By Karin Vullings / 25-11-2008

Yes you can! Karin Vullings an industrial design graduate from TU Delft participated in the Hello-tour on 20 November to check out Rotterdam’s creative studios and gain inspiration for her work.

The Hello-tour is an initiative from RotterdamDurft organised to show students the inspiring creative culture in Rotterdam. Today we’re with eleven design students and graduates. We’re cycling around Rotterdam with “HELLO, my name is... tour Innovatie”. Cycling? Yes cycling, after all we’re living in Holland. Rotterdam ByCycle is our host for the tour. With our ass on their saddles we will visit the Creative Factory, 2012 Architecten, Spark Design and WAAC’s.

Creative Factory
From the outside this building can’t immediately be recognized as an inspiring place as it appears grey and industrial; very Rotterdam. But inside, there’s colour and creativity everywhere. New-starting, small companies can rent studio space here. Three of them presented themselves to us: 'Lie-ver een o-ri-gi-neel AD-VIES', 'Beatloverz' and 'Xite' the most exciting one being a cross-media music station on digital TV, mobile TV and the internet. The presentations were short, maybe too short to really know what the companies were about but what the presentations did convey was a feeling among the students that IT was possible. That everything was possible, just start if you dare! We felt on top of the world. Only minutes later we were on top of the world. On top of the Creative Factory building to be precise with a spectacular view over Rotterdam: instant inspiration!

Worm
Next stop is Worm. I’d never heard of the place before. What we did see now was the building; a old VOC building redesigned by 2012 Architecten. The total interior is designed using the Superuse principle, using material which has lost its commercial value; waste materials, old spare parts, etc. This is one of the main principles used by the architects in their projects, including a recent playground made from the old blades of wind turbines. Again we are shown that everything is possible: take another look at the products and waste around you and Superuse it. One of us already started this during the tour by collecting a basket from a garbage container at Spark.

Spark Design
Up on our bikes again to another far end of Rotterdam; the residence of Spark at the North Side of the 'Nieuwe Maas'. Again an old industrial building, is everything in Rotterdam linked to its history?
At Spark we were welcomed with tea, coffee and stroopwafels and heard a short story from the founder. What I remember the best is the diversity in products from Spark; from bikes to braille-readers and helicopter-cars to suitcases for the rich. For all these different products they use the same approach: putting their clients first. After a quick tour of the studio, it’s time to move to the next stop.

Het klushuis in Spangen
This block of houses tells the story of Rotterdam and its inhabitants. It's about giving a 'bad' district a new start. The houses were given away by the local authority to people who wanted to renovate it. A hell of a job, but it worked; the houses look great now! And the people living there are beginning to form a tight community. We asked Chris, one of the house-owners, many questions about living here and about living in Rotterdam. Afterwards on the bikes we asked ourselves if we would want to live in Rotterdam. Personally, I don't think I want to live in Rotterdam. I would miss the 'kneuterigheid' (snug and cosiness) of Delft. Lucky for me, Rotterdam isn't that far from Delft so I can visit whenever I like.

WAAC’s
Our last stop. We’re visiting WAAC's in the Design Cube, near the Central Station. WAAC's is a design agency like Spark but much smaller. Most of their products are less technically complicated but I do feel more enthusiasm here especially when our host talked about the camp-visit earlier in the year. The whole studio went camping as a creative escape, coming home with many good products ideas, some of which will be for sale in shops very soon.

Conclusion: A good day with fresh ideas, some exercise, a lot of inspiration and new energy. It was great to see the city and to explore it in another way. The companies were enthusiastic in telling us their story and the people inspired us to do what we really want. The students inspired each other by sharing their stories, questions and answers. Rotterdam is indeed a creative city. There are new things happening everywhere and I did feel welcome to join.

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