Day 2 — There Is No Box
Day two of getting to know Cluj-Napoca’s social entrepreneurship setting meant visiting two time-honored buildings that host eccentric co-working spaces. The first stop was on Emil Isac street, where Robbert Visser showed the Innovation Makers around a co-working space he started for IT entrepreneurs in 2011. The Paintbrush Factory - or Fabrica de Pensule in Romanian - is a hub for the city’s creatives and the fourth stop on the Innovation Makers’ company visit itinerary.
Cluj Cowork — spotting opportunities every step of the way
Cluj Cowork’s home stroked us as an enchanted, timeless construction with its interior garden and huge balconies bathing in the springtime sun. In fact, the man behind starting the co-working space, homo universalis Robbert Visser, tells us that the building used to host a museum, but is now decorated as he would have decorated his own home, with maps hanging on the walls, imposing chandeliers and massive, recycled oak handmade tables.
So what happens in this otherworldly setting? We’ll tell you: the closest thing humankind has to magic: coding, creating things with words. Everyone learns by doing, attains skills by implementing an idea they have, all with the help of eachother and the team that runs the social minded Cluj Cowork tribe.
Simplon, an originally French program initiated and run by Roxana Rugina for Cluj-Napoca is one of the many projects taking place inside Cluj Cowork. The free of charge programming boot-camp for people with non tech background who want to get a grasp on coding through the Ruby on Rails programming language has just had its first round of graduates. Here is where we met Mariusz Siklodi, the conservatory graduate who was working on the Shazam of classical music, as he put it, a dream for all musicians who cannot figure out that one note in their favorite composition. Other than Simplon, Cluj Cowork runs a number of events such as theater workshops for entrepreneurs or start-up weekends.
Robbert, who, by the way, got funding for Cluj Cowork from world renowned disk jockey Tiesto, feels really strongly about Romania’s pressing need of developing products rather than outsourcing for Western markets. Entering the corporate environment right after graduating university, makes it easy for the Romanian youngster to get comfortable with stability and risk averse enough not to start their own company. However, Robbert senses a change in the mentality of the Romanian youth. One of his life philosophies is challenging the impossible and he feels that the youth in Cluj-Napoca is open minded enough to do it, they just need a loving push to show them they can do it. In fact, a coffee machine that connects to your smartphone is next on the list of Robbert’s wacky inventions. It already has a prototype and several pre-orders.
The Paintbrush Factory (Fabrica de Pensule) - a hub for contemporary artists
As any socially-oriented product, the Paintbrush Factory as we know it today started out in order to satisfy an unmet need. This time, the need was for contemporary artist- performance artists, painters, photographers and fashion designers alike- for a place to create and exhibit their art and for the public to have unlimited access to it.
Before hearing about the Paintbrush Factory, the Innovation Makers got the opportunity to explore the place, visiting several artist’s ateliers and the ongoing exhibitions, while being accompanied by at least one of the friendly canines of the factory.
The Innovation Makers set up a meeting with Simina, who told us about the place. The Paintbrush Factory was launched as a cultural NGO Federation in 2009, in a former paintbrush manufacturing factory, being the biggest of its kind in Romania at that time. The Federation operates on an area over 2500 sqm large, hosting 5 contemporary art galleries, 2 auditoriums, 10 cultural organizations and 40 contemporary artists. At the moment, the entire space is rented out by the NGO Federation, funding being obtained from applying to funds such as the Norwegian Fund, winning projects or hosting events. As state funds for culture tend to go to museums, the Paintbrush Factory is highly reliant on volunteers.
When asked what their tool for success was, Simina told us that they use adaptability at all times, hard work, involvement and dedication for success.
What is amazing about visiting co-working spaces is that you visit more than a company, you visit dozens at the same time and get the overall knowledge of tens or even hundreds of entrepreneurs in one place.
At the end of the day, it was refreshing to learn that even though Cluj-Napoca has a long way to go towards being actively socially entrepreneurial, sharing ideas being undermined by feelings of being threatened, a shift in mentality is underway and things are already in motion for a common, improved Cluj-Napoca.
