Dutch Design Workspace

While the now defunct Dutch Cultural Centre ruled the roost during the six short months of Expo, impressing with arty parties, exhibitions and a relentless program of events and activities, a longer-term, more sustainable plan has been brewing, quietly positioning itself to help Dutch creative companies move eastwards to China.

In a complex of renovated factories in Jingan, the Dutch Design Workspace (DDW) provides sleek, spacious and modern offices to a slew of creative companies, the majority of whom hail from the Netherlands and find themselves in Shanghai thanks to support from Dutch government programme, Dutch Design Fashion Architecture (DDFA), the organization behind the contemporary creative business incubator.

Infact, even prior to the stunning conversion of Shaanxi Bei Lu space, DDFA has being doing much to promote its particular brand of creativity in China. As DDW Director, Giel Groothuis explains, the European country has for the past six years worked closely with institutions like the annual Shanghai Creative Industries Week, successfully introducing some 120 Dutch companies to China.



A physical space to facilitate these projects was officially opened in September 2010, and response has been overwhelmingly positive. What the carefully selected group of Dutch enterprises currently residing in the space receive, however, is far more than desk space alone. Before even arriving in China, DDW's pre-incubator programme offers thorough market research, portfolio organisation, business matchmaking and advice on developing business plans. On arrival, support, subsidized by the Dutch government comes courtesy of industry experts, happy to share their long term experience with Shanghai newcomers.

Once set up with a desk, swish glass meeting rooms and all the facilities you'd expect from a modern office, these creative talents can take advantage of another perk of the address – sharing the space with representatives from various branches of the creative industries. What's more, weekly events, workshops and networking opportunities mean that businesses quickly develop not only contacts, but also an opportunity to interact with like-minded individuals or potential clients.

"We have three target groups", Groothuis explains. "Firstly there's the established design groups from the Netherlands, who already have a big portfolio and lots of experience, with long term plans to establish themselves in China. Then there's individual designers – they could be fashion designers, product designers, graphic designers and so on. The third group are embedded participants, who don't necessarily have to be Dutch but they should be of service to designers. They could be lawyers specializing in copyright, or we currently have a model making company here who make models for architectural firms - essentially the service industries for the creative industries".





"We're selective – the whole concept is to create a very balanced group of companies here, that's the idea – they should all have some sort of relationship with each other, or potential relationships that we can develop.

Currently at full capacity with ten companies in-situ and ten enrolled in the pre-incubator programme, tenants include architects, urban planners, packaging designers, concept developers, interior and museum designers and a bicycle design company. "It's the whole spectrum of creative industries", Groothuis smiles, "and that was the idea – a multidisciplinary group of expertise".

But its not just the businesses setting up there who can enjoy the modern, airy space - an open stage area and 150sqm roof terrace make the space ideal for larger scale, public events such as the recent and highly successful Pecha Kucha Night, monthly Green Drinks and this weekend's MiNi Film Festival.





The open plan space houses thirty workstations, as well as sizable meeting rooms, divided by a series of glass cubicles for either small scale meetings or important phone calls. Xun Huang of Dutch architectural and planning studio KCAP has been at DDW since January. "From 2007 we've been broadening our market in China. We've got bigger and had more work so really needed a space to work here with local clients. We were introduced to the DDFA's incubator programme through the 2009 Shanghai International Design and it's worked well. Everything is included so it was easy for us to start quickly. It's nice to have all the other design companies around too and work together."

Deborah Meijburg, managing director of design agency Five Spices is similarly happy with the communal element of the space. One of the first companies to join the programme, Meijburg appreciates the professional – and positive – feel of DDW: "We're happy here. It has a good feeling about it, it's a nice space and it looks good too – that's important, it's somewhere clients like to come."

"There's a lot of interest in the Netherlands to come to China right now. Dutch design is diverse, it's almost become a brand in itself", Groothuis says of the seemingly unstoppable influx of Dutch talent arriving in Shanghai. "But people and companies are also a bit cautious, a bit reluctant to make the move because of course there's a lot of difficulties on the way – copyright, learning about the cultural context, how to do business here, and you need a substantial investment ready to be able to do it successfully. What we're here to do is facilitate that, promote exchange and really support the Dutch creative industries in China".

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Visit the Dutch Design Workspace this weekend for the first edition of the MiNi Film Festival, focusing on architecture. There's more details here, and the website is here. Can't make it? Then be sure to note down 19 May in your diaries – the date of the next Pecha Kucha Night at DDW. More details of that to come, but check the PKN website here.