and standards for a good product. We wanted to design well-made products with a positive effect on its user and their surroundings. With this fascination and interest it was quite logical to start working on a brand together.”

‘Goedzak’ is a product developed based on a research project ‘Design for Altruism’. Why was this product most convenient? S: “The starting point was that we are all altruistic in a way. We are capable of doing something for one another, as long as there is a right balance between effort and what the other gets in return. Next to that we collect a lot of products around us to satisfy our own needs: we find it difficult to 20

separate ourselves from it. When we do want to get rid of it we can sell it online or take it to a second hand shop. What we discovered is that people often find this step too big and too difficult. As a solution to these problems, we developed ‘Goedzak’: a special garbage bag for items you’ve used but that are still useable for others. It’s a friendly way of offering products a second chance and stimulate social behaviour. By placing ‘Goedzak’ outside your house people are able to pick it up and reuse the items. It stimulates people to dispose their products in a more conscious and sustainable way. With ‘Goedzak’ you can extend a products’ lifetime. As ‘Goedzak’ was a result of ‘Design for Altruism’ we wanted to take the altruism part a step further. By giving away anonymously, a very pure and beautiful form of selflessness arises: people start giving away without receiving a thank you from the receiver. Last week we found out that the City of Eindhoven accepted a try-out, which is extremely exciting and rewarding.”

S: “I think every project has a certain part that appeals to us. But the project we’re currently working on reflects our ambition the most. This Social Design for Wicked Problems (SDFWP) project is a project in collaboration with the New Institute and artist/sociologist, Lino Hellings. It is an initiative that researches and approaches complex social issues by putting designers and artists on the case. We specifically focused on obesity. Obesity is a very personal and worldwide problem. What are the prejudices? How can we solve these? And what is the real cause? By talking to people with obesity we hope to understand and discover the problem. We are still in the middle of this research process; mid-October we will present the research results we’ve got so far at the Dutch Design Week. This is a perfect example of a characteristic Waarmakers project: a broad research phase, the social aspect and eventually, a positive product. I hope that this is why people want to work with us, next to the fact that we deliver the quality that is expected.”

Are there any expectations that did not come true? S: “One of the projects we did was the final master thesis of Maarten. This was a project that had to encourage social cohesion. As a starting point, we took a neighbourhood in Rotterdam with many different populations and cultures that live closely together. You can say there wasn’t much social cohesion.

Names:

Simon Akkaya Maarten Heijltjes

“The danger for a product designer is that we like the creative process the most.”

company:

Product design studio, where its focal point is user behaviour and its social impact.

The idea was to develop a project that could work as an intervention between these groups. Consciously, we’ve developed a striking project at a place where these gathered around: a primary school. At that school you had small groups of cultures gathering around each other. Our angle was to make these parents work together. We wanted to 21

Projects: De Goedzak: Special garbage bag for items that are still useable. It’s a friendly way to offer products a second chance and stimulate sustainable behaviour. Next to that, it stimulates behaviour to benefit others, preferably complete strangers.

give their children a fun and different experience on the day of their birthday: The kids could exit school through the window via a slide. In order to make that happen, the parents had to join forces and place the slide in front of the specific window. We hoped that this would narrow the distance between the groups, to eventually disappear. Unfortunately, this project never became a reality, as the housing association became embroiled in some scandals.”

SDFWP-Obesitas: Waarmakers collaborates with artist and sociologist Lino Hellings in a research project about obesity. What are the prejudices? How do you solve these? And where are the real causes? This research work is still in process. The results will be presented during Dutch Design week, mid-October.

Mama Louise: A changing warehouse. Every half-year a new entrepreneur gets the opportunity to start its own business. Waarmakers designs the visual identity and concept of the brand. NinebyFour: A minimalist wooden design LED lamp, crafted from local Amsterdam trees.

Schokland: A gentleman’s city racer inspired by classic early 20th century track bikes. Designed by Waarmakers, built by Azor Bikes.

Be.e Scooter: Greenest scooter ever, made from plants. Frameless bio-composite electric scooter, with a monocoque body (unique construction: the object’s external skin supports the load. Similar to an eggshell) made from flax and bio-resin. 22

What do you see next for Waarmakers? S: “The danger for a product designer is that we like the creative process the most. So looking for a project, starting the design brief, to give this a form and to start making a prototype, but subsequently you do not introduce it to the market. This is a very long and broad process, which takes more time than we would actually like to invest in it. This might be a place for us to grow in the future and to employ someone to do these processes for us. As a future mission we would like to have a product line with various amount of products all with the same Waarmakers characteristic, which is easy to recognize. An aspect within our design standard is the fact that material needs to be used in its way it’s meant for, as we did with NinebyFour, the wooden LED lamp.” M: “To give an example for using the material in its way it’s meant for we can take a cork. To close off a bottle we use a cork, the cork has the characteristic to expand and to close off. Waarmakers would never use a leather belt for this, as it isn’t meant like this. We want to use material in its function and the material that works best. To elaborate on what Simon just said, I believe that the obesity project really fits the path we really like to continue following. We want to create and develop positive products. We want to keep doing this, and as long as we make steps in this process, we got the feeling we’re doing good. I think this is what will remain our motivation.“ 23

THE WORLD IS IN YOUR HANDS

smartest individual. Even if most of the people in a group are not exceptionally well informed, they can still reach a collectively wise decision.2

tex damia t by n pelk man

So what does that mean, the world is in your hands? It basically means that mankind is awakening. We are getting more self-conscious and we want to regain the power and control over our lives. We are being subjected to advertising and marketing. This has a major influence on the choices we make. We are now ready to take full responsibility of our choices and actions; we are up to a new age.

Shifting into a new age With constant changes in society, we are now at the point of a transition. The change is one to a new age where neither the corporates nor the governments will be in control: one where the people are in charge. You only have to take a look around to see the huge shift that is going on. We are sharing vegetable gardens in order to become more self-sufficient. People are co-creating new products and a simple vote means co-deciding on the next pop idol at X-Factor. Everything we do, we do together. It appears that the recession of the last couple of years has brought people closer. They have lost faith in big corporations and banks. We are searching for ways to become independent. We are heading into a society that is focused on people and results, rather than on profit. Right now we are busy building the foundation for a better future and we are doing this together. Thanks to Internet, we are now able to access a lot of information and work together in a way that we never thought was possible. If you login to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or any other social media, 24

you can read peoples opinions on all sorts of subjects. Social media connects people, their ideas and values, like never before. In the Western world a lot of people only use social media to upload pictures of food and selfies. So it might seem like we are using these channels to share our ideas and values.

“We can now bundle our forces by means of intelligence and wisdom.” In countries where freedom of speech is not to be taken for granted, these new and truly social channels have the power to radically alter our world.1 We can now join forces by means of intelligence and wisdom. This force is called ‘The wisdom of the crowd’. It simply means that, under the right circumstances, groups of people can be remarkably intelligent and often smarter than the

Reaction of the companies Companies, in their turn, know how to respond to this movement in terms of advertising and marketing. They understand that competing just on product and price is no longer enough to connect to the new empowered consumers. They need to build long-term engagement through trust. Brands need to become PRO-ACTIVE, where ‘PRO’ (price, product, promotion) is a given, and ‘ACTIVE’ is what will really set brands apart. ‘ACTIVE’ stands for Alwayson, Community-oriented, Transparent, Innovative, Vocal/Story-teller and Emotive.3 Companies already ought to be transparent and a lot of them focus very much on doing so. If a brand does not have a good story, consumers tend to dismiss it and go to the next one.

Faysel Nadif by Dim Balsem for Harry

All sorts of companies are popping up, pleasing the new empowered consumers. The new label ‘Harry’, is all about being in tune with yourself. It asks you to share your tune so when wearing the tank top you will be reminded of what makes you happy in life.4 Other companies include organic stores such as Marqt, where the consumer is asked to share or discuss its favourite product on Facebook. The consumer can also suggest products for Marqt to add this to its range.5

“People want to give their opinion and be involved within a company.”

On websites such as Etsy you can start your own web shop and trade goods and we even share a bed on Airbnb. Another good example to show the growing power of the crowd is that we are coresponsible for the production of new products on websites such as OnePlanetCrowd or Kickstarter. People want to give their opinion and be involved within a company. In return the companies want to hear the consumer. So they can adjust their formula to the consumers’ desire. It’s a positive development, because it shows that companies realise that they are no longer in charge. In order to keep their consumers they have to involve them. This creates a two-way connection, where both the company and the consumer will be pleased.

If all is well, the future is ours This evolution is a huge step ahead not just on a commercial level, but also for mankind. People are getting closer to one another more than in the last ten years. Unfortunately, there is also a possible

downside to this development. According to James Surowiecki ‘The wisdom of the crowd’ could come at stake if the individuals in a group have too much interaction. People will start parroting each other, the diversity and independency within the group will get lost. This already happens when searching on Google: the four most popular searched subjects pop-up and pre-set data influences the consumer.

If James Surowiecki’s theory is true, there is a possibility that the crowd will turn into being a one-sighted group. Where the opinions of each individual lie too close to the other. We have to be aware that each individual is independent enough with his or her own statement and uses own sourcing methods to retrieve knowledge.6 If this will last, the future will possibly be a bright one. With a varied number of awesome brands that interact with the consumer, even brands that are driven by consumers. It all depends on how good we know ourselves. The future is ours.

Josh Pyke, March 11, 2014

expert interview

TEDx’s Patrick Newell:

interview & text Linda Eliz abeth Tra

asked to bring their unique model to Japan. In 2008, TEDxTokyo was the first independently organised TED event outside of the US and set the standard for TEDx-events around the world going forward.

the most ridiculous person I know

Patrick Newell is a native Californian, a learning activist, an ideal activist, an author, a global skateboarder, the co-founder of TEDxTokyo, the founder of the Tokyo International School, and the founder of a bunch of other non-profit movements and initiatives. And he also just jumped into the ocean during typhoon weather. “The energy of the waves, it was so nice and warm. It’s just how you look at things. Nobody else is out in the ocean, or even outside. Just jump in the energy. Twirl around in it and see where it takes you. That’s life!“ The view is grainy through a Skype connection over his iPhone. A towel, a snorkel, some skateboards and surfboards decorate the relatively basic room in his nondescript summer rental. Patrick still projects a compelling energy as he pans his phone around the room to show me the latest state of his retreat in Shimoda, a short 2 hours from the bustling heart of Japan, Tokyo. “Shimoda has all the Japanese energy in it, which is very interesting. It’s different; it’s kind of a Japanese beach subculture.” One of the reasons he is staying at this beach is because he is writing another book. After his first book about the power of TED, his next book will look at how parents can be the best educators by guiding their children with 21st Century Skills. He shows me how he made the place his home away from home over the past couple of weeks, by adding little things. “There used to be nothing here,” Patrick says. “Life is about finding as much connection as you can. The connections tell you a story about almost everything you can see here.” 28

And that is how Patrick sees life in general, it’s about tying things together, synchronizing things, and finding synergy. “I just discovered last night that my life was ridiculous since high school. The word ridiculous can also be positive. It actually all started when I read this book called The Celestine Prophecy; it’s about how people have connected in past life and how they re-connect in the current life. I started to understand everything is moving energy and nothing is solid and that we pretty much can do whatever we want as long as we’re in harmony with that energy. That’s probably the core thing to know about me. And because of that, most of the things I do, I don’t plan. I just let them happen.“ In the mid-2000s, Patrick saw a need for a platform to counter the downward spiral of negativity and fears of economic shrinkage in Japan. Patrick approached the organisers of TED in the US and

“I thought that Japanese have a lot of good ideas, but they are not necessary good at sharing them. They don’t share them proudly. They are afraid of calling out their ideas. Through this framework, we would really amplify their ability to share. This would start a spark for a movement to happen.” Patrick says. He also realised that the Japanese would benefit from a structure through which to share, “A lot of the reason people do things together is just feeling safe and secure. When you have emotional security you try different things you would normally never do. When you don’t have a lot of high-level security, then you will basically stay within what’s comfortable. The question is how to branch beyond that.” Fast forward six years, and there have been around 130 TEDx-related events just in Japan, where people have come together to share ideas, craft them collectively and come up with new ones. When asked what he wants of people at one of the events, Patrick smiles. “To get together and make things happen.” Patrick sees his real role as curator of TEDxTokyo, as a coordinator that brings people and new ideas together in an environment that helps them best express their vision and personalities. He has to find the flow of the moment, be connected and just go with it. Patrick is the MC at TEDxTokyo and does the whole day without a script, it’s just done off the top of his head. “One of the connections that tickled me the most at TEDxTokyo was to work with LJ Rich, one of the narrators of BBC Click. She has a rare condition called synaesthesia, which allows her to hear everything around her in notes. We had so much fun working together on her presentation since she build a box that allows people to hear what she hears,” Patrick

Name

Patrick Newell

“I just discovered last night that my life was ridiculous since high school. The word ridiculous can also be positive.” occupation:

co-founder of TEDxTokyo founder of the Tokyo International School

about tedx: The x of TEDx represents the independently organised TED-style events produced at a local level, community-by-community-based. The events are planned and coordinated independently through a free license from TED under the mission: spread ideas. TED is a global community, welcoming people from every discipline and culture who seek deeper understanding of the world, to engage curious individuals with ideas and each other. TED(x) talks provide free knowledge concerning Technology, Entertainment and Design from the world most inspiring thinkers in talks ranging 3-18 minutes.

As of October 2014 130 TEDx Japan events 10,551 TEDx Global events in the past 1,044 TEDx Global events upcoming

explains. TEDxTokyo was to work with LJ Rich, one of the narrators of BBC Click. She has a rare condition called synaesthesia, which allows her to hear everything around her in notes. We had so much fun working together on her presentation since she build a box that allows people to hear what she hears,” Patrick explains. “We did this backstage, which was way cool. I pulled one of the original first 12 kids from the start of Tokyo International School who was helping me through the day. And before I knew it, we had six people all attached and entwined. We went out to the main hall and then before we knew, we bounced around onstage. It was special, it just happened. It was collaboration, synthesising. And it all happened in a very spontaneous way with limited rules. Where LJ was the main maestro.” “People who are really interested in finding synergy get together. They like to see change happen, they want to learn or they are interested in learning more through sharing and receiving new ideas. That’s what brings together a community. And then the talks are great if you just look at the immediate content perspective. We have talks from 3-12 minutes that will blow your mind away. There’s not too many things like this out there.” Patrick says he had another opportunity to experience the power of the collective and collaboration this year at Burning Man in California for this 70,000 people gathering. “Humanity on a whole different level. You couldn’t buy anything so you had to figure out how you can contribute in the best possible way. And then the community will take care of you where you need it. But the core rule for each person was; how can I contribute in the most constructive, positive and energetic way that will enhance that community and make it better?” This year, Patrick was invited as a guest to Burning Man by one of the founders, Marian Goodell after collaborating with her and her team for her recent TEDxTokyo talk. He found the experience enlightening. “You hear a lot of ‘let’s

come together, love and peace.’ That all got a bit of yeah, yawn, yawn, yawn. But when I went, I thought; ‘WOW, this actually works!’ I brought a bunch of Shochu and little Japanese candies. And I jumped in a few times doing dishes. The power of sharing was so great I really felt like I wanted to do more and more. I also wanted to look at how the camp was vested. So my responsibility was to go to Burning Man Japan and see what the differences were and how Japan can be enlightened, just like with the TEDx movement, through the Burning Man principles. With Burning Man Japan, I went with my friend Todd (Porter, co-founder TEDx). We went to Costco and bought a bunch of wine and cheese and grapes. And just set up a Californian wine and cheese bar from our van. People came by just to enjoy the moment with us. Being with a foreign person, having wine and cheese would not be something a typical Japanese person would normally do. So that was our unique way to contribute to the community.”

and needs to be shared. Maybe it’s time for us to take a jump in the deep. “Stay open minded, be sincere, trust yourself. Find your passions and try to live them all. There will be so many passions that you can’t even live them all. They will be so good that your life is full of joy. Don’t forget to give and share.”

For Patrick, these groups and collectives are clear examples of a higher level of connection. “How do you get to the highest level of collective intelligence? That’s when you come up with a bunch of different ideas and synthesise them to come up with a common idea. And you look at the different individuals and people who are involved. You see what their passions are. You find their talents and synthesise that within the community to work together.” Patrick shares. “At the end of the day, when you’re giving and sharing, it feels good,” Patrick continues. “You always get way more when you’re giving without expecting anything in return, out of good heart and good spirit. You’re not playing chess, you’re playing the game of life. It’s a game of exchanging energy.” As Patrick gets ready for his evening, maybe another jump in the sea, maybe the discovering of another new thing, he comments on the power of exchanging ideas and the energy around them. He believes this exchange of energy is powerful 31

Blue Pill / Red Pill

text & Saman IMAGES BY tha So wiron o

“You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole is.” – The Matrix

Charl

text b y otte d e

Gier

“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”, states the Universal Declaration of Human Rights1. People have the natural need to feel free whilst expressing themselves and to elaborate on their opinion. The huge amounts of online communities are a representative example of this human desire. Online communities and mesh-networks have become safe environments where people feel uninhibited and free to share their own beliefs. In this time of the superficial trend of over sharing your daily life on social networks, keeping debates alive and empowering each other through Internet is vital. Engaging with others online can enlighten your ideas and maybe even lead to unthinkable events. Yet, the amount of people today that cannot or do not have the ability to express themselves freely online is surprisingly high.

Escaping from the structure In these current times, we are confronted by issues such as suppression and conflicts on a daily basis. Images of fleeing and crying people flash before our eyes while we are scrolling through the different channels on our televisions. Whole nations are forced to flee because they do not share the same opinion as the oppressor. Not only in conflicted areas people are controlled: decisions in our daily life are also often regulated by and based on rules made by higher authorities. Because of this feeling of oppression we are now, more than ever, looking for a place where we can escape from the daily structure and to interact with others. Internet is an authority-free zone where we can decide for ourselves what we want to see, share, post and comment on. An example of this search for a new form of creating independence is the network Project Kleinrock. The project was set up in 2011 and only resulted in an attempt. It was meant to 38

create an autonomous and decentralized ‘second layer’ of Internet, which could work without the use of Internet Service Providers2. This means that the networks would be inaccessible to government censorship and shutdowns. This attempt has lead to many communities worldwide building their own so-called mesh-networks. These new digital spaces allow people to communicate on an autonomous basis and to create their own rules. Not only these mesh-networks communities allow people to use Internet to connect with others in freedom. Websites such as debate.org and kiva.org show that individuals can come together, stimulate each other and create new opportunities3.

Stay dumb, stay safe However, the countries where free speech and debate on Internet is needed the most, are the

Enrich your mind Next to the need to feel free we want to feed our brains with new information. In prior times our comfort zone was a lot smaller. You only had the opportunity to share news and your opinions with your family, friends and neighbours. Today we can make use of the knowledge from people all over the world to enrich our own mind. One of the most re-blogged posts on Tumblr, a popular blogging platform, is a statement: ‘Tumblr has taught me

more about feminism, women rights, rape culture, slut shaming, etcetera, more than school ever did’5 Young adults make use of online platforms to enlighten each other by sending out information. Exchanging knowledge creates independence, because with this we have the ability to form our own opinion. It stimulates people to always be critical and it makes it possible that we can grow and develop together in new ways. By keeping millions of people from all this knowledge it restricts them, but it also stops nations from growing and adjusting to the current changes in the world.

Create independence together The most powerful outcomes of online communities are the times when people do succeed to join forces and to create more independent situations. A great example of this is the Egyptian Revolution in 2011, which was fuelled by young people coming together on social networks and blogs. This revolution was not lead by one strong individual who wanted to change something, but was successful because of the mobilization of the youth. These individuals wanted to create a new government model. Together they had the ability to pursue their own goals and aspirations. By making use of online communities, youths were

Restricted Internet, www.bmo.org

DIGITAL INDEPENDENCE

countries were online censorship is still executed on a high level. The Ministry of Information in Iran claims to block thousands of websites who offer the reader independent news and arrested many bloggers who shared their critical opinions. In Tunisia, the government manages a censorship system that blocks all opposition publications and many news websites to ‘protect’ the nation4. People are literally kept dumb, because they do not have the ability to access any information that could perhaps harm the authorities. Internet censorship is just as demeaning as real life censorship, because it stops people from expressing themselves in a free manner and to access new information. It is a relatively new form of censure, unfortunately not less harmful than real life censorship.

Digital Freedom, www.valasz.hu

already discussing which changes they wanted to see and encouraging each other. Eventually, President Mubarak stepped down from power on February 11, 2011 and the revolution succeeded6. The digital happenings were translated from the cyber world into reality, which shows that Internet is a democratic tool that has given individuals a new form of power. Not only in political situations the feeling of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;being more independent togetherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; is popular, also in cases of supporting fundraisers or organizing conventions this feeling is greatly noticeable. YouTuber Tyler Oakley raised awareness for the Trevor Project an organization helping LGBTQ youth and activated his audience of 5 million subscribers to raise $525,679 in just 45 days7. Normally large companies only donate amounts such as these, now a community of people who 40

truly care and wanted to see change happening raised it.

Make a change Online communities allow people to create the feeling of being independent together. It stimulates individuals to always have a critical mind-set and to form their opinion by gaining new knowledge. The communities are leaderless, which results in a place where members feel safe to share and to learn. It is so harmful that millions of people are closed off from these online communities and kept in the dark about world changing topics. In this way change for the better will not have an opportunity. Internet censorship should be treated as a serious threat that restrains people from speaking up and making a change. So, letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s use our virtual voices together to create digital independence for all human beings.

tryvertising

paying through sharing

text & illus by sin tration e lund

We live in a world where social media are becoming a dominating information source for a lot of people worldwide. We have more trust in an opinion about a product from a person we know or follow online than from a commercial advertising campaign. That is why brands are using an old but effective technique nowadays; word of mouth, where the opinion is shared from consumer to consumer. This has now turned into a trend named “Tryvertising” where the consumer becomes the advertiser with paying by sharing.

Tryvertising; a rising trend A big trend right now is that people are becoming more aware of the environment. That has created a new wave of methods where people come together and work together as a unit instead of an individual. Sharing is one of the things that is getting back as a popular tool to enforce the community and bring a sense of togetherness back into a world of technology. Sampling has existed for a long time and has been used for several products. Now giving out free products has gone to a new level as a result of the ever-growing technology and the need for brands to reach the consumer as efficient as possible without using tons of money. From this came “tryvertising”. Tryvertising is a marketing tool where the consumer can test-drive the product or service free of charge1. Instead of paying with actual money they pay by sharing their personal opinion about the product/service directly to the brand, on online media or recommending the product to people they know. This is also a good way for the brand to target a specific target group by giving out free 42

samples under certain circumstances or at special places where they know the target group will be2. This group will be more likely to try the product/ service what then leads the consumer to be more likely buying the product afterwards if they like it.

product directly through the target group. You can also pay by giving a direct feedback to the brand or fill out a questionnaire after trying out the product4. This is a great way for brands to get a positive word spread out without having to pay for expensive advertising. They go directly to the consumer and get them to advertise for them. This is only one of many ways brands are using tryvertising to make awareness of their products. Other ways of using tryvertising have been seen with luxury hotels offering their guests to drive around in luxury cars while staying there. Or coffee companies setting up coffee machines at bus stops making free freshly brewed coffee for morning travellers. Sport brands set up stands at sport events offering free massage and lending out their products to athletes. And taxi drivers handing out brand condoms to passengers that are likely to get “lucky”5. These are some of the ways brands are using tryvertising. Because it is not about money but about how you reach your consumer and this can be used by both big and small brands.

Trysumers Tryvertising comes in many forms and brands are constantly finding new ways of giving out free products or services so they can make more people buy their product. But who are these people? They are trysumers. A trysumer has been defined by trendwatching.com; “Trysumers are transient, experienced consumers who are becoming more daring in how and what they consume, thanks to a wide range of societal and technological changes6.” These types of consumers are so used to the way of “trying out” new products that they are no longer responsive to the average tv commercial or magazine ad. This is because of the technological development that makes it possible for people to have around the clock access to see the newestnew on the internet. At the same time they have access to reviews, automatic personal suggestions and almost unlimited services that are fighting for the consumers attention online. The consumer is

Word-of-mouth with a twist Word-of-mouth advertising is a technique where there is given free promotion through the consumer about a product or a service for a brand3. In tryvertising it is used to its limit but with a twist to make it more appealing for the consumer. Copenhagen just opened their first free supermarket “Free market” where you can sign-up online for a small monthly fee. In exchange you get to choose 10 products and get three gift cards once a month. The ranges of products you can choose from are products that fit your target group and that specifically fits the interests you have taken from a personal profile you fill out while signing in. Besides the small fee you pay with sharing what you think of the product and your experience on social media. You make others aware of the new 43

‘‘innovative branding and marketing strategies where trying out and sampling is the new form of advertisement.,,

so used to experiment with trying out new things that they don’t care whether they will actually like it or not. If it’s not something for them they just try something else. This type of shopping behaviour made the base of tryvertising, where the trysumer, who is immune to commercial marketing methods, can be reached through innovative branding and marketing strategies where trying out and sampling is the new form of advertisement7.

The future of tryvertising So is this type of advertising the future of how to brand your product? Is everyone going be be a trysumer from now on? No, probably not. Not everyone is a trysumer and not everyone will ever become one. There will always be people who are “brand-loyal” and do not care to constantly trying out new things8. 44

The next step in tryvertising is something that is already under development but has not yet gained too much attention. It’s called ‘Virtual´ sampling and big retailers are already using the technique to make shopping easier and more precise for the consumer. H&M and Adidas are some of the brands that are using virtual avatars that costumers can create and then try out all their products on a screen at home instead of using time in the fitting room. Google is now developing a new service called Google SketchUp, which will be able to make a 3D viewing of your house where you then can “try-out” 3D made furniture from a furniture store and see how your room will look like without having to lift a finger9. So if you think trysuming is something for you, keep an eye on the “try before you buy” projects that are going on in your city so you can find out if you are a trysumer or not. 45

personal pieces These objects make me who I am. No one knows all these products are a part of me.

concep t & im Kelly j age By acobs

expert interview

Patta’s Running Crew

Why do you think Nike choose you to collaborate?

interview &t BY Tessa d ext e Jong

This interview is with Edson Sabajo, co-founder of the well-known Amsterdam Patta store (2006) about the establishment of Patta Running Crew. They started as big fans of exclusive shoes, which evolved into a creative platform: the Patta store, Patta brand, Patta Soundsystem and Patta Events. In 2011, Edson added Patta Running Crew to this platform: a new way of bringing Amsterdam-based individuals together from various fields of life. They share one passion: running. I met Edson Sabajo at the Patta store, located at the Zeedijk in the heart of Amsterdam. In a minute I felt the vibe of these ‘Patta guys’: having talks with neighbours and friends, selling the newest sneakers while their cool vibe dominates the street. International fans constantly enter the shop and within 5 minutes they leave the store with a big, striking Patta bag. This made me even more curious about their success. In 2011, Edson took Patta to the next level by starting Patta Running Crew. Something that started as a small group of creative friends has now organically grown into the full-fledged Patta Running Team. Traveling cities devoted to reach the finish line wherever they go. Other metropolitan cities across the globe have similar crews. New York City, London, Paris, Berlin and Moscow are all inspired by each other. Connecting both online and offline, crews all over the world share similar stories and motivate each other. The different crews share 52

joy as much as they share pain and they grow into their teams inseparable. We see a worldwide community of individuals seeking a different way of exploring the world of running. The most important thing is that they do this together and not alone.

Why and when did you start Patta Running Crew? “We started Patta Running crew because we were asked by the brand Nike. Nike was searching for running teams in Amsterdam and offered me a monthly budget to establish the crew. I really liked the idea, but from the beginning I told them my most important condition: I want to do it my/the Patta way. Because our motto is: if we do things, we do it our way, without to many restrictions. Nike agreed and that is how it all started. Before the start-up of Patta Running Crew, I ran through the park ones a week. Now I do this together with the running crew. Three years later, the team has grown into thirty-five people and this will become even more.”

“Firstly, I would like to say that they didn’t choose me, they choose Patta, the brand. People call us the cool guys of Amsterdam and say we are the voice of the youth. It is a very smart strategy of Nike: to sponsor, we are walking billboards for the Nike. Next to this, we have a network of what we call ‘Local Heroes’, which companies find interesting. We love art and culture and collaborate with certain initiatives within the city life to do what we love: having fun while working hard. Some people want to play safe, Patta doesn’t. We like to make it a bit difficult for ourselves, which gives Patta character. The most important thing I’ve learned is not to be lazy and think we’re already there, because this is not how it works. We constantly have to adopt and add different things to the platform, to make sure people stay interested. It is very easy to be cool, but to stay cool is much more difficult. Next to selling shoes, Patta is a lifestyle. So we can say, it’s a smart collaboration for both of us; in this way we can do what we like to do and expand our platform. At the same time we help Nike with their brand awareness.“

How do you manage everything next to running a shop and expanding the Patta platform? “ Patta Running Crew became a quite a big company with all the events and city trips. It’s not possible to do everything on my own anymore. We have thirty-five people to entertain and guide. I’ve created a commission and hired a trainer. As the group becomes so big, it is important regain new input and inspiration, which eventually leads to new ideas. Things need to be structured; otherwise it becomes chaos.

Name:

Edson Sabajo

“Today it is a running crew where people want to fit in, tomorrow it might be something else” occupation:

Co-Founder Patta Store Amsterdam

I’m still the motivator behind Patta Running Crew but I want the whole team to participate with me. I appreciate people who show initiative and do not only follow the crowd.“ 53

What does Patta Running Crew add to the Patta Company? “First of all it adds to the value of the company. The running crew and the company are two different things but they also complement each other. The running team works all over the world: they wear the clothes with logos, which is a free promotion for Patta as a company. I hope we can create a sub-brand in the future with special shirts or a whole collection.“

attractive because you can stimulate each other and push each other’s boundaries. Next to all this healthy lifestyle stories, the most important part of the success of running crews is that people want to fit in. That is what it is all about. People love to be part of groups with created identities and Patta is a good example of this. It’s the key to life: to belong to a group and to fit in. Today it is a running crew; tomorrow it might be something else.“

started as group of friends, became a crew with all kinds of people are included. The combination of lawyers, DJ’s, artists, writers, photographers and entrepreneurs makes it really interesting. We share the same spirit and forget our work for a moment; I think this is really dope. This upcoming popularity of running crews show a international movement that proves that when you come together with a collective intention, big things can happen. Anywhere.“

How can people join the Patta Running Crew? “The trainer and I make the decisions over who is in and who is not. It is quite simple: you have to be able to handle the kilometres and speed of the other crewmembers. If you can’t: I see no reason to join. Next to this, new members need to fit in with the others. The reason for being this strict is because some people only want to join because of the free gear. For us the focus is to run and not the gear you get for it, it should be of much importance to.

I heard about the initiative of Nike, Bridge the Gap, can you tell me something more about this?

Another important criteria is enthusiasm; this is probably the most important thing of being a good crewmember. The team now includes thirty-five people and it is still growing.“

Last year we did London Calling, a weekend of events designed to match these interests. We did a lot of activities like the ‘Drag Race’ sprint tournament in Leake Street’s famous graffiti tunnel, a creative workshop at Sugarhouse Studios and the Nike British 10K. During the events, there is one host team who has to show the guest runners all the best their city has to offer. We also did this in 2012 in Amsterdam with 7 crews represented, 7 cities and 150 people in total. From dinners and parties to red light tours, there was quite a schedule. One of the highlights after crossing the finish line, was the Amsterdamage night where everybody came together as one big international running family, showered, fresh and ready to celebrate. “

People and newspapers speak of an Urban Running Crew Trend, why do you think running is so important these days? Or do you think there is more behind it than only running? “I think people motivate each other. We see a lot of upcoming running crews, which motivates people to join. People see it on the streets, in the parks and in the gym but also on social media. Through this way we stimulate each other to work on our lazy and unshaped bodies. I could have imaged that it would become so popular. Also sportswear brands start their own running crew now. We see Nike with its new crew but also Aesics has its own club now. Another important thing is that running is the easiest way to work out. The only thing you need is a pair of running shoes. Running in a team is really 54

“To gather crews all over the world, Nike started the initiative Bridge the Gap. Not only to run at marathons in different cities but also to network, build and inspire one another. Bridge the Gap believes in that all the crews are made up of creative, style-conscious individuals who enjoy combining street running with social and work interests such as music, writing and design.

What makes running crews interesting these times? “I think 2014 is about connecting with people who have the same passions and believes. Thanks to social media we can share this globally and find people with the same values. Something, which 55

The Upper Trust Togetherness cannot work without trust. It is something we need in order to live together, work together and share together. We have to find new ways to build healthy relationships between consumers, companies, creatives, freelancers and other participants in the sharing economy. If we are willing to share, we can create a future together. We look at trust as something altruistic, but we question liability and trustworthiness as well. 56

Giving without expecting something in return Are people of the today’s society capable of true altruism?

text Ymke P by evere lli

Giving is not a concept that is new to us. You give constantly, whether it is on a material or an emotional level. Giving becomes interesting when people do not expect something in return. Are we capable of this altruistic form of giving? How is the individual in today’s society, which is fundamentally based on togetherness? A society that is based on togetherness is formed by people who aren’t focussed on self-interest but on communal interest: companies that provide free services, people who send a New Years card to people who are alone or lend and share their possessions with others. New initiatives are created when people search for contact with strangers to connect more strongly with a world they don’t know yet: this is a society in which people give without the expectation of getting something in return.

Altruistic zeitgeist Nowadays people explain everything by referring to the economic crisis, but this answer too simplistic. The zeitgeist we live in now, offers at lot more reason for hope: it is a zeitgeist wherein we’re compelled to work with others, to combine our individual strengths to create a cohesive whole and to switch our mentality from the value of owning to the value of sharing2.

Altruism is defined by a person who sacrifices him- or herself for someone without consideration of personal gain1. Nonetheless this definition provides us with some problems: when do we say there is no personal gain involved?

One of the purest forms of this trend is OOPOEH, a foundation for the pets in the neighbourhood. OOPOEH wants to resolve three problems at one: giving more companionship to the elderly, providing a reliable babysitter to the pet-owners and stimulating the care and attention for the pets3.

This ambiguity is what makes it difficult to set a clear definition. If we approach this trend in a neutral way, we can define altruistic giving as: the initial reason for somebody to give is for the wellbeing of others, to the point where personal gain becomes a side issue.

The project Mama Louise4 is another good example of the trend of altruism. Mama Louise’s swap shop, as they call it, is an initiative based in the northern part of Amsterdam at the Van der Pekstraat. Undiscovered talent and unknown entrepreneurs from that neighbourhood get the chance to open

their own temporary shop. The pop-up formula is the first step towards their own shop. Mama Louise provides the room and professional help where needed. For the entrepreneurs this is a unique opportunity to make a kick-start with their company and build up a client base, for the municipality they fill up the vacancy and the neighbourhood has a new addition to their shops. This covers almost all aspects society is asking for at the moment.

“With this they have developed another type of altruism: you give anonymously, which makes it a very pure form of selflessness’’

Between community and the individual WAARMAKERS, a product and social design studio, is a company that felt comfortable with the term ‘giving without expecting something in return’. As its slogan states: ‘We like stuff, but we like people better’. Its focus lies on producing positive products, which have a positive effect on its user and on its environment. One of its projects is called the ‘Goedzak’: a special garbage bag for items that are still useable. It’s a friendly way to offer products a second chance and stimulate sustainable behaviour. With this the company has developed another type of altruism: you give anonymously, which makes it a very pure form of selflessness5. Another initiative that lies in that same social line is BankjesCollectief (roughly translated into BenchesCollective), which is the biggest open-air café in the world. It consists of people putting benches outside to create their own café: residents choose what they offer and café guests determine the value.

‘Goedzak’ created by Waarmakers

This is a wonderful initiative to promote giving and getting closer to the people living in your neighbourhood in a relaxed manner. This collective stimulates people to get involved in your neighbourhood. Who doesn’t like to wine and dine for a price you decide yourself? But when there is a trend, there is always a countertrend. Take EENMAAL, the first one-person restaurant in the world. This restaurant is meant as a disconnection from the hyper-connected world we live in today. At the same time, it can be seen as an escape from the ‘WE’, to finally have some quality time for the ‘ME’.

Future prospects Even though we are acting in a society that is based on togetherness and sharing with others, we 61

haven’t reached its highest level yet. People still see themselves as strong individuals, and besides, it’s in our nature to put ourselves first. Nonetheless, this doesn’t mean we are all behaving in this manner or we cannot develop an altruistic attitude. Recently, neuroscientists have proven that people are capable of developing the three components of altruism: empathy, loving kindness and compassion6. Take WAARMAKERS, Mama Louise and the people behind BankjesCollectief as an inspiration: giving without expecting something in return is part of today’s society, and it will always be. Maybe this won’t be in its purist form of altruism, but it’s definitely from a togetherness perspective: the ‘WE’.

BankjesCollectief, the biggest open-air café in the world

The bottom line is: The nice guys don’t always finish last, nor do they always finish first.

expert interview inter vie & tex w t by robin van d er aa

less is more A counter reaction towards the throwaway industry

Marloes Pomp is a fashion forward intellectual and a strong participator in the sharing economy. Besides her drive of doing numerous projects at once she is the founder of Digital Action and IedereenORlid, and she started a new initiative: ‘Rewear’. Rewear is the first online community that makes it possible to share fashion items hanging in people’s closets around the world. Marloes and her husband regularly rent a car from Snapcar.nl and tools from Peerby.nl. It is not just the comfort of sharing products they appreciate, but it also has the benefit of meeting new people. The sharing economy started with sharing objects of high value such as houses and cars. Sharing these objects has great advantages; it reduces costs and takes less effort, as for instance you don’t need to close an insurance policy. Now that this is beginning to integrate into our society, Marloes desires to take sharing a step further. After the start of several initiatives that enable sharing food, sharing clothes is a natural next step. Being extremely fascinated by the sharing economy, Marloes started Rewear. It is the first Dutch platform that allows you not to share fashion items one by one, but to give access to numerous items from other women’s wardrobes. The launch of Rewear is in October 2014, but subscriptions to becoming a member of the exclusive community already started before. 64

change is just around the corner Rewear is initiated as a counter reaction towards the ‘throwaway’ industry. “Mass production is not going to last and we need to find solutions. We need to do something. Young women should become aware of the negative sides of the mass production of cheap and low quality clothing. I want to stimulate them to invest in high quality clothing.” According to Marloes less really is more. “With already making one of your high quality fashion items available to share and a small amount of service costs, you will have access to a nearly endless wardrobe. It will become possible for anyone to wear designer items every day of the week. Rewear desires to collaborate with (young) designers to make even more fashion items available to share. These collaborations make it possible for designers to attract a new audience. Likewise, the audience has easy access to experience a designer collection. When they appreciate the items from the collection this will

allow them to purchase items from a certain designer more easily. The audience differs from 20-55 years and share all with their own reasons. Some women find it important to be more sustainable, while others enjoy the experience. Most of the younger women are attracted by the flexibility of this concept and the low costs for access to a lot of items.”

The rise of the sharing economy ‘I should have never done this. Why do I always come up with these ideas?’ were Marloes Pomp’s first thoughts when she left her house, her car and her belongings in 2006. Together with her husband and two young kids, she went off to America to spend their holiday in a private home. Her husband was not very fond of this idea and a few of her friends’ reactions were: ‘Why would you let a stranger sleep in your bed?’ and ‘I would never do such a thing’. However, to Marloes it seemed like the most exciting idea; exchanging houses with a family you barely know and who you met via the Internet to spend a holiday abroad. Today eight years after this experience Marloes cannot imagine living her life any other way. “Spending every school holiday in another house in any country in the world, is not only affordable, it is an amazing experience. The house owners leave notes with a list of the best restaurants in their neighbourhood, fun activities and even their friends’ phone numbers. Thanks to the sharing economy, I have different houses all over the world.”

Name:

Marloes Pomp

“Thanks to the sharing economy, I have different houses all over the world.” occupation:

Founder of Rewear, Digital Action and IedereenORlid

As an outsider of the fashion industry - she has a technological background - Marloes was surprised by the fact that this industry is quite traditional. “Sharing your closet on such a big scale is still very new to everyone. When I for instance presented the concept to several fashion magazines I noticed how surprised a few people were. Even though this branch is full of open-minded creatives, most of them are remarkably focussed on the cycle of two 65

seasons. Likewise when talking to designers about collaborating, their latest collection are always topic number one.” However, Rewear is not always interested in items from the latest collection, they prefer unique items in stock. “We admire the items that won’t be sold anymore, due to the fact that they are from previous seasons. We want to bring them back to life.”

Down the line Rewear is trying to figure out a co-operation with Mercedes-Benz FashionWeek Amsterdam. “It would be great to be able to rent a piece you see on the runway straight away.” For the future, Rewear wants to take the access of designer items to the next level. Not only will they make other women’s wardrobes and designeritems available to borrow, they also desire to offer access to all high quality over-stock items of shops, webshops and brands to create the ultimate endless wardrobe. Going international is one of the priorities in order to achieve this ambition. As soon as the concept starts running in the Netherlands they want to include interesting cities such as Athens and Barcelona and create worldwide networks. Women in cities that are suffering from the economic crisis are the perfect audience. Most of these women still have a wardrobe full of treasures as well as the desire to wear high quality clothes, but do not have the money to invest in them. Cities in America are also on the wish list, but Marloes wants to start small. Marloes strongly believes that in the future it will be the norm to have different types of consumption next to purchase, such as borrowing, lending and sharing. She hopes that these initiatives will be supported by the government and become integrated in bigger companies instead of being a separate part of the economy. She sees a bright future for the development of the sharing economy.

text b y Daan B ak

Since a few years the economy has taking a social turn. The economic crisis, pressing environmental issues and high unemployment pushed people to find creative ways to collaborate in order to change the traditional capitalistic system into a more sustainable economy. The result of this social revolution is known as the sharing economy. This new economy is based on mutual trust between peers. As thrilling as this may sound, there are some critical questions that one can raise. Most importantly how can we trust a stranger? Imagine yourself riding the subway to work one morning while just finishing reading a book from one of your favourite authors. A stranger in the subway comes up to you and asks: ‘have you read the latest book of this author already?’ You admit you haven’t read it but are planning to buy it as soon as possible. The stranger suggests that you give him your book together with your address. In return, he promises you to send his copy of the book you were planning to buy. Would you do this? Probably not! However these kinds of swaps are currently happening online all over the world. So why won’t you trust the willingness of a stranger offline, someone you can actually meet in person, but trust a stranger online?

Cognitive trust schemes How does trust actually work in the sharing economy? According to J. Keith Murnighan, a 68

professor of management and organizations at the Kellogg School of Management, trust between strangers can be strengthened by a persons cognitive system. ‘We develop trust schemes— cognitive structures—that create expectations about how things are going to go’. These trust schemes are build upon life experience over time and helps us to decide who we should trust and who we should not trust1. This means that trust can be build upon a person’s expectation. More broadly sharing initiatives are most likely to attract a set of likeminded people who all share the same values and believe. This single fact helps users to trust strangers online, so far this works. The current online sharing platforms are working 99% of the time according to Rachel Botsman2. The 1% that doesn’t go well is mainly due to late delivery from the post office. Nevertheless sharing platforms fundamentally changed the way users participate. Since the

Although this may work in a smaller online environment, the sharing economy has take flight and expanded to the offline world as well. People are now used to rent rooms on Airbnb and use transportation through Uber. This brings another critical problem. For example, hotels and taxi services have established trust throughout their existence: you know what you can expect and trust the service or product that you buy from them. In the sharing economy people are currently photocopying their drivers license in order to prove they can actually operate a car. People who provide rooms through Airbnb are now encouraging users to write reviews about their experience. This to enable potential customers to trust the product they are about to use and to verify the providers’ identity, which reduces the user anonymity yet again. However you never know what you get until you get it.

Big data: the solution to all our problems? This problem has encouraged a large number of start-ups such as TrustCloud3 to come up with a solution. Big data from all users across the web is currently gathered and can potentially be combined to form a personalized user profiles. These startups tap into the data-tail a user leaves behind on the web. Besides checking your social media to verify your identity they can also check your background. Their advanced algorithms can predict your trustworthiness and even determine if you will respect other peoples property. Ultimately their data collection will result in a rating (1 to 10) that gives other users an insight in how trustworthy you are.

Viviane Sassen – In and out of fashion

The Future of Anonymity

introduction of Facebook, a growing number of online platforms are now obliging users to sign in with their social media profile instead of the traditional and anonymous username, for example Daan92. On the upside you give users a face with that profile, but on the downside users loose their anonymity.

In the mood for anonymity

“Their advanced algorithms can predict your trustworthiness and even determine if you will respect other peoples property.” Although this might be the solution, it also means the end of your online anonymity. The revelations of Edward Snowden (a former NSA employee who leaked security sensitive information to the press) and the privacy scandals surrounding Facebook, Google and other large companies, have resulted in a negative attitude towards big data4. However there’re examples of how personalized big data can be used to accomplish great results. A growing number of educational institutions are collecting 69

Viviane Sassen – Mirror

Ashley Scot – Photographed by Donald J

In the mood for anonymity

personalized data in order to understand the learning process of students better. Combined with additional information from their social media and home situation, teachers are able to provide a personalized learning package based on a students capability, weaknesses and strengths5. The difference here is that these data collections are created by someone we trust, a teacher. Whereas companies we don’t even know create the online data collections. David Demper, a sharing economy advisor for a Dutch car sharing company called SnappCar, stated that these personalized big data collections will be the key to a true sharing economy6. ‘With the use of big data I can be directly link my ideal match based on personality, preferences and individual needs’. However a platform like this would only work if these personalized big data collections were public to everyone, not just to big corporations such as Google or Facebook. 70

In the mood for anonymity

So is there a future for anonymity? Well… there are two sides. On the one hand anonymity will become scarcer, but for a good reason. We all want change and the sharing economy can help us with that. However in order to succeed we need to hand in a part of our anonymity and privacy, which is inevitable. We need to know whether someone is trustworthy before making a commitment, the personalized big data helps us with that. On the other hand that personalized big data can also accomplish a great result. Where supply and demand come together on a much more personal level. There is always someone in your neighbourhood who can help you with whatever you need at any given moment. Public data collections will help finding them, something that is impossible without. 71

Anonymous Togetherness

conce pt & Ruud v IMAGES BY an Doo rn

As a consumer society, we like to throw products away that are still usable. Instead of putting them in garbage bags, we like to put them on the street, next to the typical grey bags. They are for whoever comes along, for whoever feels free to take the products with them. Anonymous, selfless sharing. Products with your user history get a new meaning in someone elses house.

expert interview

interview & text by joyce kor tbeek

TRAnsition

Pieter van de Glind is the cofounder of ShareNL, a Dutch collaborative consumption platform focused on the sharing economy. This new movement is what leads us to a shift of individual ownership to a culture of sharing. Thanks to the technology a more traditional way of living will comeback in the society.

Where is your interest in the sharing economy coming from? “During my Sustainable Development studies at the University of Utrecht, one of my teachers suggested to watch a TED presentation every evening. TED is a non-profit organisation, focused on spreading ideas worth mentioning. In short, gaining inspiration in the field of business and sustainability. In one of the clips, Rachel Botsman gave a presentation that made a very deep impression on me. She is a global thought-leader on the power of collaboration and sharing through digital technologies to transform the way we live, work and consume. Her talk convinced me to actually act upon this interest. Botsman book ‘’What’s mine is yours’’ fuelled this intention even more, by clearly underlining her vision that trust is the key factor in order to be successful in an industry or movement. As a result, I decided to write my master thesis about identifying the motives of Dutch collaborative consumers. At the same time I co-found ShareNL with Harmen van Sprang.”

How did you come up with your business idea for ShareNL? “Six sharing platforms figured out that whatever you are sharing, you’ve got the same challenges. Put it simply, when you start a business in the sharing economy you always face the chicken-egg problem, which is a problem that a lot of start-ups faced, like 82

Airbnb, Peerby and Uber. To take the latter as an example, you obviously need a driver with a car and a customer in order to create a transaction. However, in order to grow you platform you need both parties from the start, which is a major challenge. In addition, Uber has to comply with government regulations, since it’s active in an industry that is not known for its innovation power. Therefore, its current players won’t welcome Uber with open arms and try to convince their customers that Uber is not here to stay. However, Uber’s early adopters are tech savvy people, who are eager to try out new services. Once these early adopters share their experiences with their peers’ offline and online, Uber becomes trustworthy. In short, you have to ensure that a critical mass is created and that you gain a trustworthy perception from the start. This need for trust made us aware that we should become a hub that links all stakeholders. Established business, start-ups, governmental institutions, universities, media etc. We aim to be the linking pin for all the stakeholders of the sharing economy.”

Can you elaborate on how you’re acting as a ‘linking pin’? “ShareNL is still developing its online knowledge platform, which should be supported by our

knowledge-sharing events. The topics of these events might vary from finance to legal issues. Our current events are four-yearly and focused on start-ups in the sharing economy. However, we would like to create more depth in these events by adding the earlier mentioned topics. We also involved Rachel Botsman, who did an online seminar about trust. With these events we also generate revenue, by asking a small fee. Aside from arranging talks, our events also embed Q&A sessions. These sessions provided us with the necessary insights to write our new book ‘Share’, on why the sharing economy is the future. After we published this book, we aim to expand ShareNL as a knowledge network together with various professors.”

What is the reason you think the sharing economy is booming nowadays? “Instead of what everyone thinks, the main reason is technology and not the economic crisis. Technology developed fast over the past decades. The economic crisis made the majority aware of the benefits of the sharing economy and the willingness to actually try out and come up with more creative solutions. Indeed, we lost our trust in the financial institutions and the government. Therefore we want to design our own rules and figure it out together. For example, people are even helping each other with mortgages due to the high rates. People participate in the sharing economy for a variety of reasons. Whereas, person A is solely interested in the financial advantages, is person B motivated by social needs – the need to contribute to the community and helping other people. Never underestimate the social needs of a human beings, this is a high motivator for platform users. In addition, technology makes it easy to access on a daily basis. Back in the days when you needed a drill just for a day you had to pin a free advertisement on the bulletin board at the supermarket. The sharing economy is all about having access to products and services instead of owning them.

Name: Pieter van de Glind

“The century of communities”

occupation:

Co-founder ShareNL, Passionate about the sharing economy

You can easily access a car without owning one. The sharing economy is not solely a solution during an economic crisis, it more than just a transition. It is changing human behaviour.”

working conditions and unions. The risk we take with embracing the sharing economy is that this will shift. There is a high risk that jobs will disappear and people will pay their bills with for example providing their homes to Airbnb.

can create in the sharing economy as well, because Peerby can become an owner of all the household goods and SnappCar of all the cars. Platforms can be used everywhere, but we have to make sure that goods will stay local owned.

A permanent contract will be an illusion and more people will start their own company. You can blame the big guys, as Airbnb and Uber, for the cons of the sharing economy because of their greatness and popularity following the rules is hard to control and easy to abuse.

It’s all about the power of the crowd instead of leaving it to government and brands. Businesses have to go back to their roots to succeed in the sharing economy. When I was writing my master thesis, I research reciprocity; there is no rational way of explaining. A lot of the sharing platforms are not about money, you can share for free. But when that someone gives me something, which I need at that moment, I’m more willing to give back, even if you don’t really know that person. This doesn’t exist in current economic models, but a lot of cultures used to live like this for a very long time. Going back to that state wouldn’t be a solution, because money is not always a bad thing. Sometimes we have to look from a different perspective the economic perspective. Actually the only thing we need to succeed this new way of living is trust and making strangers, less unknown.”

What kind of change will you see in our behaviour? “Status was derived from materialistic belongings (money, cars, houses) whereas it is currently derived from our talents and experiences. This is a huge contrast with the perception of several years ago. Back then, most people were sceptic about sharing their home or car. However, in the years that have been passed, the sharing economy grew bit by bit. Embracing the sharing economy will start by the youngsters, they seem to want to live a more traditional lifestyle, away from mass-consumption and a need of going back to a basic and simpler life. So to fulfil those wishes, we need technology, which is what will connect you with other people. It’s not about sharing your own story; it’s about the contact with one other and the things that you want to share. From my opinion this will be the century of communities. There will be a systematic growth of local connected groups, providing their own necessity of life such in food, recreation and clothes. The next generation will create the most beautiful sharing initiatives; they have the drive and the knowledge of the technology to take this movement to the next level. They will search for ways to balance the online and offline world and will see value in different things then we do now. Education has to change; it shouldn’t be about those forced workgroups where half of the students don’t feel the need of collaborating. It’s about thriving the individual in a group. You can have a plan on your own, but you’ll figure out that if you really want something, you have to work together to succeed your plan. If you know what you want you can embrace yourself using other people.”

What are the big cons of the sharing economy? “We fought almost a whole century for good 84

Every platform works with data. In short, you leave a review on their website about the accommodation, at the same time they will review you as a customer. That’s data and that will be one of the biggest challenges of those platforms. Eventually the law will require, that every individual can take care of their own data, therefore you can use your data for every platform you want. For example, you have your money at a saving account by one particular bank and the bank requires that you can spent that money only with their partners. No one will approve, but at the moment that’s what happening with our data. But mind you, some changes will take a while.”

“You have to gain a trustworth perception from the start” What’s your vision about the sharing economy in 2030? In 2030 the sharing economy is a commonplace, then we don’t own products and services anymore but have access to them. But who owns what then? Facebook now has a monopoly of all the social data and Google of all the knowledge. The German government is worried, as they want to achieve openness of Google. If Google wants they can influence us in everything. That’s something you 85

Togetherness is finding new ways of trust

tex Samant t by ha Sow

New business models are popping up all the time irono

In former days we were used to share our belongings with each other, but because of the welfare state this disappeared. Then the Internet came up and turned out to be a revolution. Now upcoming swapping sites give us the chance to let us borrow a drill or let us pick up a meal from our neighbour across the corner who we’ve actually never met. Sharing makes us realize that it is no longer about money, but more about trust and reputation. Now, more than ever, companies need to anticipate on this trend.

Social media are changing our everyday live

The revolution has changed our wants and needs

All across the globe the digital revolution is redefining the concept of connecting. It is bringing us a wide range of social media platforms to share just about any source between private and business relations. Whether it’s a car to travel with, a couch to sleep on, or food to eat. Furthermore, social media help us to solve many difficulties at any place, at any time.

The financial crises of 2008 initiated a wide variety of trends on a human level including the need to share. Consumers were looking for alternatives to reduce their costs. We’ve moved from a culture of ownership towards a culture of sharing. But the real magic and the secret source behind collaborative consumption marketplaces like Airbnb isn’t the inventory or the money. It’s using the power of technology to build trust between strangers.1

This has led to a new dynamic social environment where togetherness has won the day. It combines individual contributions with community-based actions and experiences: a social spin to our everyday life.

It has facilitates the upcoming start-up’s to become a member of the sharing economy. By owning less and sharing more, trust is the new currency and is becoming more important than money.

The peer-to-peer (P2P) economy is a result of the economic crises that made our consumer more aware of sustainability. This state of mind initiated the commercial complement of the popular swapping and donation networks, where the consumer becomes the provider. A great example is the much-discussed start-up Airbnb, hospitality leader with a global community marketplace that connects travellers who are looking for unique accommodations and places to stay. Their new symbol, Bélo, is a universal symbol that represents the urge of their community to belong.2 Airbnb’s shared vision of belonging is now the common thread that shapes the brand, with for example a platform that reflects your feedback. It is is one of the world’s most popular start-up’s that has established a community by sharing their most personal belonging: your private home.

“At a time when new technologies have made it easier to keep each other at a distance, you’re using them to bring people together.’’ Brian Chesky founder of Airbnb

Another example is CANHAV, a platform that connect people who want to swap a service or a good. Where trading became too complicated, money has made it easy again.3 Nevertheless, the restriction of money is that you can only spend it when you earned it. Swapping is a new way to do business and it can be more direct and attractive because it’s a fast way to connect with a person who can actually offer a service to you. Bart

ter Steege, co-founder of CANHAV: ‘’Bartering provides many benefits, but finding someone to swap with is not easy at all. By using the power of online matching we want to make business swapping more simple and suitable.’’4 Again, technology functions as a call to action: the Internet makes searching for connections and a 1-on-1 match faster, better and, most importantly, by combining the use of money with barter there is more economic traffic. Both parties in the transaction win, and it’s less wasteful. On a smaller level, locals start to create different types of exchange boxes in their backyard, such as the ‘minibieb’ (The little free library). It looks like a mailbox, but instead it is filled with books. This little but effective initiative can start by one person with an idea and, before you know it, everyone can share his or her books with one other. The ‘minibieb’ is built on good faith. This works, because as the social creatures that we are, we like the fact that we can trust each other.5 87

The sharing economy is a fundamental change in what you think and feel These different examples are representing the sharing economy in several forms. Sharing is an important aspect that has to be included in a modern company structure. We want more of everything but at one point there will be nothing left. Therefor the Netherlands is in need of a strong social enterprise sector. By combining an innovating mind-set and social awareness, we are able to reach out and contribute in a new dynamic and cohere society by starting new initiatives.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Digital tools and online platforms are providing arsenal for this revolution in a way that would not have been possible a mere decade ago, bridging the virtual with the physical.â&#x20AC;? Maria Popova.6

Weaving togetherness as the red threat trough your company structure, will build the confidence with your consumer. We have to change into thinkers of the future, all with the same goal, to make the world more beautiful.

Utopia by Antoine Corbineau

expert interview

fashions new hero

interview & text by Natasa Cv jetkovic

Three years ago, the idea for LENA the fashion library was born. The four girls behind the project decided to create a concept where people could come together, share information and learn more about clothing and sustainability. This fall, LENA is opening her doors in the centre of Amsterdam and welcoming everyone to be a part of this sharing fashion experience. Suzanne Smulders (one of the four creators of LENA) and I met on a sunny morning in one of the hipster-proof cafés in Amsterdam. While she was drinking her organic lemon and ginger tea, we talked about the development of her new sharing concept within the world of clothing; LENA the fashion library. She was wearing a black, timeless dress and a small necklace that seemed to have a certain personal value. Elegant and effortless, yet simultaneously strong and unique. Exactly like LENA should be.

What is your personal connection to this sharing trend? “The idea of sharing is practical and social at the same time. A while ago, I bought a sofa online and had to pick it up. I don’t own a car, so I rented one via Snapcar. I once had a dinner party, but I didn’t have enough chairs, so I borrowed some from my neighbours. My friends and I also have been swapping clothes for years and I simply love this idea of sharing and being together through clothing. These small things make life more fun and also keep the planet more beautiful.”

Where did this passion for sustainability come from? “For me, personally, it was during my studies at 90

the Amsterdam Fashion Institute. I was always interested in fashion and loved clothing, but during my years at this school I realised what kind of industry we were working in. Everything is eventually about money, money and money. I did not like that at all, because I felt like we kept ruining the planet for it. When I was still in school, we did not focus on sustainability yet and how we could improve this in the world of fashion. That was the moment when I developed this passion for helping and caring about the world, having less waste. I’m working with the girls from Doortje Vintage, a vintage web-shop that has been around for eight years. They always have been into sustainability and that is how the idea for LENA resulted in a natural way for us. We realised that we all have large closets filled with many clothes, but we still end up thinking we don’t have anything to wear in the morning. With this idea in mind, we figured we could share these full closets as well.”

How is LENA going to work in reality? “LENA is going to open her doors this fall. We will be working with a point-system. If you enter with our lowest subscription, which is 19,95 per

month, you will get a hundred points. For example, a dress would ‘cost’ fifty points, a coat a hundred points and a top would be around 25 points. You can always have clothing worth the amount of a hundred points. For instance, you could choose to rent two dresses every week or you can rent one coat for three months. It depends on what you want. We still have to see how everything is going to work out, because there are always things you don’t consider when you are developing the concept. Therefore, we want to open as soon as possible, so we can start testing the platform. We want to see how people are going to react and behave, how they will return the clothes and in on which level we can trust each other. By trial and error, we want to make the concept better and stronger. Right now, we know that the process of washing all the clothes and repairing them will cost us a lot of money. However, maybe people will get do things like these themselves. In that case, we will have to do less than expected. To see how this will develop, we just need to make a start.”

The costs of opening a fashion library are rather high and the subscriptions are quite low (around twenty euros per month). How will this company stay sustainable for a longer period? “At the moment, we are working on trying to find ways to do this. We have to make money to keep going, but money is not our primary goal. Our goal is to make people aware of the waste in the fashion industry, to connect people and to turn sustainable fashion into the norm. We don’t want to advertise LENA as a platform that is better for the planet and exceptionally green. We want to make this lifestyle more known for all. It should become a part of your life, not just a trend that will come and go. In the beginning we will also sell clothing and this will result in a large part of our income. It will take some time for people to get used to this idea of sharing and renting clothing, so we will combine it with selling in the beginning.”

The four women behind LENA the fashion library in Doortje Vintage in Eindhoven. Suzanne Smulders, Angela, Diana and Elisa Jansen.

Name:

LENA, The Fashion Library Opening their doors this fall

“Our goal is to make people aware of the waste, to connect people and to turn sustainable fashion into something normal” Company:

At LENA you can share clothing, participate in events and get inspired by sustainability.

What makes you different from other websites or shops where you can rent or buy vintage clothing? “A lot of websites where you can rent clothing (such as Bag Borrow Or Steal or Rent The Runway) are focussing on high end clothing. We are focusing on the middle segment, because there is simply not a lot of choice in this segment. We strive for good quality, but we don’t want to work with the high-end prices. Next to that, a lot vintage clothing shops like Zipper and Episode simply throw bags of old, smelly garments into their shop. This results in the negative connotations people tend to have with vintage or second hand clothes. People connect this dirty feel to them, which isn’t true. At Doortje, we wash and iron everything and we are planning on doing this with LENA as well. It’s vintage and second hand on a different level, the concept just needs to be fresh and new.”

How do you hope to convince people? “Our main target group already has a passion for sustainability and clothing on a certain degree, but we mainly try to reach people through events. At the moment we are already going to events to talk about this new project and to get people excited about LENA. In the future we would like to organise events where we can do workshops for the enthusiasts. It is important that we don’t point a finger, we don’t want to tell people “this is how you are supposed to do it!”. We want to inspire them. Hopefully we will do this by branding our platform in such a way it becomes something cool and that people just want to be part of.” In case you want to contribute to LENA, or if you are interested in more practical information, go to lena-library.com.

Their vulnerability is close to you. Their trust a vulnerability. 94

conce pt & Nikki N image By eerve ns

The (Un)social Doubt It is in our nature to be critical and question things, but is it in our nature to strive for togetherness? We are in a constant doubt whether we are better off as individuals or if we need certain fellowship to survive. Is this feeling something marketing teams and media gods have made us believe, or does this go beyond the trend? It is a human desire to be part of the group, to belong to the herd. Although, there is an endless doubt whether this is essential or not. 98

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collaboration of icons Creating new innovative patterns with existing ones. I constantly ask myself the question: How would the world look like ifâ&#x20AC;Ś? It is about changes in society.

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text an d Justin R Image by ahanto knam

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Airless

conce pt & Samm Image by y Moo nen

Togetherness is something untouchable, that can evoke counter feelings. Being suffocated by solidarity. Wanting to be isolated from society. Unable to breathe, gasping and grasping for air. With fingers slowly slipping away.

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text & im a by irena ges krajnc

TOGETHERNESS: A MYTH CONCEALING OUR INDIVIDUALISTIC NATURE

In recent years the concept and practice of sharing resources has grown enormously, forming what we now know as the sharing economy. The trend of togetherness is rising. Ideas on sharing, giving and swapping are booming and brands are building their concepts on it. If we look around us, we only see heads looking down, staring at screens. Ears are covered with headphones while we are listening to everything but what’s happening around us. The trend of togetherness is a myth created by individuals and followed by corporations, concealing our current individualistic nature charmed by technology.

INDIVIDUALISM IN THE MODERN ERA

SOCIAL ISOLATION

The hedonistic times of the nineties, when ownership and individualism were king, are long gone. We are in the midst of a new kind of devotion; an era when a generation of digital natives are collectively worshipping at the altar of themselves.1 Individualism nowadays is less about forming our own individual personality. It’s more about being occupied with how we portray and show that personality, by carefully curating what we post (and do not post) online. We now have a way of subsuming individual identity, developing a false persona, or maybe even loosing our identity altogether.2

Even though individualism in the past has encouraged people to realize their potential, it has not evoked the right things in them. Individualism has had such an unopposed run that we do not remember what it was like to feel part of something greater than ourselves, outside of the acceptable places where collective expression was approved of.3 Shared visions and ideals gave way to selfishness. Then the Internet happened. It seemed as if we were part of something greater, grander, and more diverse than anything that we have ever had. Internet technology created a mode of social organization, which encourages formation of online social communities, sharing and following – all considered to be expressions of togetherness. However, the explosion of social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs isolate people. Particularly the younger generation, immersed in digital social networks, often avoid face-to-face

Modern technology provides space for the emergence of the new state of self, split between the screen and physical real. The individual of today is not just focused on itself but mostly shuts others out. 112

communication. They are stuck in a virtual world, isolated in their own head. As the contact that was formerly achieved by communicating with people in real life it has now shifted to e-communication. They are less engaged in society, less involved in actual communities.

THE MYTH OF TOGETHERNESS The amount of devices is way more than people communicate. A survey of US adult smartphone owners in 2012 found that 63% of female respondents and 73% of male respondents don’t go an hour without checking their phone and it’s predicted to increase each year.4 We are constantly interacting online while we distance ourselves from as much social interaction in real life as possible. We notice modern technology is making us isolate ourselves more and more, living our lives from behind screens, sharing our good moments and leaving out the less pleasant. Being constantly engaged online makes us feel tired. We avoid seeing people in real life as we’ve seen, read and heard enough already. Apps using GPS with a

location-sharing feature were first created to show us where friends are located and potentially lead us to joining them. However, apps such as Hell Is Other People and Cloak that have appeared in the market lately have been developed to help us avoid them. Eenmaal, a temporary restaurant in Amsterdam that claims to be the world’s first restaurant catering purely to solo diners has been opened earlier this year. According to its founder Marina Van Goor it gives people a chance to disconnect for a while in our hyper-connected world. 5 With the rise of individualism and the decline of collectivist ideologies contemporary people are facing shallower relationships6. This is expressed in cultural values and also reflected in how we perceive togetherness. Sharing is the most important lesson we learn as kids - but by the time we grow up, we forget how to share.7 More and more we seem to share when we have enough. We give away what we don’t need anymore. It appears we are only participating if there’s something in it for us. Online time is starting to exceed time

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spent on social activities in real life. And while we see movements, ideas trying to emphasize the importance of communities we see people trying to escape even more.

A VILLAIN IN DISGUISE The trend of togetherness is like a villain in disguise, making it appear as if human race returned to caring and being selfless. If we examine the trend appearance properly, we sadly notice that it’s not the fight for a collective culture that made the sharing economy boom, but rather the recession we’ve been facing in the past decade. Togetherness is nowadays loosing its credibility. Sharing isn’t simply caring anymore; it’s becoming an alienated system.8 One that proves a thing such as a collective mind-set can be made use of and marketed when the need for it appears. The vision of most companies using the collaborative 114

consumption as a base of their concept stops way before “sharing” and “collaboration”. It could even be something other than just marketing buzzwords. 9 Togetherness doesn’t seem to be an act of selflessness any more but rather just one of the new ways to get more for our individualistic selves. People who are sharing for the wellbeing of fellow peers have always done that and always will, it being a trend or not. Whilst the ones sharing because the economy put them to it might quite quickly let loose of it as soon as there is a chance for it. If we once again all have enough capital in order to afford possessing everything, including the things we don’t need or use, would we really still consider sharing it with strangers?

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Transition of attitude The traditional capitalistic view has forced society into a corset of individualism and self-containment. The depillarization of the sixties and increasing prosperity has caused us to lose sight with the importance of community. We have slowly turned into ourselves, leaving less room for collectivism. The rise of the sharing economy brings a renewed belief in the importance of community. A transition of attitude. A shift from our individualistic point of view to a collective society.

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e by t & Imag p e c n o c k Daan Ba

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Together we / I stand strong

text Tessa by De Jon g

Lidewij Edelkoort is the queen of picturing the future. In Zomergasten, a Dutch television show, Edelkoort states that we are facing and becoming a part of an emerging ‘WE’ society. Edelkoort does not only say we are facing the ‘WE’ society, but she also states that the egocentric ‘I’ society is already over. 1 After many years of capitalism, we notice that there is a group of people who want to escape this superficial, money-minded direction. We were used to consuming endlessly without any consequences, but those times are over. 2013 was the year in which serious structural problems in global capitalism became impossible for even its winners to ignore.2 There is a growing awareness and we have to change our behaviour because of economical, environmental and social issues. We live in postmodern times. Developing the individual and the self used to be a key determinant 3, but now the collective, and being part of this collective, makes its way to importance. The world that has been designed in the past, clashes slowly with the way we are re-inventing it today.

Facilitate the ‘WE’ hunger Words like connecting, sharing, exchanging, uniting, co-creation, participation and collaboration are becoming key terms of our current society, according to international newspapers like the New York Times and the Guardian. Trend watching companies like Second Sight underpin this 118

movement as well. New companies are popping up to facilitate the consumers new ‘WE’ hunger, and we see this mindset changing on all levels of daily life: businesses, education, politics, public streets, health care, but also within creative branches such as arts, fashion and technology. It is all about access and sharing ideas, instead of the ownership of products. This new ‘WE’ society manifests in different places over the world, and the possibilities of this ‘WE’ centred mindset, seem endless.

Connecting with others One important factor within this context, is the Internet. Thanks to the web, people across the globe can weave together ideas to create unique stories, businesses, and much more. The Internet facilitates collaboration in a way which has never been possible before.4 Connecting with others breaks us free from the static system in which we became less dependent of the state and started depending more on other civilians. Another important factor of this emerging ‘WE’ society is the economic crisis. We have to find new solutions to organise our lives differently than before.

Being part of the collective - Spencer Tunick – This is paper

‘WE’ initiatives Brands also participate upon this changing mindset of consumers. Collaborations are gaining popularity in all different forms. We see brands collaborating with other brands, but also with other industries. The collaboration between Levi’s and MOCA (The Museum of Contemporary Art) is a good example of bringing two different industries together. Together they create a collection and organise a seminar which helps the museum with their educational mission, and brings contemporary art education to schools, families and young people. Another example of uniting small businesses, is Berlin Showroom. Berlin Showroom is a company which showcases a carefully curated group of German designers, ranging from emerging talents to already well-known and established designers, which all present their work together at Fashion Weeks, all over the world. Instead of doing everything on their own, they unite and stand strong together, to represent themselves as a group outside of Berlin. Next to businesses, citizens also come up with a lot of new initiatives concerning this ‘WE’ topic. Exchanging ideas, beliefs and dreams is more important than ever. A very interesting example is the urban running crew movement. It started with one running

crew in the world, and turned into a worldwide phenomenon in metropolitan cities like New York City, Copenhagen, London, Amsterdam and Rio de Janeiro: “Running crew members are uniquely situated at the intersection of sport, culture and fashion. DJ’s run with photographers, next to artists and street wear designers, wherein cultural trends are explored through the lens of athletics. The marriage of the sport and fashion is seamless because, for them, running is a lifestyle”. 5 We also see other developments where citizens can share their urban lifestyles. There is room for initiatives to make the world a better place, and green and healthy visions are important. Different neighbourhoods within big cities come together with the idea that fate is in their own hands, so they become more independent from big multinationals and the government.

New values of life We can say that, as an individual, being part of different kinds of collectives shows us new value and gives status to our lives. Having the most possessions is not interesting anymore, being part of the most collectives is. In this case, we can say that the world is heading to a very positive direction. People care, share, exchange and participate in different collectives for the greater 119

Individual Enrichmentt – Synchrodogs - This is paper

good. But do we really want to make the world a better place or does identity construction play a big role within this movement? How can we shift from postmodern times, in which there is a focus on the constantly changing self and individual, to a society where the ‘WE’ is more important than the ‘I’? Is this movement part of placing ourselves within society and send the world the message that we care? Maybe there is more behind this movement than we think. According to Bob van Leeuwen, Dutch trend manager for Interpolis, people are aware of the power they have nowadays.6 The difference between the era of ‘I’ and ‘WE’ is that in order to get to climb the top of the Maslow Pyramid, we are not depending on the government, but we are dependent on the collective.7 The more we add, the more we get back. In this way, the ‘WE’ society takes another direction and shows us a complicated paradox: is this era really about others or do we use these ‘WE’ initiatives to get the most out of it as individuals? This leads us to the question: how ‘WE’ centred are we really these days? 120

Ego- Collective If we look at the examples, identity construction plays an important role within this movement. For the brands, it is obvious that they use each other to strengthen their own identity. Both Levi’s as MOCA use each other’s network and connect their status within their own business. Berlin Showroom uses the representation of the group to strengthen the identity of the individual designers as well. If we take a look at the initiatives at a more personal level, like the running crews and neighbourhood developments, we can also analyse them in the same way. Participation within these concepts, means giving meaning to ourselves and placing ourselves within society. We can say that this emerging ‘WE’ society is part of an Ego-Collective: we participate in certain collectives to strengthen our individual identity and status within society. With this article, we can conclude this century is not all about ‘WE’, but foremost about ‘I’. We need others to stand strong individually, and become aware of status being dependent from all the different collectives we are part of. 121

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Together aloneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Having social encounters through screens. Shutting ourselves off in order to connect. Our social sense is shredded; we can feel perfectly together when, in fact, we are completely alone.

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conce p Gerdie t & Image b y n van Halte ren

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kingdom of isolation

concept & image By Irena kra jnc

A narrative of the contemporary jaded

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about yourself?

Figure 1. (2014)

Sharing is caring

Robin

text b y van de r

After the economic crisis, where we lived in an uncertain environment of people losing their jobs, assets and lifestyles, innovative mind-sets are created and people start to gather. Different developments such as co-creating, sharing and swapping services and goods are results from these economic and social changes. They form a new type of economy: the ‘Sharing Economy’. This is a socio-economic system generated around the act of sharing products and services between human beings. Many initiatives are created out of this mind-set.

The rise of the Sharing Economy One of the sub-trends that has been evolving from the Sharing Economy is ‘sharification’. The idea behind this trend is that the more you share, the more you have. The first move within this trend from buying to sharing- started several years ago by means of downloading and streaming music online. After that, people started sharing personal data on social media. This developed even further into the creation of online platforms, which we see now. Platforms that make it possible to share both tangible products as well as services offline such as Airbnb, where people can rent a house or room and even find a ‘match’ with the perfect owner of the house via mutual interests1. Then we have Rewear, which is a soon-to-be-launched online community where people can ‘borrow’ designer clothes for a month. Next to these product-focused sharing platforms, there are also initiatives like Taskrabbit; an online platform that offers help in your neighbourhood2.

Act of nature Sharification is called a trend, but it is not a new 134

phenomenon. Essentially, sharing is in our human nature. According to the economical utility theory giving someone else something of practical value in the hope that the person someday returns the favour – it makes sense to share3. You share because you wish to get something in return. Before there was Internet, sharing tools with your neighbours was a common deed. Although it can be described as a period of prosperity, the consumption was not as high as it is today. Back then owning expensive assets was a reflection of your wealth. But with the rise of the Internet – living in prosperity and being connected online through email and websites – we lost some of our humanity. People stopped sharing, because there was no need to share anymore, we could purchase whatever we needed, when we needed it. However, due to overconsumption the technological advantages and the decrease of people’s spending power, we started looking for alternatives to fulfil our needs. Owning assets does not equal ‘status’ anymore. The new phenomenon ‘the fear of missing out’ already explains what is important today; experiencing as much as possible. It is not about

what you have, but what you know, whom you know and what you do with this information. “People are looking to buy services discretely when they need them, instead of owning an asset.”4. This comment made by Jeff Miller, the boss of Wheelz explains that having access has more value than owning assets. Furthermore, sharing products or peer-to-peer services is cheaper than owning or buying these. The technological advantages have made it both easier to share and possible for new markets to exist trough the Internet and Apps.

Knowledge equals reputation We come from a society of individualism, where there is a natural need to distinguish ourselves by showing our identities. I agree with Nancy Dixon – researcher and consultant of knowledge management and Professor of Administrative Sciences at The George Washington University

in Washington DC - who explains that knowledge lies close to our identity and that therefore people highly value respect from peers as it generates the feeling of admiration5. A high amount of knowledge builds up to one’s reputation. When someone shares his or her knowledge, the person can get respect or recognition in return. Sharing requires trust, as it can harm one’s status. The creation of trust is another benefit of sharing; where trust is built, meaningful connections can exist. For instance, Peerby, an online community that makes it possible to borrow all kinds of products from your neighbours, can only exist when people are trustworthy. Through online evaluation, a reputation is built, which, if your reputation is good, can lead to new social connections and safety within the neighbourhood. Likewise the more information you have, the more you are able to trust someone. 135

Figure 2. LESS is MORE (2013)

Sharing is caring for you Sharing is done together, but with the intention to help yourself. We want to experience a lot, have access to everything we need; we want to feel part of a community, have meaningful connections and get respect from peers. And mostly we share to build our reputation.

Figure 3. Dysfunctional Objects (2010)

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SELF-DECEPTION

conce pt & Joyce Image by Ko r t b eek

The online world is an illusion of your own life. Sharing has nothing to do with realness and care, but with an ideal, perfect life which we can never achieve offline. We pretend that even the smallest things need a filter before they get noticed.

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expert interview

A MOMENT IN AN EVER CHANGING ECONOMY

interview & text by nikki neev erns

Martijn Arets is the founder of The Crowd Expedition, a company researching the fast moving development of the collaborative economy. As he says himself: ‘You get new insights on daily basis, so it could be that you see things differently now then you would in half a year. That is the beauty of this time.’ Martijn discovered crowd funding with his former project: The Brand Expedition. When he wanted to translate and publish the book of The Brand Expedition he searched for shareholders via crowd funding. This was the start of his interest in the collaborative economy, which is a term for crowd funding, crowdsourcing, sharing economy and co-creation together. So he started The Crowd Expedition, a two-year long journey to explore this economy. The collaborative economy is the economic translation of togetherness. Not everybody is convinced by this economy or by togetherness. We talked about why some people are not cheering for this new development and how we could get them to participate. We also discussed why some media have a negative approach. And finally the beauty of this time: new insights and changes in the collaborative economy.

So we know why you started The Crowd Expedition, but what was your vision when you start this project? “Right now there is a lot happening in the collaborative economy and individuals are organizing themselves. I believe we are at a point in the collaborative economy where a lot is about to happen. Everything you can think of will become reality and I strongly believe that we can get maximal potential out of it by exploring and making an optimal mix of initiatives. This is not just 142

as a hype of the day.”

What is the added value for you to do this expedition with more people? “Well, by yourself you only know that much and you will stay in your own ideas, going round in a vicious circle. Then it is harder to be critical at yourself and to learn. Whereas you are with a group of people you get many valuable insight in different professions. This will broaden your view and get you out of that vicious circle. Next to these reasons it is practical as well, new ideas are accomplished faster, as you have more people working on it. There is only so much media you can read and process a day, more people means more information.”

You stated that doing and trying is just as important as reading about it. Which initiative did you try yourself and really lingered? “The crowdfunding campaigns I did myself, because they were so important and urgent to me. I have put a lot of energy and hours in them, because they made it possible to do what I do now. My experience with BlaBlaCar was interesting as well. With BlaBlaCar you can take hitchhikers with you on your travels. You share the costs of the travel and everyone gets to their destination. I took three people with me to Paris and it was a good experience.

By doing this you figure out what works about a company, and what not. Another good example, which is quite well known at the moment, is UberPOP. They raise questions such as: is what we do legal? And what if you hit someone? Are you insured? This is exactly the reason why you have to try things out yourself and not just read about it, that way you keep your critical approach towards things. At the end of the day, all involved preach to the choir. You have to figure out what works.”

The media is critical towards new developments, such as Uber and AirBnB, why do you think they are often quite negative about it? “The more established media can be a bit narrow minded about new developments. Those media still think of the economy in a traditional way. This makes it hard for them to respond to new developments. Companies such as Uber are doing bold things to open the frontier. They act in a grey area of law and the market protects the traditional companies such as TVA, the central taxi company of Amsterdam. If the media would actually try Uber, instead of being so skeptical, they might actually find it great.”

Do you think the market and the law should change? If so, why? “At the moment the discussion is based on the shift in the taxi branch, but the sharing economy is moving fast and will not stop there. It will probably expand to branches such as couriers, post and pizza delivery. If the laws do not change fast you will get a similar discussion about these branches. The question is: will they accept the hype of the day (so protection the taxi branche, or Uber) or will they look at the bigger picture and think about the total sharing economy? I am very curious about the decision they will make. Another important question I wonder about is whether they will keep an economy where only the providers benefit in (as the traditional economy is shaped)? Or will they look at the benefits for the consumer, as the sharing economy does?”

Name:

Martijn Arets

”You have to try things out yourself and not just read about it. Through this way you keep your critical approach towards things.” occupation:

Founder of The Crowd Expedition

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If the government will change laws it would be possible that jobs will disappear. How do you see the future of these jobs? “It is not a new thing that jobs fade away because of the economy changes. What is new is how fast this is going. Where first the fading of jobs took a generation, it now only takes five till ten years. This raises questions about education, because you follow a course and by the time you graduated your education is almost out dated. I think shortterm changes will be made in the intermediary jobs. Quite some outdated intermediary jobs will fade and intermediary platforms such as Airbnb will take over. Those platforms are more efficient and they work on a larger scale. There are still people working here, so the job of intermediary will not fade, but change.”

You mentioned before that it is good to stay critical. How do you stay critical? “You get new insights on daily basis, so it could be that you see things differently now then you would have half year before. That is the beauty of this time. I do a lot of research and I am not assuming things are true instantly. I also ask for other people’s opinion when I write a blog for example. Through this way you get a lot of valuable information. The most important thing is to have an open-minded approach. At the same this is also important for me. For example, if I would work for ShareNL I could not always be as open as I wanted, as ShareNL builds up a network and represents companies. As you have a relationship with the companies you represent, you cannot be critical openly. With The Crowd Expedition I do not build up relationships. I visit companies for research purposes, this allows me to be fully open minded and critical.”

the amount of choice makes it more attractive to them. If they want to go touring they hire a cabriolet via SnappCar or if they need to move they hire a van. They do not really see the reason of owning a car, if you can hire one for a day with SnappCar, Car2Go or Greenwheels. The use is more important for them then the ownership. There are some people, the older generation that is still a scared to get change. They feel it is their stuff and they are afraid of the risks. I noticed that they are quite reserved, but when they do start by for example lending someone their drill with Peerby, they actually like it and do it more often.”

How do you get people to participate? Mostly, I think it is a matter of time. After a while they will hear a story from their neighbors, friends or family about a positive experience they have had. This makes it more likely that they will try it out themselves. You already see the sharing economy has gain attention and followers, people see the ease and comfort of it more and more. Some people still find the sharing economy a scary concept. If you promote the ease instead of this concept, more people will be willing to participate. When they do, they can see it is efficient, cheaper and easier, which eventually makes them less afraid of the concept.”

What could be another added value to participate in the collaborative economy, except from the ease? “The social value is just as important as the financial part. Take my trip to Paris with some people via BlaBlaCar as an example: I’ve met some great people and saved €120. It differentiates from initiative to initiative whether the social part or the financial part is more important, but I definitely think there is more positive added value to this economy.”

What are your experiences with people’s approach towards the collaborative economy? “Quite open, usually it is the younger generation that has this approach. They recognize the added value and the ease of being part of this economy: 144

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The Art Of Collaboration The act of joining forces often creates a unique process, which leads to impressive projects that define the zeitgeist. Collaborations create advantages, because they combine visions and make them greater together. Lately, we have been seeing this happening in the world of fashion, design, retail, and many more industries. We take a look at the benefits of these partnerships. We explore the creative industry and talk to people who have left their footprints by currating knowledge of others to create something grand. 146

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text Natasa by Cvjetko vic

Collaboration in the New Creative IndustrieS

When it comes to the creative industries, the sky was the limit in the nineties. Architecture and graphic design were fields in which everyone had a valued job. In the past ten years, things changed drastically and it became harder to work in the creative industries then ever. Over the years we gained more creatives and on the other hand we lost a lot of money too. Therefore, the competition is getting so high When it comes to the creative industries, the sky was the limit in the nineties. Architecture and graphic design were fields in which everyone had a valued job. In the past ten years, things changed drastically and it became harder to work in the creative industries then ever. Over the years we gained more creatives and on the other hand we lost a lot of money too. Therefore, the competition is getting so high that designers, architects and writers end up working as baristas in their local cafés. A new time has come and a new way of working is needed. Instead of having a hundred people competing over that one vacancy, it is clear that we need to join forces and figure something out. There are already plenty of collectives and companies that are focussing on this type of togetherness, not letting the way the industry works get to them. A perfect example is Belgrade based design brand Klasa. The name already gives the concept away, since Klasa means class in Serbian. In 2012, ten graduates of the art academy in Belgrade simply could not afford doing what they were educated for. These classmates decided to combine their work and their strengths and started a brand together. Two years later, they have organised a couple of fashion shows, opened a shop in one of the up and coming areas of Belgrade and they have won local awards for their work. They are the embodiment of the idea that together you can achieve great things and have more fun with it as well.

Dutch Collaborations If we take a look at the rest of Europe – in this case The Netherlands – we see concepts like these pop up in a slightly different form. MOAM started out as a graduation project of Martijn Nekoui, and has grown into an acclaimed collective. This year, MOAM announced a special collaboration with HEMA, your typical every-day Dutch chain. Five young designers were given the chance to work commercially and develop their talents in front of a wider audience, which makes it something you don’t see every day. Graduates from ArtEZ, School of the Arts in Arnhem started The Much, Much. This collective exists out of

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eighteen designers, who show their work together and explore new ways of communicating their own message. They gain international attention by traveling to Paris and being photographed by street style photographers from all over the world. Henriette Tilanus and Liselore Frowijn, who won Lichting 2013 and the Frans Molenaar Couture Award 2013, are also part of this group.1

“With this they have developed another type of altruism: you give anonymously, which makes it a very pure form of selflessness’’

Fashion is probably one of the most competitive industries. Seeing young professionals and aficionados working together is definitely something new and inspiring. Looking further at the industries, we can see that not only fashion is developing its social skills. Over the past ten years, creative co-working spaces have been opening their doors everywhere in the world.2 Working from home was not ideal for a lot of freelancers, so sharing offices seemed to be a perfect solution. Of course renting a desk is cheaper then an entire office, but this is merely one of the main reasons for creatives to go for it. These creative spaces allow different and multidisciplinary freelancers to engage, to work together and give feedback for the projects and ideas in the building.

The flip side of getting big Another creative co-working space used to be 3RD Ward in Bushwick. This area in Brooklyn, New York is known to be one of the less expensive artist areas. A thirty thousand square foot art space is used to offer its members space to work on their crafty products. This includes free bikes, coffee and classes offered by teachers from different fields, all in a DIY environment. Due to issues with the landlord, 3RD Ward needed to close its doors in October 2013. Jason Goodman, the man behind this initiative, could not give the members their money back, which led to a disappointed community. People who had paid over three thousand dollars for lifetime memberships, were left in the dark without a proper explanation. From the beginning on, 3RD Ward was a promising

The empty hallways of 3RD Ward in Bushwick.

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idea. Goodman was ambitious and had the idea of opening workspaces all over the world, to turn 3RD Ward into a household name. The way the Brooklyn based 3RD Ward failed was a disappointment to him and the rest of the community. One long-time employee spoke about how 3RD Ward could’ve sustained itself if it would have had one cool location that breaks even and employed just 25 people. ‘That’s never been his [Goodman] goal. His goal’s always been bigger’.3 In a way, this is maybe the danger of unique, creative workspaces. Initially, they start from one quirky idea among friends, but then grow out to be large companies with actual stakeholders. This cannot be forecasted and therefore sometimes deals are not made properly from the beginning. Being an entrepreneur asks for some kind of financial eye, and if this is missing, a large company can go under very quickly.

When it comes to small investments, working together is the solution for the new creative industries. It is companies like kick-starter who prove this, together with other (smaller) creative co-working spaces like 657OSLO and KAPTÁR in Budapest. In an industry where money nowadays actually is an issue, we can state that competing each other out of the market will not get us anywhere. This is about creating new approaches to classic problems. The bottom line is that we need to put ourselves first by not putting ourselves first. To reach certain goals within this industry and to be able to practice what we love and what we studied for, we need to join forces so that our system does not collapse. The system within which we can work and love; because in the end that is what life is all about.

The Klasa collection is designed by ten different designers, but still has the feeling of one brand.

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expert interview

FASHION HERITAGE IN THE DIGITAL AGE

interview & text by charlotte de gier

Ever wanted to discover what people wore during the Industrial Revolution and how this can inspire you and young designers today? In a few months the online platform ModeMuze will launch its website which will offer a look into the large collections of fashion and costumes of seven art museums in the Netherlands. ModeMuze will provide a platform for the museums to showcase its 130.000 pieces that are behind closed doors and in confidential depots and make them available for all who are interested. Mila Ernst, project leader and coordinator for ModeMuze, tells us about the importance of collaboration within fashion heritage and how bringing these rich collections online can enthuse individuals to share their knowledge. How was the idea for ModeMuze constructed? “The idea for ModeMuze is originated from the seven museums with a fashion and costume collection, which are the Amsterdam Museum, Museum Rotterdam, Paleis Het Loo, Fries Museum, Rijksmuseum, Centraal Museum and the Gemeentemuseum The Hague. It was especially the collaboration between the conservators, which dates back ten years ago, that really helped getting this project started. It is quite unique for the museum world that there is such a tight network of equally minded people who all work on the same subject and who share knowledge in a very informal way. If you work together on such a familiar basis, ideas are started in an organic and easy way. The first idea was to create a database for researchers and specialists to enable them to see all the collections of the different museums together. However, quite soon the conservators noticed that the potential 154

for a project such as this could result in a platform where we can pursue the act of sharing knowledge about these collections. This platform is one where we can facilitate this need for not only giving information, but also sharing information. The ModeMuze platform will offer the museums a place to showcase their hidden collections and make them public for everyone.”

How do the museums individually bring something different to the platform? “All the museums have different collections. In some parts they overlap, but mostly they have a lot of diverse pieces in their depots. The city museums collect lots of pieces from the city itself, whilst other museums focus more on a contemporary collection. The Gemeentemuseum The Hague focuses on couture with their collection policy and in the Museum Rotterdam you can find a

lot of Urban Streetwear or Islamic Fashion, which brings something totally different to the platform. All the museums together create a very interesting collection and a form of wealth that offers a broader view on fashion heritage. Naturally this has a strong connection with the specific knowledge of the conservators. For instance, Bianca du Mortier, conservator at the Rijksmuseum, knows a lot about costume history of the Renaissance. Sjouk Hoitsma, curator at the Museum Rotterdam, is currently busy with the acquisition of thirty pairs of sneakers who were donated by the owner of the Hip Hop House in Rotterdam. This requires a totally different type of skillset than what is needed to enrich the collection of for example the Rijksmuseum. It brings something completely new to the table.”

However, not only the conservators and the ModeMuze team will form the platform in the future, ModeMuze also wants to encourage the visitor to share knowledge and participate on the platform. How will ModeMuze curate all these visions? “Yes, that of course is an interesting question and again one we asked ourselves a lot during the last few months. Our point of view is: ModeMuze is the place to share all knowledge on fashion and costume collections that belong to the museums as well as to the private collections. The division between amateurs and professionals in the museum world is not really strict and I personally believe that this is a big advantage. There are professional amateurs who collect pieces for a lifetime. They know so much about a particular subject and they are often very specialized in a certain area. They have a type of knowledge most of the museums do not have. This results in a strong network all the museums maintain with collectors, designers and enthusiasts. These groups are really willing to share and ModeMuze will be a place where they have the ability to do so. The last few months we had a lot of brainstorms on how we are going to facilitate this sharing

Name: Mila Ernst, Modemuze

company:

ModeMuze is an initiative of the Amsterdam Museum, Centraal Museum, Fries Museum, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, Museum Rotterdam, Paleis Het Loo and Rijksmuseum. The ModeMuze platform will offer the museums a place to showcase their fashion and costume collections and make them public for everyone who shares a passion for fashion history. The platform will offer the visitor the possibility to share their own knowledge about fashion history. Mondriaan Fonds, VSBfonds and SNS REAAL Fonds recently offered a contribution for the development of this project. With this contribution ModeMuze can create a platform where 130.000 fashion and costume pieces will be permanently available for all enthusiasts. www.modemuze.tumblr.com www.facebook.com/modemuze info@modemuze.nl

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activity. Are we already going to inform the visitor? What are other successful projects? What are our intentions with this participation and sharing knowledge, what do we really want to achieve? We worked together with a university called the Vrije Universiteit that delegated an Embedded Researcher to study this sharing activity the last few months. She approached three different target groups; young professionals, re-enactors and collectors and asked them what they potentially want to discover and eventually share on a platform as ModeMuze. This gave us the opportunity to look at sharing on a theoretical and a practical level and to find out what these different groups really want and enjoy. The three groups have different point of views on fashion heritage so the outcome was really interesting. It turned out that the needs of these groups are actually closer than we first had in mind. With this information we have the ability to design ModeMuze in such a way that we can utilize the shared input.

“The huge amount of passion that is needed to keep fashion heritage alive is something that is shared among everyone who connects with us.” Foremost, ModeMuze wants to be a platform that allows the museums to display their fashion collections to a wider audience and to give enthusiasts the possibility to share their knowledge about a certain piece. We cannot predict what the platform will look like in a few months, but it is a fun and instructive process to bring the existing knowledge together and to create interesting new links. ModeMuze will place the historical pieces in a new light and give them more background that is not possible in the museums. There are going to be various layers in how you can add information, 156

such as blogposts, comment sections and so on. We want to stimulate the visitor to participate and with those results we are going to develop ModeMuze along the way.”

You also did a collaboration with the Music and Fashion Battle, what was the exact goal for this project for ModeMuze? “Most of the participants in this battle are from MBO schools and often they do not have the opportunity to learn a lot about fashion and costume history. With this collaboration we wanted to present the collections on ModeMuze as a source of inspiration for the young designers. The relation between fashion history and these schools is quite limited, so we want to offer these students this information and make them enthusiastic about this topic. The Music and Fashion Battle also stands for diversity in fashion, which I think is really important. The whole fashion world can be quite standard and general, but these people offer diversity, something ModeMuze wants to achieve with sharing all the different types of collections.”

Fashion history often gets placed in a separate corner; it wouldn’t be accessible for everyone. Do you think ModeMuze can get rid of this ‘difficult’ image and make it more approachable for everyone? “Yes, everyone with a passion for fashion history in any form should feel welcome at the platform. Especially in the blog we try to write articles with a contemporary point of view about certain pieces of the collections. ModeMuze is also shaped by a group of young professionals, who all have different backgrounds within the fashion industry. They work together as a mobile ModeMuze-team and select content for the blogposts and in the future for the platform itself. Because this group is quite young, it brings yet another perspective to the table, which also allows the conservators to look at fashion in new ways. This group makes the platform more approachable, because they do not necessarily have the historical background that is often linked to fashion heritage. At the moment they

are working on a small series about reuse. There is an English designer who uses old military costumes and creates new pieces with the fabric. We try to connect a topic such as this to a blog post about the reuse of parachute fabric after the Second World War. By using these types of associative links we hope that people will also look beyond what they are used to and get inspired. Everything in fashion returns on a certain level because of this on-going and organic process. Costumes can be a great inspiration for designers nowadays and do not only belong in this ‘dusty’ museum image.”

What was for you the most valuable moment in the last few months of ModeMuze? “For ModeMuze it’s great to see that there are so many people in the field who have a lot of enthusiasm for the project, and who are willing to contribute to the platform. The huge amount of passion that is needed to keep fashion heritage alive is something that is shared among everyone who connects with us. It is lovely to see that this sharing activity works. For us it’s challenging to give this a place and a format on the platform, but this shared passion resulted in some beautiful moments for me. It assured me that we could create our own place in this industry and do something that no one else is doing. ModeKern (an initiative to collect the archives of Dutch designers) have some wonderful archives of living designers and they collect objects belonging to pieces we have in our collection. How wonderful would it be if we could connect these archives with the historical pieces from our collections on the platform? The online world has made it possible to bring certain things together that are too far away from each other in the real world. Our platform offers the visitor the whole context and make connections between text, image, video and much more. This shared passion is the power of the project and also the motivation to bring the online and offline worldstogether on the platform.”

Are you planning to translate ModeMuze into an offline project in the future? “The several museums are the best platforms for fashion history when it comes to the offline world. Our goal is to create an online environment where all these collections can come together. In this way the museums have the ability to show their collections to a wider audience, because normally the pieces are stored in depots. On the platform we can make certain connections between all the pieces, something that is not possible without the Internet. There are some lectures in the museums together with the ModeMuze collective, but they were also there in the past. It is great to combine the networks that already exist and to give them a place on the platform. It is interesting that this collaborative feeling already found its place and that the trust between all the different participants shape this project. The museums help each other and create the themes for the website together. Creating something together and deciding which story we want to tell together, without one person really taking charge, I think that is what you can call ‘collaboration 3.0’.”

“Creating something together and deciding which story we want to tell together, without one person taking charge, I think that is what you can call ‘collaboration 3.0.” Is it the plan to bring all the pieces online or is there a certain selection? “Eventually we want to have everything searchable, but that will take some time. There are around 130.000 pieces in our collections and approximately twenty percent of those pieces are photographed and properly stored. When we launch the website we want to place this twenty percent online and during the months 157

after the launch we will add more pieces on the platform. We are also going to work together with Europeana Fashion (an online portal that brings together costume objects from Europe’s most prestigious institutions) and make use of their data and infrastructure. With this collaboration we can also make our collections available for international visitors.”

What is at the moment your biggest challenge?

these are interesting to connect to the platform, because they stimulate people to participate. We do not want to overload people with information, because we want to allow them to also share their knowledge on the platform. We want to connect all the information about the fashion and costume pieces, whether they come from the museum itself, from a student or from you. We want to know what the visitor wants to discover and share, so we can facilitate them in the best way possible.”

“For now, I think the biggest challenge is to bring this form of togetherness within the museums to the public and to stimulate them to also participate in this sharing activity. The more knowledge we get, the more ModeMuze can grow and be a place of inspiration. We try to connect with everyone on social media networks, but how do you make sure that the museums and visitors of the platform are also going to be enthusiastic towards the possible interested? We already took some steps with this issue, but sometimes we still find it difficult to really give ModeMuze a strong brand image. We also need a strong backbone and the various layers to communicate in a clear way.”

What will be the added value of ModeMuze in the fashion and heritage industry? “ModeMuze will be a perfect source for inspiration for everyone who is interested and wants to participate in the world of fashion history, because we are going to share all the existing knowledge in an inspiring way. We really focus on connecting the two worlds together and we are going to utilize all the diverse information that is already here. The fun, the passion and the huge dedication from all the people in the project are the factors what will make this project successful. We do not want to create a huge database of only literature, because that already exists. A couple of years ago we organised an Edit-a-thon with Europeana Fashion where everyone added information about fashion history to the Wikipedia articles. Actions such as 158

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THE CO-CREATED DENIM Collaboration between Clinton James, Denham Service Co. & Repair and Denise Eegerdingk, AMFI Fashion & Branding student. Walking down the trail shows the value of co-creation. A personal story has begun. A wonderful journey through Japanese heritage, with its classic elements and details which make this pair of jeans a unique piece.

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expert interview

Tonton: a new “entertainment” in red light district

interview & text by Wendy Wang

Technology is a bit of a frivolous thing. By definition the term and the industry that it has spawned connotes the endless possibilities in terms of social interaction as well as social isolation. Nonetheless, in the famous Red Light District, the ladies of sin have a new neighbour: The TonTon club. It has already been labelled as ‘The Arcade Hall of Amsterdam’. The shop brings locals and tourist together with nostalgic arcade games such as Mortal Combat, Street Fighters and Pinball machines, while surprising its visitors with game installations using technologies as 3D printing, animated projections and more. The place acts as a bridge between social interaction and technology. Providing a refreshing connotation to the term ‘entertainment’ in the Red light district. Here I catch up with Owner and Co-founder Serdar Tonkas about the true creative vision of TonTon, his view on technologies, interactions and all that falls in between. So why a game hall arcade in the red light district? “About a year and a half ago the City of Amsterdam approached us to come up with a new idea for a new empty venue in the red light district. As game designers we thought; the Wallen is the oldest entertaining district of the world, maybe we can add different layers to the idea of ‘entertainment’ in the red light district. With that as our starting point, me and my partners started The Tonton club in September 2013.”

And what is The Tonton club exactly? “We wanted to create a gaming experience on different levels. We have the classic, oldskool arcade games, iconic carnival game machines and we are always experimenting with new game installations incorporating technologies 166

like 3D printing and projections. For example, we re-constructed a classic copy machine to an animated scanner, that projects still images to the ceiling in moving animation. We always refer our game designs back to the classics; it is the starting principle of all our designs. Define what exactly makes the old so good, its key aesthetics and charm, and then re-position it in today’s environment and see what kind of value and connotation it has for today, and make our own new interpretation of nostalgia.”

What does The Tonton club contribute to the Red light district? “Since last year many Coffee shops have been closed down, and new small business have been opened up in the neighbourhood, such as Metropolitan, the local chocolate deli, Cut

Throat, the old skool barber shop/ espresso bar and Redlight Radio, a local radio station live broadcasting new upcoming Artists from Amsterdam. These small local shops and organisations give character to the neighbourhood. There should be a balance in cultural interaction. People want more authenticity and layers to cultural experience than just walking through the redlight district and checking out the girls behind the windows. I would not want the red-light ladies and coffee shops to disappear at all, they are big part of the Amsterdam culture and they are the signature of red-light district. However, I’m happy to see there are more layers to this historical and unique place in the terms of entertainment. It shows Amsterdam’s charm beyond the prostitution and drugs, because there is much more.”

TonTon Club is celebrating its 1 year anniversary this month. Looking back, is this where you expectedto be 1 year ago? When we first opened, we saw this as an extended show room of our game installations. Being game designers we never thought this to be a running business. We started TonTon through crowd funding on Voordekunst.nl. We made a simple video online, introducing our selves and our idea for the venue. Initially, we set the goal at 7500 euros, but exceeded all expectations and raised over ten thousand euros in just weeks. Just right after the grand opening, Parool had a headline titled: ‘Amsterdam getting its arcade back’. Within weeks all the new papers, media and blogs were writing about us, labelling TonTon as the Arcade hall that Amsterdam should have but never had. So we were labelled as THE game arcade and the emphasis was on the whole video game culture. But we are definitely more than just that. As game designers we experiment with building games and installations. Our initial plan was more adventurous, we didn’t expect to be seen as a video game arcade, but it was a great step to introduce Tonton to the Redlight district and its audience. We definitely want to move more

Name & occupation:

Serdar Tonkas Owner & Co-Founder of TonTon club since 2013.

“ TonTon is our answer to entertainment and interaction in the Red light district”

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towards game design. We needed that familiarity of the classic machines like Mortal Combat and the Pinball machines to introduce ourselves. That’s the first layer, what we are doing now is to get the second layer out there to the audience.”

Is there anything that you want to improve and change within the near future? “Now we are working on some exciting collaborations, new game design. Not to ignore the ‘game arcade’ title, but to take it as a creative starting point and innovate from here. When people come in to play Mortal Combat or Street Fighters we want to add the surprise factor to that familiarity, with new design such as the animation projector or 3D printer. Create the fun interactive local hangout spot that we aimed for.We see people not only enjoying the old skool arcade games and the new games we designed, but we see them having fun with the very old board games like Monopoly and Mikado. That just makes us very happy. Seeing people have fun and interact with each other and become excited about games and playing with each other like back in the days. It’s a funny contrast to see people coming together, having physical interaction playing games together, in the middle of the Red Light District. TonTon is our answer to entertainment and interaction in the Red Light District. That Tonton would become this much of a cool hang out spot is something we definitely never expected. We thought it would serve more as a gallery, where visitors can walk in and check out the installations. In my business plan I made an estimation that the average visitor would stay about 10-15 min, and now the average visitors hangs out for 40-60 min. So in the past year we have been constantly altering the interior, creating more seating areas, expanding the bar space.”

with the city of Amsterdam, to come up with an idea that would attract more locals. The Red Light District has been written off by many locals for many years. It belongs to the tourists, according to many. So that was definitely our intention, to make this neighbourhood for everyone, not just the locals and/or tourists. Create a closer community. I studied sociology, and I was interested in social interactions and how to get people to play and interact with each other. I was always interested in how to offer different alternatives to human interactions. Today most of us interact online through social media and can’t put our phones and computers down, so I was curious how the locals would response to a different type of social interaction. I think we definitely succeeded in introducing a different and alternative form of interaction. The responses have been great.”

So TonTon is about encouraging personal interactions, it brings people together to play and interact like we used to. But as you know in today’s world it is not always the case, how do you feel about the way people interact socially? “I don’t see the digitalised society of today as a bad thing, but as an evolution that we grow towards as a society. For example Snapchat, Skype and all these communication tools that provide us a wider range of reach to connect and share private moments with each other. It’s a social development towards interaction and communication that we can’t avoid. Because of Facebook and Skype, we can communicate and see face to face with our families and close friends in foreign countries, we can stay updated with their life events. To me that is very personal and it makes me feel happy to be able to see my cousins baby pictures. Being socially active online doesn’t have to mean not being personal or genuine.”

I have noticed most visitors are locals, did you expect that they would have such a good response to TonTon? It’s quite hard, since most people out here in the Red Light District are tourists.

Whats your opinion on the new generation alienating themselves from real interaction, caused by technology?

“That was one of the main conditions we agreed on

“Technology helps us to connected with each other,

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I don’t now if we are more or less social because of it, but I do believe we are more connected. That’s why it’s also very exciting and interesting to see what creative designers and engineers in technology are going to come up with in the coming years. To find a bridge between technology and social interaction without eliminating the personal emotional value of social interactions. Companies like Apple are aware of this, there are many apps to enhance the social interaction, not to discard it. Memorable life events are always experienced in real life, technology just gives us the possibilities to share it, relive it. That’s the interactive bridge that we want to focus on, it doesn’t have to be one or the other.”

To those who never been to the TonTon Club, what would you say? “Definitely drop by if you are in the neighbourhood. It’s a fun place to goof around and have a beer; we love to show you our silly experiments and designs.”

“Organisations such as crowd funding are made by people, but made possible through online interaction. They provide opportunities for small businesses like TonTon to reach investors who believe in the concept. Back in the days, it was all up to the big companies and the banks. Technology in this perspective can be considered as the main help for bringing people together, joining forces and helping each other grow. In a way technology and online interactions also create close communities and bring people together.”

Any exciting future plans in terms of technology and new game design that we can expect in the TonTon Club? “More design, experiments and installations! For ADE we are making a digital Vinyl recorder, people can record their own voice, sounds on a Vinyl. We are making a digital version of the Echand-Sketch where multiple people can sketch on the board at the same time. For the upcoming year we want to focus more on the installations and our experiments, and push our creative boundaries to see what we can do. Building the bridge between social interaction and technology. TonTon is our creative showroom; we want to use games to stimulate interaction, not only from a technical perspective but also focus on the emotional and personal values.” 169

expert interview

‘An Interior Is Like A Mirror Of The Soul’

Can that special part always be found in your collaborations?

interview & text by Justin Rahantok nam

Philips, KPN, Sony, Smart, Bruynzeel, Princess and Gamma; just a small selection of brands Jan des Bouvrie collaborated with. With so many experience and success you would expect him to have it all thought-out in advance. What is the key to asuccessful collaboration, according to Jan? How did the collaboration between you and Gelderland come about? “It all started in the furniture shop of my parents. They sold furniture of the company Gelderland, it all went very well. From an early age I started to assemble the collection with my parents. I was already familiar with Gelderland and therefore I knew they have been producing a very nice solid product, and they still do. Decades later, I finally got my own shop in Bussum, the Netherlands. On a Saturday morning, the director Oberman of the firm Gelderland was standing in front of my door. I walked outside and said, ‘Mr. Oberman, come on in.’ To which he replied: ‘No, because you don’t sell Gelderland anymore. Your parents always did so well.’ After a tough altercation of words I managed to invite Mr. Oberman inside for a coffee.” “Mr. Oberman believed I was rude regarding to the collection of Gelderland. I truly believed that the collection was not good enough because Gelderland was too focussed on its old models. Mr. Oberman responded with a proposal; Jan, it is now June and September first we have a furniture fair. 170

“Yes, absolutely not only in my collaborations but also in my circle of friends. I’ve got friends in all classes of society. You should have a diverse group of people around you.”

Why is a general circuit of people so important? “This diversity creates creativity, it gives me energy.” One of my friends, Jaap van Zweden, told me that he conducted a concert in Hong Kong for young talents. They had no time to rehearse. Jaap believed it would be a disaster, however he just let it happen and he felt it. It became one of his greatest concerts because of the energy and he only needed to let it happen. Everything in life is energy. We originate from that energy and we use that energy. All these different characters and locations provide different new energies. “

If you know it better, then you design a sofa and a chair for me that I will exhibit on the fair.”

What is, next to the group, as important for a successful collaboration?

“The big moment was there, 1969; I walked up and down the fair and gathered the courage to go see if my chair and sofa were successful received. You can make something beautiful, but it is only a success if it is sold and paid for. While I passed the corner towards the booth of Gelderland I saw a lot of retailers. It appeared that all the retailers there bought my set. It was a booming success.“ This is how the collaboration between Jan and Gelderland established. And as Jan himself says, “It all started with a conflict.”

“A good base is important in life, and therefore also in a co-operation. You have to be sure that the manufacturer delivers a good quality product and is reliable. They need to know their basics, from this knowledge you can make changes. If you don’t have this base you should look for a company that has, so you can complete each other. Another important condition is that the cooperating company has a sales force. The most important aspect in my opinion, is a good brochure and a clear price list that lets your product shine. The enthusiasm must be visible and tangible. “

Do you start your collaborations more often with fighting? “No, all collaborations I have started have a special side. People who are perfect are boring. When I work with ‘standard’ people I don’t get inspired and excited. Everybody and everything around me needs to have a special side, so that the energy inspires me. You should not only focus on people who are in your own working field, that is boring.”

What do you mean with “you have to know your base”? “For me it’s the masters le Corbusier and Rietveld. I remember when I got my first lesson of Gerrit Rietveld. I showed him my work on which he replied; ‘That looks very good, Jan. But what if you edit everything so it becomes a lot stronger.’ I never felt so down. This got me thinking; ‘we always want things to be more beautiful and to own more things. By going back to the base we get

Name:

Jan des Bouvrie

background:

For Jan des Bouvrie it all started at Rietveld Academy. After he finished Rietveld Academy he opened his own store in Bussum. From here on he did several different collaborations with al kind of companies. His first famous design was the cubic couch. He started his own design studio to deliver a total image. In 1993 he moved his design studio and started the company Het Arsenaal, an all-round shopping experience.

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closer to the essence of our story.’ This base is the beginning of everything, it’s the same in fashion and interior design. Know your materials, this is the basis for both the fashion and interior design. On both of my courses ‘Jan des Bouvrie College and Academy’ material knowledge is a very important aspect.

But what makes one successful? “With this base you now know how to reinvent something. It’s all about being innovative. Nowadays, we live in a time where there are no restrictions. Everything is really accessible. You also see this in the interior. All styles can be combined according to your own vision. This all relates to one thing: the crisis. Crisis is the Greek word for change. Ironically, it is actually is a very good time. In fact everything is saturated. The whole world is restless; natural disasters, religious disasters, you name it. We are looking for ‘new clarity’ in these uncertain times. We need to make innovative things that really matter.”

Can you explain this by using an example? In 1969 I designed my first cube sofa, and interior architect Benno Premsela immediately sold it. Everybody bought that couch and so did fashion designer Frank Govers. One evening I met him in the Koningskabinet in Amsterdam and he said: ‘Angel, that magnificent sofa is beautiful, but the goat wool fabrics on it... Come along with me, I’ll teach you what fabrics are.’ That’s what I mean by knowing your basics. Fashion is by the way the answer to what the future gives. I actually never go to furniture fairs, I go to fashion fairs; that is the place where I see the trends.”

Jan, after so many collaborations with whom would you still want to collaborate? I’m never searching for anything, I run into things. I hope it stays as it is. I’ll see what comes my way, and I’ll grab it with both hands. Actually I have done so all my life.” 172

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Cultural breeding ground, Vugt, Amsterdam

Community Art as a Trend

tex hanne t by ke de g oede

Our creativity gets fuelled in all possible directions. The economic crisis forces us to adapt new ways of thinking. New cultural breeding grounds pop up like mushrooms after the rain. The ‘creative class’ has become a part of urban development.

Art and crisis Art has been separated and excluded from social life for a long period of time and persisted mainly in an autonomous manner. However, in recent years artists tried to connect themselves as well as their arts to the heart of society. According to Roel Griffoen, who is an occasional correspondent for different newspapers, this trend can be viewed as a renewal of urban mapping and culture. Griffoen further states that deprived areas are specifically targeted to create new cultural breeding grounds and cultural hotspots in order to take away the feeling of insecurity people have in these areas, whilst simultaneously flourishing and renewing the neighbourhood; all fitting to the current zeitgeist.

(Getting) together through art ‘Do it yourself’ and ‘do it together’; this might seem contradicting concepts, but that is not necessarily true. If you make your own art, you do it for yourself in the first place. However, if you make art with other people you add an extra dimension 174

to it. Together it becomes better and it becomes more fun. We want to reach out to each other. A new market originated for new ways of working together and new platforms offer the opportunity for people to show what they are able to do. Platforms such as Threadless offer a stage on which young talents can express themselves. Prints that are designed by young talents can be printed on T-shirts and sold worldwide. ‘Everything we do gives you, and all the creative minds in the world, more opportunities to make great art.’ By offering this stage, unknown talents become visible and many people turn out to be able to create art. A new form of art has been developed: community art, which requires a new way of cultural interaction. This cultural transformation comes forth from the desire to live more sustainable, social and ‘fair’. We now live with more awareness and the era of shallowness is slowly disappearing. The needs and desires of humans are changing. Many things could be different and should be improved. Many people want to live their lives differently and take the initiative to do so. We create an interaction in which we attempt to give meaning to our lives

through for example image, language and music in order to communicate with other people. Art is a product of culture, the result of our knowledge and know-how. Community-art stimulates the society to come closer together, to reach out to each other. It is therefore not surprising that more and more community art projects pop up.

Missing socks? Last year there was a community art festival in Rotterdam (ICAF). The ICAF invites both Dutch and foreign artists and art organisations to exhibit their projects. An exemplary project was that of Ut and Anat Shamai, two artists from Israel, where you could deposit your lonely socks and aid these artists in the formation of a mosaic with the purpose of uniting different cultures. The organisation of the festival wanted to fuel the discussion on the development and necessity of community art. Several smaller community art festivals have been spotted in the Netherlands; could we perhaps think

of community art as a trend? According to Finn Minke, the rise of community art does not follow the rules of trends. Minke is the coordinator-practice researcher at Community Arts Lab XL and has been analysing the rise of community art as follows: “the last couple of years, art has become more free and autonomous, but also lonelier. During the transition towards this autonomic state, the bond with society was lost. Humankind has become more individualistic and thus lonelier.” During the last 15 years, both in the domain of arts as well as society itself, the desire for communality was raised. That desire is the foundation of community art. We should always bring lonely socks to get rid of the loneliness!

Thinking out of the box An interesting question is whether or not community art is just for the creative. Most people avoid what is unknown or feels as a threat and are therefore not open-minded towards new experiences. One should dare to take the unknown path and allow unknown thoughts. 175

The Holls, 2013

Individually or collectively, culture brings people together. It is a continuous interplay in the world that surrounds us. Through the promotion of community art in schools and districts you could reach out to a target audience that would normally avoid such projects. However, when these people are targeted in a known environment such as their school, they might participate in the adventure of community art, because the starting point lies within the individual, but gets unleashed through group efforts. Together we know more and together we can do more. ‘The Holls’ is an example of a collective of nine artists, which after graduating started working on both group projects as well as on individual projects. For designing the future, they simply wanted to take matters into own hands. They created their own space where they investigate how to work together when making art. “This way we exceed our individuality and surprise ourselves and the spectator with restrained revolution and unexpected individuality.”

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“Community art stimulates the development of an individual” Making art together “We connect with others to stand strong individually.” Does this mean that the individualism will disappear? You could say that nowadays ‘sharing is the new owning.’ We should become open minded through sharing new experiences. The concept of individualism slowly gets a new definition. It develops advances and discovers itself from within the direct environment, whilst being conscious and respectful towards the environment. The individual becomes enriched with togetherness. Without losing one’s free will, but through sharing the knowledge and emotions individuals can grow. Grow through the strength of the group. Grow by making art together.transition towards this autonomic state, the bond with society was lost. Humankind has become more individualistic and thus lonelier.”

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conce pt & Hanne IMAGES BY ke de G oede

“Sharing is the new owning and depth is the new black.” 178

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expert interview

How is trend forecasting related to art and what does that mean for togetherness?

Given the current, individualistic society, where do you think the emerging trend of Togetherness comes from?

interview & text by ruud van doorn

Steven van den Haak is a young art historian, who studied at the University of Amsterdam. He is the perfect person to interview for his knowledge of art and the relation between art and togetherness. Steven works at Second Sight, an Amsterdam based forecasting company founded by Andrea Wiegman. Steven is best described as an eccentric, but casual dandy. He is sitting outside cafe de Walvis in Amsterdam, his hair is parted on the side, and he is smoking a Gauloise cigarette. He is wearing damaged, black trousers, a secondhand, crinkled Ralph Lauren shirt, and the logo is covered with a distinctive brooch. His outfit is completed with some recently bought Nike Roshe running shoes. He is clearly someone who does not fit in one box.

Your expertise lies within art history, so how did you end up being a forecaster? “I wrote my master thesis about bio-design. It speculates about the future visions of bio-design contents and how we can learn from that. I didn’t want to throw all this knowledge away, so instead of getting a job at a gallery, I looked for a job where I could use my expertise. This is how I ended up at Second Sight. Andrea Wiegman and I think alike, she is a historian. She explains how you can learn to make connections between studies such as history, philosophy and art history. They are very close to each other as you learn explaining causeeffect relationships, which might not be that obvious on first sight. This is a very important feature which you also need in forecasting and trend watching. You see something happening, and how does that 186

fit together with certain events in society? You make those connections and keep an overview on the bigger package, but you also keep an eye on the details. That is what trend watching is about. I learned to analyse historic arts in a very sober way. Thanks to my bachelor and master, I have a huge theoretical database stuck in my head. I use all this knowledge for my research at Second Sight. At the moment I’m working on a project which is directly relatable to my master thesis. I’m practically doing the same, but this time I’m looking at it from a different angle. I’m not looking from a art historians point of view, but I’m looking at how it reflects toward society.”

”It is a reaction towards individualism. I feel that we consciously want to be an individual but unconsciously, or at least less aware, we are trying to fit in a group that we feel connected to. In this way we cannot escape from togetherness. People like to follow each other. If you’re completely idiosyncratic, you will not survive in current society, except for the couple lonely souls, living in cabins in the woods. You need one another, you can’t make it in the world all by yourself. Belonging to a group ensures you to be more individualistic, and that makes you to get together again. For example, if you look at this generation (Y, millennia) and the hipster culture, you see that they are not the unique ones anymore. These young people have formed groups together, and you even see them in places like Kassel, a small town in Germany. You see them in Haarlem, Rotterdam and Den Bosch. It is a global movement, but the Amsterdam-hipster is different from the New Yorkhipster, or even the one from Rotterdam. The thing that connects them all is their style, and their view on the world. I can’t deny that I’m different from them, although I see myself as a unique person. I try not to adapt to my surroundings, in terms of style and taste. However, I caught myself wearing outfits which I could wear to multiple occasions, so I would fit in better. Tonight, for example, I’m going to the City Salon Tracy Metx, a pretty nifty gathering. Afterwards, I’m going to a gay party. I combined my clothing carefully, so I can undo my jacket and look acceptable for both occasions.”

Name: Steven van den Haak

”I feel that we consciously want to be an individual but unconsciously, or at least less aware, we are trying to fit in a group that we feel connected to” occupation:

Art historian, working as a forecaster at Second Sight.

Do you see connections between togetherness and contemporary/historical art? “In art history there have always been collectives. Especially during the 20th century, during the modernism in which progress in cultural and social 187

engagement emerged, artists worked together. Art and society came together, in the 19th century. Everyone who contributed art to exhibitions in the Salon met all the ideals and requirements of the Academy. Artists who didn’t fit the standard, were welcome to exhibit at the Refusés, a space created as a reaction against the Salon for artists refused by the Academy. The difference between the Salon and the Refusés is that the Refusés didn’t work in a collective like the artists in the Salon, they were a protest collective against the Salon. Nowadays, you still have a lot of artists’ collectives. A group of artists can work together on one piece, and subsequently you see they influence each other in their individual work.”

Do you think that art plays a greater role in togetherness than fashion? And what is the difference between them? “These two fields are completely different. The fashion world isn’t secretive about wanting to make profit. In fashion it’s mostly about producing and selling. Artists don’t see themselves as a company and they don’t compare their work to a business model. If an artist would say that he wants to make big money, he will not be respected by his fellow artists. Contemporary artist are homo ludens, they do what they want and sometimes they make a lot of money with it. In fashion, most of what is produced is confection. A lot of people wear the same garments and express their identity with it at the same time. Art on the other hand is more exclusive. In that way, you could say fashion plays a bigger part in togetherness as it connects the people wearing the same garment. However, the art world a group which also feels like a collective. People express themselves through their clothing, more than they do with art. You don’t carry an artwork along with you express yourself. You only see this if you go to someone’s home, and some people don’t even own art. Art brings people together as well. If people share the same vision on a work, there is always 188

room to discuss, which connects. This is partly what the Salon in France was about.”

Do you make use of swapping, sharing, giving or co-creation and why? “In a certain sense. A friend of mine bought a new mirror, and he is incapable of using a drill, nor did he own one. So I helped him with my own drill. I do things like that often in my daily life, not being conscious whether it is sufficient to certain togetherness terms. Everyone does co-creation in employment in some way. At Second Sight, we work together to make a book about 2015 and to present that. However, we curate the book with contributions from people from all over the world. It is kind of a joint venture, because you cannot predict the future on your own.”

Do you expect there will be a reaction against togetherness, as it is a reaction against individualism? “I think the economy is one of the main driving forces behind these changes. There used to be an upper, middle and lower class but all of this is shifting. There is a parallel system of classes of people who work for contracts in an office and freelancers who work for different projects and thus have a variably income. For freelancers, it is very important to work together, they depend on togetherness. Think of a lot of co-creation, passing jobs, connecting with the right people, swap, share to get to the right person and the right profitable assignments. The economic model, the social capitalism, will not change quickly in the near future. It gives people the option to find their own way to earn a living. When you get together, you are stronger, even as an individual freelancer. It is like sinusoid, reaction to reaction. It is certain that when a trend reaches its peak, we can always expect a counter reaction. The way we put these in context, is my job.”

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expert interview

asbjørn jørgensen the cloakroom

I read a lot about you and you business and a lot of places you are mentioned as a “consumer-centric” fashion retailer company. What does that mean for you?

interview & tex by Sine lu t nd

Consumer-centric marketing happens when a company puts it’s customers is the center of attention rather then sale by creating a positive consumer experience both doing and after a sale. This is exactly what personal shopping service, The Cloakroom does and I talked to coowner Asbjørn Jørgensen about the close relationship they have to their customers and how they made their unique service the key to their success. Asbjørn is not your typically fashionable guy and doesn’t enjoy shopping himself, which is one of the reasons why The Cloakroom was made as a solution to this general problem for men and shopping. The Cloakroom offers a personal shopping service to men that would like some help with their wardrobe without having to leave their home. Men can get the service by filling in an online questionnaire. After that you get assigned a personal shopper who sends a personalized box of outfits for you to choose from and try out in the comfort of your own living room. And all this is done free of charge besides the actual cost of the clothes.

How will you describe the target group that will use a service like The Cloakroom? “I am myself defiantly part of the target group, even though I’m not a big fan of starting a company from my own personal problems. When I started researching and looking into the problem how the general man shop, I saw that mostly men use 190

online shopping for electronics etc. but still went to physical store to shop for clothes. The reason for this is that online clothes-shopping is actually pretty complicated. There is too much to choose from which makes it difficult finding something that suits you and your personality. Our core target audience is men between 30 – 50 years old that have settled down, they are in a relationship and they might have kids. They also have a good job, but lack the time to take a afternoon or a weekend out to go shopping. They are stuck in their routines and are not able to get out of them. So they look for a bit more fun and excitement also in their wardrobe and that’s what we help them with. We provide a personal shopping service tailored to fit your needs and your personality.”

“A lot of retailers, especially online, are very un-personal. You have all the shops, both smaller boutiques and big department stores, where they don’t put a lot of afford in to getting to know the individual customer. We as an online company try to get one step further then the typical store where they might remember your name if you are lucky, by having the same person help you each time you are there. We assign you one personal shopper who stays with you and spends a lot of time getting to know you before they send you any clothing. The personal shopper will spend up to an hour just getting to know you, by looking at the profile you made online, talking to you over the phone, looking at your online media profiles to go into depth and find out what you are really trying to express. They want to learn about your personality and what are you trying to gain from this. This is what we find customer-centric, where there is a one-on-one relationship and not a relationship like you can have with the big retailers that offer the same sort of service to many people at the same time. We really try to personalize it, which means that every box we send out is unique and every conversation is unique. We think this is the way into the future and that is also why we have build a lot of technology around our company with our website and how we communicate with our customers.”

When you hear the word “online-shop” you don’t expect a lot of personal interaction. So why did you choose to make an online-based company? “Of course you can say that we are in the online shop category but in reality we consider ourselves a service provider, especially a service provider of personal shopping. So either we can be described as a personal shopping service or as a styling service for men. We can never compete with the prices or amount of products the big online

Name & occupation:

Asbjørn Jørgensen Co-founder of The Cloakroom

“I like to think of men as creatures. I don’t think men are so different and I think if you ask someone in the capital of Nigeria or someone from Denmark weather they like to go shopping or not they will probably prefer not.” background:

Half Dutch, half Danish origin . Former co-founder & CRO of HelloFresh Netherlands and Ambassador at Startupbootcamp His specialty is mobile & internet technology, business developement and entrepreneurship

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retailers have but we can compete on creating a better experience. We really try to brand ourselves away from those big mainstream online shopping retailers, because we don’t considers ourselves as a shop but a service. Personal shopping is an old concept that is mostly considered something for the rich and famous in the big cities. We use this business model but then also available for the “average Joe”.”

You have grown a lot within the first 2 years. How has you customer feedback been so far? “The beautiful thing is that all the personal shoppers have their own Facebook profile where they can connect with their customers. The biggest surprise from this is that men publicly on Facebook share with their personal shopper how they look after trying on the clothes. They are so happy with it and feel so good that they openly express their new look. We get all sorts of messages like this every week both over Facebook and over e-mail and we talk about them on a monthly basis in a breakfast meeting. For us it is really about what we call “delivering confidence”. We try to deliver confidence to the customer and we call all our customers Ryan Gosling because we want to treat them all like they are superstars.“

You customer doesn’t necessarily ever have to meet the stylist in person. Is having contact through Facebook and e-mail your way of keeping that sense of personal contact to the customer? “Facebook is defiantly a way for us to stay on top of the line. The ways we think about it is that you have a shop where all the commercial activity takes place. And then you have your brand where you try to build your community and try to stay on top and build the relationships. That’s what we have with social media, email and the one-on-one contact with the personal shopper. So that oneon-one relationship out of all the different ways to build a brand is the most important. Social media is sort of the gateway to build these relationships 192

and also to communicate to the customer what The Cloakroom stands for.“

Have you seen a rising trend in companies wanting to get closer to their customers through personal shopping? “There are defiantly big retailers right now that are trying to contact us, or trying to do something similar to what we do. Innovation is also now spreading very quickly which means that there will be more competitors within this business. We really believe that this service slowly is becoming something that is going to be available for a broader mass of people. Even H&M and other big department stores in London offer personal shoppers. But then the man still has to make the effort to go there, make an appointment and then psychically go shopping. We really believe in the idea of having someone going through all the amount of products that there are and finding something specifically for you. We play on the convenience but also give people some inspiration and play on the aspiration trigger, why do you still need to go out into a shop? If we can give you all this and you don’t like to be pulled up and down the main-street every weekend because your girlfriend wants to go shopping then why not use us? Shops are going to stay, but there will be less of them. If you look at the trends then every year there are a lot of shops that are being closed and the amount of commercial real estate for retailing is decreasing rapidly. It has been proven that there has just been too many shops and that is changing very fast.”

Do you think personal shopping is a western phenomenon? Or does it have potential to go global someday? “I like to think of men as creatures. I don’t think men are so different and I think if you ask someone in the capital of Nigeria or someone from Denmark weather they like to go shopping or not they will probably prefer not. In more traditional societies it is mostly the woman then the man who goes

shopping but of course we have to fine-tune the service for different cultures. I do think this can be a global thing, not anytime soon, but if you think long-term the traditional concept of going shopping will change a lot. Right now and in the coming years the market will be in the European union, that is where the money is and where the change is happening right now. Cultures are very different and your business model can stay the same but you have to build your sales formula different in each country.”

Do you see an opportunity to use this kind of service for women as well? “There is already a market for personal shopping for women. Companies in Germany and the US are doing something like this but for women very successfully; they just do it a little bit different. As far as I know it is more about collaboration between the brand and the customer where the customer has more saying in what is sent to them and they like to spend a lot more time expressing who they are what they would like to express. Women are a lot more specific with who they are and what they want in terms of identity.”

What is your future vision for The Cloakroom? “To allow everyone to work remotely as personal shoppers and to be able to offer our service 24/7 to anyone, anywhere, anytime. We would also like to have the company itself as a remote workforce of people who want to do personal shopping no matter where they are in the world. We will use our offices for building physical communities around what we try to do, through events, through training and also to build a media presents to do marketing. But mostly to be able to offer this service 24/7 in real time. Right now you have to wait a bit as a customer so we will really try to make it something that anyone can use and then be instantaneously in contact with a personal shopper when they are online.”

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Fragmented Fruit We are manipulated by perfect images around us. Eventually, imperfection might create more togetherness than a perfect picutue. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Imperfectionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; offers an unfiltered view of reality. It creates a sense of security. The colours. The flavours. It fits. It matches. It connects. con

cept & ima ge hilde luck By er

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expert interview

Social Cohesion through Community Art

interview &t by Sammy ext moonen

Theatre director Natasja d’Armagnac produces theatrical performances that evoke conversation and discussion. One could say that her work is community art avant la lettre. The content of every show is to co-creation with the target group. By bringing different social groups together, she wants to reach an audience that doesn’t relate to theatre at all and to create a wider perspective on the themes she researches.

Natasja is part of the theatre duo Sally & Molly. Natasja manages the artistic direction of the duo. Sally & Molly create performances, on site, often in collaboration with other fields such as healthcare, education and business. They make a series of theatre shows with groundbreaking themes like depression, dementia, sexual violence and addiction. Aid and theatre are being combined: the performances share insights and experiences. They create more empathy for the problem by making the public relate to the subject and next to that to create an attempt to shatter taboos. “It might sounds a bit cheesy but the purpose of my work is to make the world a better place.” “Togetherness is living together, which equals society,” says Natasja. Her performances are all about what occurs in our society. She believes that we only have each other and must care for one other. Whether it’s the bakery on the corner or the Prime Minister, they all must work together and contribute to a strong society. Every person 198

is just as valuable. “Don’t get me wrong, there has to be some sort of control, but I’m pro shared leadership.” According to d’Armagnac the real talent of a designer, director or leader is that they can delegate. She insists to stand up for the weak and the less accepted groups, to give them a platform. “I think we live in a successful and result-oriented society, some people can’t meet that expectation and are left behind.” 10 years ago it all began when Barten Noord, a working class neighbourhood in Den Bosch, became the talk of the town. This area was very poor and disadvantaged but there was a lot of community care. The government planned to destruct the neighbourhood. This caused a lot of commotion, as this neighbourhood took care of each other. Because of this they were forced to separate and move away from each other. “I was very interested in this. As a lot of other people were afraid for it. For example, the media misrepresented the residents. Because of this

I talked to the people of the neighbourhood: I wanted to know what was going on and how they felt.” These interviews, experiences and stories she collected formed the foundation of a performance about the neighbourhood. It was performed in an old abandoned building in the area. She connected the area, the residents and the theatre show and created a platform for the locals who felt misunderstood. The media quickly picked up the show and the public discussion started. The premiere was only for people who really were involved with the problems of their neighbourhood; this was a different audience than she was used to. “It was a very intimate performance, much more interesting than an average theatre audience. The nicest thing about the whole experience was that the audience screamed that they agreed through out the show. They were extremely satisfied with the results of the show.” This is where Natasja started to work with the lower class and make connections with society. Sally & Molly uses theatre to address problems in our society and as a tool to make these problems discussable. To keep the discussion about different subjects going they organize a theatre evening at a pub once a week. “It’s good to give young people a more accessible platform for their talents. It’s important to involve and collaborate with students since I see them as the future”, says Natasja. To work with an accessible approach and lighter themes such as future dreams, it is more within context of the students.

Name:

Natasja d’Armagnac

“Togetherness is living together, what equals society.”

occupation:

Theatre director and part of theatre duo Sally & Molly. She made a series of shows with groundbreaking themes like sexual violence and depression.

The actors in the performances of Sally & Molly usually have experienced the actual problems themselves or witnessed them in their immediate environment. After the performance the audience can share their feedback. “This we process and change in the following shows. For example with ‘Happy People’ a show about depression, we’ve learned it would be better to combine a heavy 199

subject with humour. Otherwise it would become too heavy.” For instance, in one scène from ‘Happy People’ an actress says she no longer wants to live. At a certain point she wants to commit suicide with helium gas. But then she makes up her mind: ‘’What if I call the police and I sound like Donald Duck.’’ That’s the kind of cynicism that Sally & Molly like to use. It’s all about the balance and cooperation between humour and seriousness. Sally and Molly want to create a light environment, where the audience can laugh and cry at the same time.

“It would be good to combine a heavy subject with humor.”

it’s good to ensure that not everyone will stay in his comfort zone, but I think you can better focus on your own talent.” “I do believe in craftsmanship. Everybody needs to develop social skills in order to find partners to work with.” To bundle your strengths with someone else requires a lot of listening, knowledge and flexibility. As director you are a people manager. A project can succeed if everyone is committed to deliver his best. Challenging each other can raise actors to a next level. I’m not very future-oriented but I hope that Sally & Molly becomes a popular platform for young people, who are interested in daily problems. Next to that I hope we can be a stepping stone for young talents and in that way create an added value for our society.’’

Within creative professions: working together is often experienced as positive but it also has its limitations. Creatives ask more input than they often can get. ‘’In any case, I’m not a director who captures everything in advance. The theatre shows are created together with the actors, everyone in the group can give equal input. Only one has to be the captain. We create together but in the end, I determine who plays Hamlet. The actor himself should find out what who Hamlet is and how he wants to play him. When I was an actress, I became so tired of not being allowed to have my own opinion.” At that point Natasja decided to become a director herself. Collaboration for Natasja, is finding new ways to work together. ’I hope that successful business companies will come to understand that creativity is important and that they are an aspect of society. You have to make use of this creativity and actors need to support each other. Nowadays, it’s a common thought that actors also can make movies and movie stars can act in theatre plays. Of course 200

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expert interview

THE SUCCESS FACTOR OF CO-CREATION

interview & te Denise Eeg xt by erdingk

Co-creation is obviously not a new term. It is already in use by several companies and people in the creative industry. In the ideal world you would talk about a complete co-creation loop, however in reality we are seeing a much more incomplete co-creation circle, which is more fragmented. How can organisations learn from it to make co-creation a part of their strategy, and make it successful? Pernille Kok-Jensen, trend director at MARE-Research, will talks us through this phenomenon. It will take a while before conventional organisations adopt the “sharing/co-creation mind-set. “Growth and financial gain are often the main characteristics of a conventional business and many of these organisations are thinking in terms of competitive advantage. To do something completely new is scary for a lot of companies. It costs money, time and investment, however they don’t know if its pays off. It is a lot safer to spend their money on conventional research such as facts, figures and focus groups, because then they know what to do and what to expect. Co-creation it is much more complex, and there is a chance that they get answers to questions they did not even ask at the beginning. The way organisations are structured right now are not designed to deal with that in the right way. Old structures are getting confused, because they are still bureaucratic. For true co-creation to flourish, it is necessary that there is a kind of flat democratic 202

work environment. Organisations have to let go of their old working habits to let the co-creation have a chance. The complete co-creation loop relies on transparency and trust. You need to have trust in the people from outside that deal with the brand, and everything around the brand in a positive way. It also requires a very personal relationship between brands and organisations and the people they are co-creating with.”

What will be the next step for conventional businesses? “Experts right now are discussing how organisations can learn to make co-creation an integrated part of their strategy rather than something that is simply an add-on. It’s hard for conventional businesses to change from one day to another and do a complete co-creation project because that needs some thinking. So, I advise conventional organisations to do a fragmented

part of co-creation instead of doing no co-creation at all, even when the circle is then incomplete. I mention this because practice is required before organizations can set-up co-creation in-house. It’s very much a learning-by-doing process, so I would advise them to learn the basics of the co-creation mind-set, by trying out the process in small projects first in order to discover what it entails and what it could mean for your organisation.” When working with co-creation, companies have to let go control to some extent and just see where it goes. At the same time it is very important to structure the creative process. One of the biggest challenges with co-creation is capturing the results in an inspiring way. How to capture the output of co-creation sessions is a challenge that each organization has to figure out for themselves. “Implementing co-creation into an organisation is such a complete culture shift and it can be done in many different ways. However, it is easier for smaller upcoming brands. The Indie brand, the Millennial brand, the sexy start-ups and the small new brands that are popping up tend to have that mind-shift or mind-set already implemented in everything they do. That mind-shift is also taking place amongst the young consumers, so it is now up to the organisations to follow that lead. We noticed that a lot of consumers, like for example the Millennials (young grownups) are more willing to participate with brands, products, and projects. They have undergone a shift from passive consumer to prosumers; active coproducers of information, brands and products. And that has totally changed the game.” It is inside-out thinking versus outside-in thinking. Pandora’s box is already open in the sense that more and more young consumers, like the Millennials, expect to participate in creating brands. “Co-creation shouldn’t just be seen as something between brands and consumers. It should also happen between brands, between little and big players

Name & occupation: Pernille Kok-Jensen Trend director

“We collect and compile, construct and (re)connect to come to relevant research results.” background:

Pernille works as a Trends Director at MARE-Research for almost seven years. Pernille has an wide range as a working background. She worked for instance at FRAME publishers and Design & trend researcher at Streative branding.

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across various disciplines and industries. Remember, innovation often lies in the most unexpected places. Sometimes organisations become blind regarding the valuable knowledge and expertise they have. They simply forget perhaps they have valuable insights that could be exchanged with other companies in return for their knowhow. Looking at the fashion industry Iris van Herpen is a great example. She collaborated with architects that fit her designs, and they’re coming up with new amazing possibilities for the 3D printing. I think this is a disciplinary approach you learn from other sectors to see what you can do with the new technology and tech-possibilities. For companies it is important to realize with whom they are co-creating, for example the Millennials. The Millennials expect to have some kind of ownership, not just give their opinion and go back home. They want to be involved from the beginning to the end, through the whole co-creation loop. There is even the idea of becoming owners of certain projects, concepts or products. However letting go of control is for some organisations a scary idea.” Another example in the fashion industry is Anna Nooshin, designer of three leather jackets for Goosecraft. In this case the consumer; Anna Nooshin, turned out to be the prosumer. She was involved from the beginning to end of this process, in that way she also has some kind of ownership within this fashion line. “Organisations also really need to cherry pick where they get their information from. Cherry picking is the process of carefully selecting a small, niche crowd to collaborate with. For instance, instead of conducting standard qualitative research with focus groups, brands could try to spot their fans or their ultimate dream consumer and collaborate with them in a more eye-to-eye manner instead of in an interview setting. By involving a cherry picked group brands could learn more continuously and automatically create potential 204

ambassadors. These potential ambassadors all have enormous networks online and offline. It is important to have a good and healthy relationship with these people, to make sure it is not a one way street. Co-creation must be a two way street.”

Co-creation project within MARE-Research “We also have our own co-created project named – ALWAYS BE YOURSELF UNLESS YOU CAN BE A UNICORN THEN ALWAYS BE UNICORN – This is a snapshot of the weird and wonderful world of the Tumblr generation. Consider this book as a guide to help you become Millennial proof. Maybe you will even understand your teenage kid, your new hip employee or the next young customer that walks through your door.” “This project would not even exist without cocreation. Many people have been working on this book. We asked several photographers and artists to collaborate with us. We gave them a lot of freedom to send imagery in on what they think suits to the book. It is not a report or an advice, it is what young people are all about; how they think and live. What made this project interesting, is that I was not the one who decided what should be in the book. It was the young crowd that told me what they think and what they are doing right now. MARE just vitiated and curated it. This is the new way of working. It is a more direct link to your consumer group. However, it has one last filter, which is the researcher (me), that is constantly between the insights and the output.”

The future scenario of co-creation “The co-creation process will become more important than the result itself. It will also be more necessary between creative and technicians, such as designer Daan Roosegaarde and builderdeveloper Heijmans. The Smart Highway project is the result of an intensive collaboration between Heijmans and Roosegaarde. The smart highway project is interactive and could lead to the new sustainable roads of today. The project will

innovate the road deck with designs such as ‘Glow-in-the-dark Lining’, ‘Dynamic Paint’, ‘Interactive Light’ and ‘Electric Priority Lane’.

kind of questions. It is a talent to quickly adapt to differentsituations. It is a flexible way of working and that is where the future is going.”

This project was a success due to the co-creation with Heijmans. The thought behind the project is: if you want to succeed and innovate you should not only place creative people around the table, it also needs to be a truly disciplinary approach. You need different kind of brains around the table to create something new. Creatives by themselves will not necessary come up with an idea that works, they might come up with something crazy, funky and interesting. At the end of the day you want something that also works.

Expert Connectors are the rock stars of the future

When Daan explained the process with Heijmans they just entered the process. They did not worry in the beginning about the product or how the end result would look like. They took several alternative paths and that kind of behaviour lead to room for failure and experimentation, something which is also trending right now. Then again, it is also a risk for companies because they know it costs money, time and investments. However, co-creation is the work method of the future. For the future, companies will be more self-sustaining, in-house and more disciplinary.”

“Researchers of consumer insights will continue to take the role as facilitators and curators. Let’s call it Expert Connectors. People who are looking for new engagements. Those experts see chances in the most unexpected places, they know how to structure a creative process without leading too much. People who have found a way to capture the creative sparks that happen during such encounters. Those will be the rock stars of the future.” “The sky will be the limit if consumers are willing to participate within co-creation.”

Co-creators of the future! “Fronteer Strategy is a strategy based agency and they are using their own tools to work with co-creation. What makes Fronteer Strategy such a success, is their network of experts from various disciplines and their goal to get a lot of results in a short period of time. They have their structures and methods to achieve this called Rooftop sessions. They make big leaps in a short period of time by gathering experts from different disciplines. Out of Office is an agency that does not own an office, they are totally co-created based. They are a collective of a great network. With every project they find the perfect ‘dream team’ to solve all 205

text b WENDY y WAN

Brand collaboration has become an increasingly popular way to supercharge innovation. Even the most successful companies have benefited from participating in a joint project or venture with another complementary brand. Consumers are increasingly more receptive to the collaborative approach. Particularly popular in the fashion industry, brand co-creations have become a regular design and marketing strategy. When executed correctly this approach to business can be hugely advantageous from a branding and marketing standpoint. Collaborations between brands are similar to a relationship: take two totally beautiful people and you get one ugly kid. Likewise, two ugly people can create the next Kate Upton. The same thing can happen with collaboration between brands and artists, one can take two awesome logos or styles and mash them together into a wicked piece of garbage.

brand collaboration that brought value to both brands involved. Target, a mass retailer with a strong following, was able to appeal to fashionconscious consumers while maintaining a low price point. Missoni on the other hand was able to spread its aesthetic and story to more consumers than ever. Appealing to a mass marketing while still coming across as luxurious, in demand and exclusive: the line served both parties well. Though potentially risky, this approach to brand collaboration has become so common that these projects have developed into a sign of success for a designer.

SUCCESS EXAMPLES

WHY COLLABORATIONS?

The most highly publicised and high profile brand collaborations have been those by big name designers and mass retailers. Inevitably, media coverage (and buyer anticipation) of these collaborations is always massive1. When H&M launched its first designer-centric collaboration with Karl Lagerfeld, in a bid to fuel further growth, command higher margins and enter new markets. The outlandish success of this debut collection was followed by collaborations with many different designers like Stella McCartney and Viktor & Rolf. Missoni for Target was an incredibly successful

Apart from improving a brand’s image and spreading consumer awareness with a further reach, brand collaboration strategies can help a company to navigate through a less familiar market by joining forces with a company that understands a given demographic well. Coach, in attempting to tap into the Chinese market with a zodiac product design, hired a Shanghai- based creative agency to help them navigate through new waters. When breaking into a new market, whether cultural or national, it can be wise to team up with a company that’s better versed in the norms of a given group.

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Collaborations are also approached with the intention of changing up a brand’s perceived image2. To add edge to the company’s somewhat all-American branding, Levi’s teamed up with MOCA (The Museum of Contemporary Art) to add some interest and subversive flavour to the brand’s offerings. With jackets adorned with work by famous street artists, this collaboration helped both brands involved. The endeavour provided MOCA with more exposure to those outside of Los Angeles and Levis was able to convey a more artistic, grassroots image through the collaboration. Lastly, brand collaborations can be incredibly valuable simply in terms of publicity. Because there’s a novelty aspect to these kind of projects, they tend to perform strongly in stores while created a significant amount of buzz for the brands involved. Of course, this especially fits with high-profile brands, but still applies to lesserknown brands. Switching up companies goods and services tends to draw attention in any case and with double the exposure companies tend to benefit in this regard when it comes to co-branded projects. Brand collaboration can be hugely advantageous for brands, as long as the project serves the needs of both companies involved and comes across as a natural combination.

days to get their hands on a new Hundreds shirt and that means something. Not only are the two brands very different in style, they cater to very different audiences and carry very different brand reputations and respect. This is why The Hundreds collaborates with brands like Diamond Supply Co, E-40 and other brands/ artists that epitomise what The Hundreds represents. The best collaborations come from companies that can target the same audience and carry reputations that will complement each other. There should be a strategic purpose behind cobranding activities. In other words, brands shouldn’t team up without a concrete and significant reason. Consumers of today are savvy and are able to look pass the superficial marketing purposes of a brand. The collaboration should offer both simplicity and integrity in the mind of the consumer. There should be a true brand story of how the two parties ‘came together’ to give ‘birth’ to the new creation.

BUT But joining forces is not always a guarantee to success. For example, most of us would agree that it would be senseless for The Hundreds collaborate with Ed Hardy3. One brand is known for quality, originality, exclusivity and consistent progress, while the other is associated with muscles, Jersey Shore, Costco and a complete sell-out branding. Sure, The Hundreds might gain some new customers, but they would lose the respect of the loyal fans and ultimately lose a lot of respected customers. People camp out for

Brigitte Niedermair for CR Fashion Book 2014

A COLLABORATIVE INDUSTRY

This is all to avoid mishaps, which in terms of public image could cost your brand a lot.

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Connected

concept & image Esmee fab By er

It needs each other to exist

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If you want to go fast, go alone If you want to go far, go together - African Proverb

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If you want to go fast, go alone If you want to go far, go together - African Proverb

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the makers of this book 216

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Management

Linda Elizabeth TRAN Daan Bak Ymke Peverelli

Concept

Hanneke de Goede Nikki Neervens Robin van der Aa Tessa de Jong

Editorial

Charlotte de Gier Damian Pelkman Joyce Kortbeek Natasa Cvjetkovic

Image

Gerdien van Halteren Ruud van Doorn

Art direction

Wendy Wang Denise Eegerdingk Esmee Faber Irena Krajnc Justin Rahantoknam Kelly Jacobs Sine E. Lund

Hilde Lucker Samantha Sowirono Sammy Moonen

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Footnotes: how we defines me.

Footnotes: digital independence 1United

Kim, A.J., Community Building on the Web: Secret Strategies for Successful Online Communities, Boston, USA, 2000

Nations Commission on Human Rights, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), http://www. un.org/, December 10, 1948

Hew, K.F., Cheung, W.S., Students’ and instructors’ use of massive open online courses (MOOCs): Motivations and challenges

2P2P

Foundation, Project Kleinrock, http://www.p2pfoundation.net/, June 19, 2011

3www.debate.org,

www.kiva.org, September 21, 2014

Altbach, P.G., MOOCs as Neocolonialism: Who Controls Knowledge?, USA, 2014

4Amnesty

Nicolle, E., Using TED Talks to teach social determinants of health Maximize the message with a modern medium, Canada, 2014

International, Internetcensuur, http://www.amnesty.nl/, September 21, 2014

5Carlye,

http://myskinnylife.tumblr.com/, March 7, 2013 Nelson, Social Media and the Egyptian Revolution, http://peacemagazine.org/, April - June, 2012

http://strategy.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_users

6Merrick

Marquart, E., 3pm Journal of Digital Research & Publishing, Sydney, 2010

AA Armstrong, J Hagel – The Real Value of Online Communities, Harvard business review

Cohen, J., Mediating Relationships and Social Lifes, 2014

Joshua Cohen, Tyler Oakley’s Prizeo Campaign For The Trevor Project Tops Out At $525,679 , http://www. tubefilter.com/ , April 11, 2014

Footnotes: TRYVERTISING Tami Downer, How tryvertising can turbo-charge your sales, www.smartcompany.com.au/marketing/ sales/7371-20081022-how-tryvertising-can-turbo-charge-your-sales, October 22 2008

Footnotes: the world is in your hands 1

Omidyar, P. (2014) Social Media: Enemy of the State or Power to the People? Consulted on 09-16-2014 via http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pierre-omidyar/social-media-enemy-of-the_b_4867421.html.

2 Vedpuriswar, A.V. (2004) The Wisdom of Crowds - Why the many are smarter than the few. Consulted on 09-22-2014 via http://vedpuriswar.org/Book_Review/General/The%20Wisdom%20of%20Crowds.pdf.

Muminova, O. (2014) Power to the People. Consulted on 09-15-2014 via http://www.theguardian.com/ advertising/digital-media-trends-power-people.

Swetha Gopinath, The lure of Freebies: Try some Tryvertising, www.cbsnews.com/news/the-lure-of-freebies-trysome-tryvertising, April 27 2010 Entrepreneur.com, Word-of-Mouth Advertising, www.entrepreneur.com/encyclopedia/word-of-mouth-advertising, 2014 Freemarket.nu, How Freemarket works, www.freemarket.nu/howitworks.php, 2014 Kim Harrison, Why ’tryvertising’ is catching on, www.cuttingedgepr.com/articles/marketcomm_tryvertising

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What is your tune? (2014) Consulted on 09-12-2014 via http://findyourtune.com/about/ Trendwatching.com, ”Trysumers”, www.trendwatching.com/trends/trysumers, March 2007

6 5

Marqt. (2014) Consulted on 09-12-2014 via https://www.facebook.com/Marqtfanpage Trendwatching.com, ”Trysumers”, www.trendwatching.com/trends/trysumers, March 2007

Kreijveld, M (2011). Sociale media vernietigen de wisdom of the crowd. Consulted on 09-12-2014 via http://wisdomofthecrowd.nl/2011/06/03/sociale-media-vernietigen-de-wisdom-of-the-crowd/

Swetha Gopinath, The lure of Freebies: Try some Tryvertising, www.cbsnews.com/news/the-lure-of-freebies-trysome-tryvertising, April 27 2010

Trendwatching.com, ”Trysumers”, www.trendwatching.com/trends/trysumers, March 2007

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Footnotes: Giving Without Expecting Something In Return J. Lichtenberg, ‘Is Pure Altruism Possible?’ New York Times, The Opinionater, October 19, 2010.

Footnotes: Togetherness Is Finding New Ways Of Trust Botsman, R. (2012, June). The currency of the new economy is trust. [TEDglobal 2012].

DDB Signbank, ‘Geven (Love Strangers)’. December 21, 2012. http://ddbsignbankamsterdam.tumblr. com/ [accessed September 8, 2014]

OOPOEH, ‘Over OOPOEH’. 2014 http://oopoeh.nl/over-oopoeh [accessed September 12, 2014]

Airbnb blog: belong anywhere (2014, July 16). Consulted at September 16, 2014 from: http://blog. airbnb.com/belong-anywhere/ ter Steege, B (2014, 2nd of August). Founder CANHAV. [NOS journaal]. Hilversum: VARA/NPS.

Mama Louise, ‘De Wisselwinkel’. 2014 http://www.mamalouise.nl/wisselwinkel/ [accessed September 10, 2014]

Own interview with, Simon Akkaya and Maarten Heijltjes of Waarmakers, Ymke Peverelli, September 24, 2014

M. Ricard, ‘The Path to Altruism’. Project Syndicate. January 3, 2014. http://www.project-syndicate.org/ commentary/matthieu-ricard-on-how-societies-become-more-altruistic [accessed: 15 September 2014]

Footnotes: The future of anonymity Research Kellogg School for Management, J. Keith Murnigham A Trusted Name. http://insight.kellogg. northwestern.edu/article/a_trusted_name/

Waarom CANHAV? (2014), ter Steege, B. Consulted at 19th of September 2014, van https://www. canhav.com/nl/About-us/Waarom-Canhav/ Humans are social animals (2014), Gray, P. Consulted at 22th of September 2014, from: http://www. aipmm.com/anthropology/2010/05/humans-are-social-animals-1.php Hammersly, Ben. (2012). A Smart guide to Utopia – 111 inspiring ideas for a better city. England: Le Cool

Footnotes: TOGETHERNESSA MYTH CONCEALING OUR INDIVIDUALISTIC NATURE

1 Nicola Kemp: “The Second Selfie: Unfettered narcissists or masters of their own identity?”, marketingmagazine.co.uk, 29.8.2014

Rachel Botsman, The case for collaborative consumption, TedxTalk, Sydney, March 2010

Trustcloud, Measure Trust, https://trustcloud.com/measure-trust

Robert Hall, In Big Data we Hope and Distrust, Huffingtonpost 04.03.2013. http://www.huffingtonpost. com/robert-hall/in-big-data-we-hope-and_b_3006566.html

2 Susan Greenfield: “The Quest for Meaning in the 21st Century”, Hodder & Stoughton publishing, 1.9.2011 3

Andrés Guadamuz: “Anonymous and the Decline of Individualism”, technollama.co.uk, 24.2.2012

Harris Interactive: “10 Crucial Consumer Trends for 2013”, trendwatching.com, June 2012

Sarah Pearson: “Anti-social Behaviour”, Protein Journal #13, 15.7.2014

Anna Hart: “New Restaurant Caters Only for Solo Dinners”, independent.co.uk, 22. 4.2014

Yuval Noah Harari: “Were we Happier In the Stone Age?”, theguardian.com, 5.9.2014

Benita Matofska: “Facing the future: share to survive“, foe.co.uk, 4.1.2013

De onderwijs revolutie, Johan Leupen. FD outlook 13.09.2014

Dawn. Interview with David Demper about the future of the haring economy by Daan Bak.

, 10 Rob Horning: “The ‘Sharing’ Economy”, thenewinquiry.com, 12.6.2014

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FOOTNOTES: Together we / I stand strong 1

Edelkoort, L., Zomergasten, august 12th 2012.

Watson, B., Can we create an ‘Economy fo the Common Good’?, The Guardian, january 6th 2014.

Elliott, R., Consumption and the Symbolic Project of the Self, European Advances in Consumer research Volume 3, 1998.

The Guardian, A new era in creative collaboration, The Guardian, april 5th 2013

Arzon, R., The Urban Running Crew Movement, Equinox, january 8 2014

van Leeuwen, B., Egonomie, Extend Limits, august 24 2012

van Leeuwen, b., The Age of I, Second Sight magazine, 2014 and Beyond - Traveling through times #35

Footnotes: sharing is caring - about yourself?

Footnotes: Collaboration In The New Creative Industries Writer Unknown, The Much, Much, Vogue NL, 12-08-2013

Graham Snowdon, A co-workers’ revolution?, The Guardian, 21-05-2011

Vivian Lee, At Once-Promising Brooklyn Arts Center, Creative Hopes Are Dashed, The New York Times, 02-12-2013

Footnotes: A Collaborative Industry 1The

Forbes Magazine Jul 2013 “Collaborative Marketing is the next big thing”

2The

Guardian Sep 2013 “Shared vision to reality”

3VICE

Apr 2014 “Why Collaborations Aren’t Always a good Idea”

Figure 1. (2014) [Image] At: http://www.styleindicator.com/en/style-inspiration-ss-2014-tribal-black-white/ (Accessed on 23.09.14) Figure 2. LESS is MORE (2013) [Image] At: http://bigboldideas.com (Accessed on 22.09.14) Figure 3. Dysfunctional Objects (2010) [Image] At: http://www.junk-culture.com/2010/12/dysfunctionalobjects.html (Accessed on 21.09.14) Youngworks (2013, July 4) De sharing economy een massale mindshift of een mindfuck? At: http://blog. youngworks.nl. (Accessed 18 September 2014)

Botsman, R. (2012, June)The currency of the new collaborative economy is trust. At: www.rachelbotsman. com. (Accessed 17 September 2014)

From print edition (2013, March 9) All eyes on the sharing economy. At: http://www.economist.com/ news/technology-quarterly/. (Accessed 14 September 2014)

Dixon, N. (2013, August 11) We know more than we can say the paradox of tacit knowledge part one. At: http://www.nancydixonblog.com. (Accessed 17 September 2014)

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