Jordi, one of the betahaus | BCN founder picked me up in his Mini at the airport and gave me a nice drive through the sunny streets of Barcelona. After half an hour we arrived in Graciá, Vlilafranca 7 1km from the center of Barcelona. A well known neigborhood for the creative dudes and hipstars, the Gaudí-designed Parc Güell is around the corner.

I have the feeling I entered a layback very little village, right in the center of Barcelona. Every other street you find your self in the middle of a plaza sitting next to an old Spanish couple or a bunch of tourists from Scandinavia.

Right here is the betahaus | Barcelona located. It s an old industrial building with 5 storeys and 5 rooftop tarraces. One of them is guarded by an old banana palmtree. The perfect place for coworking, chillin and hot summer bbqs overlooking Barcelona and the sea.

The building was empty for more than 15 years and is packed with trashy stuff. Since a few weeks its onder construction to become the place to be for coworker, startups and maker from all over the city. For the last 10 days 17 architecture students from the Elisava University, Barcelona, Masterprogramm in sustainable Architecture and Design have been working hard on a project called „Waste-nity“ waste as an opportunity.

The task for those days has been to create some new furniutures out of the material the students find in the building.

4 teams had 2 days to design the betaspace objects, then another 4 days to work on the prototypes. There are two betabreakfast tables, some chairs out of paper cartonage and a mobile livingroom box.

Marisol, one of the students tells me how the mobile livingroom box will function: „If the box is not in use, it looks like a plain storage box, as soon as you snip your finger it will become a cosy living room, a place to relax, drink and enjoy a break from hard working.“

After this day at the not-finished-yet-but-soon-to-be betahaus| Barcelona I already can imagine how it will be packed with a bunch of coworkers, the next superstar startup enjoying lot s of „sundowners“ on the rooftop tarrace. We have some construction work a head of us but the spirit is already there!

For those of you who are in Barcelona in the moment please come and join Jordi and the rest of the betahaus team for a cold beer on the rooftop tarrace and have a look on the great „Waste-nity“ objects. For the rest of you we ll keep you posted when the official opening will be, you definitely have to book a flight to Barcelona then.

What and who are the Terranauten?

Kay: Terranauten is an interdisciplinary project between dancing and photography. We met each other last autumn, Lisa performed in the backyard of betahaus, and I realised then that she is able to fly. That was the main idea of the whole project. I asked her to do a project about flying, she agreed and we started prototyping.

Lisa: We started like two freelancers, working from ODC. By coincidence, he saw me while I was doing a performance and took a really nice picture when I jumped. After the performance, he talked to me and asked me about working on a project where I was outside gravity. Afterwards, we made a project out of it and we have developed the technique for making me appear as though I was always flying. Nowadays, I appear higher off the ground than before – this is because over several months, we’ve developed our techniques, and also chosen the right surfaces, the right lighting, the right dress to wear, and other things.

Terranauten projekt

What is your main aim with the Terranauten project?

Kay: First aim is to do more art and creative work in betahaus. The second aim is to have an interesting project to impress the people, and to show them that there are still things which are possible.

Lisa: …and to make people to look from another perspective, to touch them, and make something beautiful out of gravity, the power which is given by the earth.

Terranauten project is working with Startnext. Can you tell me more about your collaboration?

Kay: We were thinking about how to raise money for a whole project. We thought about cofounding at first. We found Startnext, and it was pure working together. We will be presenting at the Browse photo festival in June. Startnext also wanted to implement the idea of cofounding in the whole festival and combine that with photography.

Lisa: In the end, we wanted to do also an exhibition there and in betahaus, and with Startnext and cofounding, we were able to get more publicity. The project is still like an experiment – we don’t know where we’ll end up, but we do put a lot of time and effort into it, so we do need money in the end.

Terranauten projekt XI

Lisa: We brainstormed in the beginning, and wrote a long list of surfaces where we want to jump – snow, ice, and so on – and then we got started. We keep challenging the idea of what would be possible.

Kay: We always keep our eyes open when looking for interesting locations.

You are based in Open design city, in betahaus. How does working in this space affect what you do?

Lisa: We get a lot of inspiration here at ODC. People help us with design, brainstorming and other details. The community is really nice, and they support us a lot, mentally and practically. We want to create a community that supports what we do, and is interested in it, and we found just that in betahaus.

Kay: It is our home and our community.

Terranauten project VI

What are your future plans?

Lisa: With Startnext, we would like to organise a flashmob; the people will be the surface, and I will be jumping over them. So the aim is to get more challenges with it, and take more difficult pictures which seem even more impossible than the ones we’ve already done so far.  We are also thinking of taking pictures at different locations in Berlin – we’re thinking of taking some at Alexanderplatz, which is one of the city’s best-known locations –  and in other cities, and maybe even making a video.

Kay: I would like to ask you to please support us on Startnext (http://www.startnext.de/terranauten ) it is really important to us, because we need as many people to support us as possible. With that, we’ll be able to do further work and to develop ourselves. All kinds of support are welcome, and we will reward our supporters with photos, postcards, posters, and other gifts.

We said it before but we can’t say it enough: We are super happy with the betapitch last week. We were inspired by the pitches of the startups, comforted and buzzed by the vibe in our ‘haus and amazed by all the people that came.

Most of all though we are grateful. betapitch means a lot to us, also because it is a communal event, about and put together by community of friends, partners and supporters. Frankly, we would not be able to put it together without them. Thats why we need to give huge THANK YOUs and Shout Outs to a couple of people:

Dear finalists, your ideas, visions, businessmodells packed in 5 min pitches gave us the feeling we were in the first role of the next world cup.

Dear jury members, you were awesome, your wisedom, experience and questions let the 10 finalists not only sweat but will be a great help for their next milestones. Be prepared, some of them might give you a call in the next weeks.

Dear sponsors, it is your support in putting together our bootstrappackage that shows what betapitch is about and what sets us apart from other pitches: being part of a community of creative, daring, professional, inspired, supportive individuals.

Dear Balderton Capital, YouIsNow and Creathor Venture, thank you for your support and expertise, for making a second winner possible and for the delicious dinner afterwards.

And last but not least: A huge THANK YOU goes out the TwitRadar gang! They were responsible for the twitter wall, kept us updated during the event (TT No.2 in Berlin!) and put a lot of work into making it look the way we wanted it to. Some of them even flew in all the way from Brazil, just for the betapitch. Thank you for that!

Oh and we definitly would not have had such a great event with out the one and only superintern Max Krüger – he basicly did all the work that had to be done! We wouldn’t have survived without him!

Now whats next? Maybe a betapitch at Google Campus London? For sure there will be a new round of the betapitch in Berlin on Sept 29th… get your Onepagers ready. After the pitch is before the pitch!! Over and out.

Gourmie

What does Gourmie offer its clients? Is there a particular target group?

I like personal service, so I cook just for one person. Nowadays, I also cook a lot for a bigger group. I like to prepare different kinds of cuisine, such as Japanese, French, and Italian. I can cook at a client’s home, or wherever people are holding events they want catered – I’m a very flexible person. Clients can contact me on my website if they have any questions or need any advice on cooking or food, or if they want me to cook for them or their event.

I don’t have a special target group in particular; I like to cook for anyone open-minded about food. I am running my company alone, so I can cook for as many people at a time as I want. I always think of how I want my food to look first, and then I consider the number of people I have to cook for, and how long it will take to prepare the food.

Matcha Tiramisù

I am originally from Tokyo, but I moved to Europe 12 years ago, and I really like to live here. I’ve lived in France and Switzerland before, and I moved to Berlin to learn German after I discovered the international cuisine here that was present alongside the typical “grandmother-style” German cooking. A lot of my friends come from different countries and surprise me again and again with their national dishes and flavors. I feel really free here, and especially if you’re starting something new, Berlin is the city that gives you the possibility to do so, which is why I am still here and I am happy.

On the 15th of May, you are going to organize a workshop on making sushi here at betahaus. Could you tell us more about this workshop?  What made you decide to start working at betahaus?

Mini Rösti

I grew up in Japan. Fresh fish, directly from the port, was part of the daily menu for me. This is perhaps the reason why I like to make sushi outside of Japan. I already have taught some sushi-making courses at the Volkshochschule in Berlin. This will be the first time I teach one at betahaus, so I would just like people to have fun, discover something new, and gain new skills. You don’t need to bring anything if you want to participate – you just need to be open-minded, and we will have fun together.

I have done some catering for cafes and for other private events, but this was too much for me to take on alone. I discovered betahaus, and I feel it’s best for me because I am always surrounded by people. I love the atmosphere here, though sometimes it can be really stressful during rush hour – people keep trying to tell me something, but I cannot listen to them because I’m too busy cooking. But every positiv feedback is really welcome, so just come over to my cook pult and tell me! Some members made my day really lovely with it. Negativ feedback, too. But not that hard. I’m a bit sensitiv.

Quiche gorgeous

I lived with a French family for a while during my stay in France. My host mother always cooked such delicious food, which is what first inspired me, and also my international friends. I’ve also been inspired by many food websites, cookbooks, and restaurants.

What are your future plans for Gourmie?

Right now I am updating my website, I always like it when people contact me and ask me for help or advice on how to prepare food. I like to help them, even if I don’t know them personally. I’ve also been thinking of writing a cookbook in the future, but for now, I’m focusing mostly on my website.

To be honest we could not have been happier with last night. We received so many great ideas beforehand, and we saw ten true rockstar startups present last night. So competition was tough. And from what we hear, the discussion after the pitches in the jury room was too. But the quality of the ideas presented during the pitches was so high that the jury uniformly decided that there should be two winners: one for societal impact of the idea and one for the business model.

And here they are (we really cant hold back any longer): The two winners of betapitch #3 are…..

KNOWABLE and SOMEWHERE!

Wooooooohooooooo!

As already said, we could not be happier and we cant wait for them to move in.

Thanks to everybody for making this happen. We are looking forward to the next round!

Cargo bikes are a new form of bike transport. Bikes are already commonly used as a perfect environmental-friendly way of transporting yourself. You burn fat, stay healthy, save money, never get stuck in a traffic jam, etc.  But what if you are not alone, but accompanied by a cozy armchair for your apartment? Then you have to ask one of your friends for a lift or rent a car and put your armchair into the trunk, right? Because it`s impossible to transport it through half of the city by bike. Just impossible. Sure?

If you upgrade your bike, and build a cargo area made out of wood or steel, an armchair would actually be no big deal. The coolest cargo bikes can carry a maximum of 150 kilograms, however with so much load, biking gets really heavy. With 75 – 100 kilo grams though you are perfectly ok.

You can obviously buy such a bike, nicely made by someone else. But come on, you have 2 hands? Then you can build it yourself! If you are brave and creative, you may make your own cargo bike out of elements which were stored in your basement during last couple of centuries, waiting for their “star hour” to come. If you are brave, but feel that your creativity needs to be supported by some practical skills which are missing, you can start out with following the instructions, for example make your own “Long John”, using this link http://www.werkstatt-lastenrad.de/index.php?title=Fahrao_Bicycles_1991 .

But if you feel a need for personal communication, someone who can advise you which tools to use, where to get the materials, how to solve this or that constructing problem, there are cool people called “Werkstatt Lastenrad”. They are obviously very welcome at betahaus` Open Design City and were working there on their new “Long-André” last weekend. This Saturday they will be back and ready to show you how to make your own cargo bike and make it with you. To know more about the event, follow the link http://betahaus.de/event/open-bike-hacking-2/2012-05-05/

Well, we are expanding. A lucky coincidence gave us the chance to get a hand on the 1st floor in our beloved building with an additional 800 sqm space for all our dreams to come true in the near future (except the roof terrace). This might be of importance for you, too if you like to have office space. Here are the next steps.

• Stage I (May 2012):
• We are bootstrapping one third of the 1st floor into office space next monday for all those peeps that are in the waiting list for ages. Are you interested to grap a space there? We’ve got 1-2 team tables left. You can sign up on our waitinglist.

• Stage II (June – September 2012)
• We’ll reconfigure the rest of the space during June, July, August and September and push betahaus | Berlin to the finest in coworking space – design. We’ll have bigger team spaces for fast growing startups or those a like and some cool collaborative spaces for coworking lovers as well. There will be lot’s of features we have dreamed of for years: Foozball (kicker), hangout space with sofas, skypeboxes, private areas etc.  May the coworkers dream come true! …and the force be with us.  ;)

That’s the update for today. If you fancy a space there or like to get involved anyhow, please contact us today at kontakt@betahaus.de and we’ll get in touch!

You are a freelance photographer based in Berlin, and you have also worked in London. As a photographer, what is for you, the biggest difference between these two cities?

They are totally different and inspiring in their own ways. London is more commercial and rude in its history – it is an interesting space which integrates history with the present and the future in its aesthetic aspect. In London, if a station is refurbished, they don’t disturb anything – they keep the old benches and other things if they can, and it works.  In Berlin, you destroy everything and you make something new – that’s how Germans think. For me, as a creative person, I prefer the way London does it. But at the moment, Berlin is more inspiring for me, because more foreigners are coming here,  and I like the idea of working in ODC and betahaus – it brought a new perspective to everything, and I find it interesting to work with all the different people here.

Could you tell us something about your camera equipment – what is your favourite lens, for instance?

I am not that interested in technology. For me, a camera should be comfortable and easy to handle.  The brand isn’t important – I just need a simple way to access the logical aspect of photography, and modern cameras don’t quite give me that, because they want to make everything easier for their users.  I am not normal user; I am someone who wants to find the logical aspect of everything, so I need a camera with high-quality output, no matter the brand.

What is your philosophy regarding photography?

I started with analogue equipment, and I am still really into that. I use a digital camera like I would use an analogue one – I am not so interested in editing or in other possibilities of Photoshop. For example, knowing the circle of colours it is more important for me than knowing any Photoshop function. That means that if you know the basic ideas of photography, and the physics behind it, you wouldn’t need a computer working for you – you can work on your own. That is my philosophy of  photography and creativity.

You’ve had many single and group exhibitions, and collaborations with clients from all over the world. Are you especially proud of any of these your work that you have done or be involved?

Pride is not the reason I do this. I am not interested in success or money. In our society, money is important because it is the way to pay for your life. I have done some jobs to earn money, but I don’t consider that to be very important. I am more interested in learning, having open eyes, meeting interesting people, enhancing my perspective, creating something new, find in something that hasn’t happened before – these are the main reasons behind what I do.

What is the most important moment for you when taking a photo? Are you looking for a moment to combine the photo with the story, or does everything happen spontaneously?

I am interested in atmosphere. I try to catch it and figure out what part of it is interesting to me.  The image is always of an interpretation, and I am the one who is responsible for that. In the end, I decide what to show, and how to show it. It’s not a simple decision – you need a lot of experience to make the right decision and to carry it out in the right way. A two-dimensional image is technically really limited; you need to use as much experience as you have, keep open eyes, draw inspiration from various fields, and the result can be quite interesting. I have been doing this for 2 years now, and it has become easier for me. I don’t need to think through every image – when I have an idea, I know what to do with it.

How you see yourself in the future? What advice would you give to young freelance photographers?

I like to keep on walking. I would like to have a little bit more security for my assistance, this is not so easy to handle. At the moment I am able to create distracters, which are clearer for me and easier to communicate.  I’ve realized some of my clients are interested in what I am doing, even if is not so suitable for their potential market.

It is always difficult to give advice to young photographers on what to do in general. I believe in tutorship – if someone is there who needs help, has questions, or wants me to show them something, I try to help out. If young photographers ask me for advice, I end up learning at the same time as well, so I invite everyone to discuss their projects with me.

Yesterday the betapitch – crew finally got together

We did a small BBQ in front of betahaus and scrolled through the applications together. We were quite late since we postponed the deadline for sending in one pager by one week. So we sat there looking through an awesome number of 53 (nearly all high quality) one pagers looking for the best ideas, teams and business models. Like always, we felt that it was quite hard to judge on an idea just having a one pager at hand not knowing the team and more background information.

Nevertheless after a couple of hours we had got 8 sure shots that we want to invite and 4 more “questionsmarks” we like to have a chat with still today to make sure we’ll have the full number of 10 Startups at betahaus next week. We evaluated “Team”, “Business Model”, “Innovation”, “Feasibility” and “Meaning”.

Trommelwirbel -> These are the “8″:

• - Somewhere HQ
• - Get a Gig
• - Optima Labs
• - Mobeelizer
• - Shakebee
• - Loopc.am
• - einFach
• - Mr X (didn’t want to be unveiled before the pitch)

We’ll get in contact with each of you during today and tomorrow and will all meet for a pitch training on Wednesday! Since there were so many additional applications we are thinking about a different kind of follow up to stay in touch with most of you and help you implement your idea even though you are not pitching at betapitch. We’ll come up with something after betapitch has passed and there is a little more time to think.

For now: Looking forward to meet you all at betahaus next week. If you don’t have a ticket yet check out this site to sign up: http://betapitch3.eventbrite.com/

Over and out and have a nice sunday!

Last week we got to know about the Tokyo based FabCafe throughout Weaving Cats Travel Log Blogpost over here. Michelle also wrote about it since she was there with Peter.

What strikes me about this place is it’s welcoming atmosphere and casual introduction to fabbing. It’s in the heart of one of the busiest neighborhoods in Tokyo, and Chiaki says they get a lot of walk-ins who discover a nice-looking cafe, have a coffee, and then get curious about the laser cutter.

This week this came along on Twitter:

Followed by this Blogpost explaining the story behind and how difficult it is to get access to  rapid prototyping equipment in HighTech City Berlin whilst it is no longer a question of big money oder low demand.

Well, that is what we want. Let’s do this. It seems the right time. Now let’s have a look at how this can be done. a) Let’s have a look at what we already have, b) what we are still in need of and c) where this could lead to.

• What we do have: 
• We have got the space. We have got Open Design City and the betahaus Café.
• Opening Hours are Mo – Fri 8 am – 8 pm, enough time to fab.
• We have got Staff operating the bar, opening the space, administering keys, supplies and taking care of payments and organizational needs
• We have got a limited number of tools in the back
• We even host the 3D Printer (Makerbot) of an honored citizen of Open Design City

• What we are (probably) still in need of
• We’d need a properly set up 3D Printing Station that can be moved around and fits into ODC and the Café and it should be very accessible
• We need somebody being able to operate it on standby or it should very very easy to operate it yourself.
• We need a Project Owner who is moving things forward until things run smoothly. This is a Project!
• One might want have a Lasercutter as well. But maybe this goes to the future section. We have to start somewhere.

• This could lead to
• A real Fab Café in Berlin
• Better and bigger Machines later on
• More Workshops, DIY stuff.
• Revitalization of ODC

Berlin, what do you think of this?