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Two Years On With Digital Brand Creative

Many of our members are entering the two year mark and we wanted to celebrate by telling their story. Below is a conversation with digital designer Ben Slawson.
What are you working on?
Currently working on various projects with clients within the Luxury Lifestyle markets including Luxury goods, Fashion, Celebrity and Interior Design.
Lesson learned from being in business for two years?
The biggest difference is additional learning and experience within these markets. That and an even stronger focus on clients business and creative needs and most importantly the needs of their customers.
What book has inspired you?
There are several however REWORK by 37signals is a great, quick read and contains some useful ideas on building, running and growing a business.
What is THECUBE & coworking mean to Digital Brand Creative?
Everyone will have their own definition however I think THECUBE (as both a space and ethos)
reflects the personalities of the individual members as part of a connected collective.

These connections enable innovation to thrive as members benefit from a creative,
friendly and business focused environment that is flexible, accessible and inspirational.
I’m sure this definition will evolve and refine over time however this is my perception to date.
Ben joined THECUBE June 2010.
About Digital Brand Creative
DBC is a boutique design agency specialising in websites, design, branding, and creative media, for the Fashion, Luxury, and Lifestyle industries.

Blue Stern Joins THECUBE Coworking Space

Blue Stern is a market leading provider of experienced candidates and top percentile graduates fulfilling sales and recruitment roles across London and the South.
Since 1997 the team have successfully run sales and leadership training programmes and have helped create some of the UK’s top salespeople across numerous industries. Several years and an appearance on Dragon’s Den later, Blue Stern Recruitment was born, with the sole aim to become the market leader in sales and recruitment to recruitment (rec to rec) sectors. Should you and your organisation benefit from talented candidates, do get in touch.

Welcome Artist & Photographer Gabrielle Cooper

THECUBE London are pleased to announce “Ubiquity”, an exhibition of photographs dealing with space and presence. Gabrielle Cooper is a young London artist and photographer whose thoughts and work return to recurrent themes: spatial composition and human connections.

Gabrielle’s interest in space, physical space and mental space, began with the reading of city descriptions. She read short articles and booklets describing various places, cities, and spaces. She began to wonder if the place the words allowed her to visit through her mind was the same place she would experience if she was physically present. But how could she visually convey this experience to others?

Gabrielle uses double exposures, repetition, and varying techniques to convey the impression of the space visited and reproduction of its atmosphere. The images not only hold the memory of the space for Gabrielle but act as new words for an onlooker to encourage them to visit the area in their minds. Would it be the same place described if the viewer visited it physically?

We can enter space with our physical presence and mental presence. We can enter any realm we choose. With the use of our minds we have the ability to have Ubiquity.

About THECUBE

THECUBE is a co-working space in East London, which sponsors artists on their first solo exhibition. Each artist is chosen based on their neurological value and aesthetic.

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Notes To The Editor

THECUBE says about Gabrielle’s work “Gabrielle’s work is compelling, thoughtful, and with purpose. She is intelligently combining the perception of space with photography to observer how we perceive and interact with different types of spaces, both in mind and physical presence”

Gabrielle graduated with BA Hons Fine Art at Camberwell College of Art.

This is Gabrielle’s first Solo Exhibition

Gabrielle speaks about her work “It exposes my obsessions with light, shape and repetition and that I often envision myself as many people, all with different interpretations of a space. I then have to compete with my personalities to get their ideas and vision in a photograph which often resolves into something quite scattered and unpredictable.”

Building A Supportive Community

East London has had an inspiring history of people making humble starts and shooting into business hall of fame. For example there is Sir Alan Sugar, who started his enterprising career by selling aerials and electrical goods around Hackney. There are also many other business gems like Bistroteque now recognized world wide for innovative dinning experiences.

East London is a vibrant and diverse area with an innovative spirit and hutzpah, it is home to bankers, artists, fashion designers, lawyers, architects, technologists, creative agencies, garment and furniture markers – the list is endless.

When THECUBE made the decision to set-up in East London, it was to be a support system for these innovative minds. It was important that we supported the diversity and sense of community that has always been part of this area. We have devised some tips on how we create community at our workspace.

  1. Create a workspace that makes people feel good. This may seem benign, but if people are stimulated by their surroundings they will release dopamine and feel good. Dopamine is responsible for conceptual thought, helping to generate ideas.
  2. Establish open minded behavioral norms. This is done by creating a workspace that houses a diverse group of people and encouraging debate. When people from different expertise backgrounds come together, socially there is more room for respect and admiration rather than judgement. A community that encourages debate will reduce dogmatic thinking.  An open mind is the catalyst for innovation and possibility.
  3. Encourage Sharing. Ideas need knowledge, metaphorically speaking knowledge gives ideas oxygen. Therefore communities should be open to sharing knowledge and contacts to nurture ideas off the ground and turn them into sustainable businesses.
  4. Establish trust. This is an obvious essential to any community people will naturally be more open and feel less at risk if they are in an environment that establishes trust.

As we continue face new challenges in this economy being part of a community helps us feel less at risk, open to new ideas, and helps us generate business faster.

THECUBE Workspace Says Goodbye To Artist Benjamin Buckley

It is time to bid Farewell to Benjamin Buckley’s colourful paintings that have graced our walls and kept us motivated throughout the winter months. They have uplifted spirits on the grey-est and coldest of days and encouraged imagination with their intricate, brassy, and vibrant displays of reality co-existing in utopia.

Benjamin’s paintings have not only created a brighter atmosphere but have also stimulated discussions, such at neurology and creativity, the power art has in a co-working space, and art’s reflection of ourselves. They have not just been a joy to look at but have been a lovely way to bring  newly stimulated and refreshed minds into the new year.

It will be sad to see the end of the “Projective Drawings” exhibit but we are also excited to see what the future holds for art at THECUBE workspace.

The Future Of Work and Workspaces

Futurologist Dr. James Bellini has forecasted the strength and growth of self-employed individuals. He says ‘we are moving into a new age where technology is making it increasingly possible for us to work wherever we like. It is not just that technology is making us more remote but it is also allowing us to create ideas that require little start-up costs or infrastructure.

Another factor is that our anthropology and psychology is changing. In times of change, humans crave comfort and control, so people will be seeking to create their own economy independently from corporate structure.

We believe that this new type of work should have a new type of workspace.  For us this means a space that has been primed to release neurochemicals responsible for innovation, cognitive thought, and collaboration. Which are all essential elements for building a sustainable and independent economy.

We have also taken into account the core values and behaviours that bind these nomadic workers. They are thinkers, innovators, outliers, and highly curious. Thus THECUBE London has created a menu of events that encourages thought and discussion.

As we already mentioned, even our anthropology is changing. Despite having the luxury of working from anywhere, people are choosing to build strong communities, based on shared values and vision. We think that spaces should cater to these type of communicates and instigate open collaboration. There is real power in the unification of people. Spaces like THECUBE London  can help unify these nomadic working communities;  catalyse a new economy and ways of thinking.

What is a Collaborative and Diverse Workspace?

There are a couple of words that we would like to define in regards to who we are.

Collaborative

For us this means a space the hosts individuals who are looking to build a strong knowledge based community.  It means that people are open and willing to share knowledge, contacts, and experience to build their business faster and more sustainably.

Diverse

There are many examples on how important extrapolation is for innovation. From the printing press to the airplane they were invented through being exposed to a wide variety of knowledge and systems.

In our space we have members that range in age, industry, gender, and background. They are all learning from each other’s industries and sharing solutions, clients, and opportunities.

The more diverse your knowledge pool the more diverse your ideas and solutions will be.

Workspace

THECUBE is deliberately choosing the word workspace as it is a more open than office space or coworking. For us it refers to both a physical and mental space. Our space uses brain technology to both provide a space that is neurochemically primed but also provide new tools to make better use of our brains.

We are moving to a new ‘humanist economy’ which means that we have to re-learn how to work together, create businesses that offer value, and solve complex humanitarian problems. The old tools, which were used to build the past economy cannot be transferred and we need psychical spaces that encourage the sharing of new knowledge plus brain technology that offers new tools.

THECUBE is a place to learn, collaborate, and grow a sustainable business.

Blue Stern Joins THECUBE Coworking Space

Blue Stern is a market leading provider of experienced candidates and top percentile graduates fulfilling sales and recruitment roles across London and the South.


Since 1997 the team have successfully run sales and leadership training programmes and have helped create some of the UK’s top salespeople across numerous industries. Several years and an appearance on Dragon’s Den later, Blue Stern Recruitment was born, with the sole aim to become the market leader in sales and recruitment to recruitment (rec to rec) sectors. Should you and your organisation benefit from talented candidates, do get in touch.

WHY!Create produces first Behance Meet-up

Fellow member of THECUBE Coworking space, WHY! Create brings the first official Behance Network meet up to London, UK.

Our aim is to mobilize the creative community and make it as vibrant as possible. We encourage everyone to get off computers, meet up offline and connect. It is a chance to start some real-life conversations with other creatives that live and work in London. Meet professionals to collaborate with, get feedback from, and have a good time with!

WHEN: 26 January 2011

WHERE: Plastic People, Shoreditch

The night brings creative inspirations and insight from some of Behancers’ world.  The event will feature a great line-up of speakers that will be sharing their work and stories:

  1. Seif Alhasani: Design & Visual Communication

www.seifalhasani.com

http://be.net/seifalhasani

  1. Ronaldas Buozis: Cinematographer

www.ronaldasbuozis.com

www.behance.net/RonaldasBuozis

  1. Factory 311 – Image Licensing Agency

www.factory311.com

www.behance.net/Factory311

Also Sai, an upcoming illustrator will be exhibiting her work during the event. Her drawings are known for their elegant and subtle line work and also their gentle humor. http://www.behance.net/abetterhell

Join us for an evening of inspirational talks, music and drinks.

About Behance Network:

It is a Creative Professional Platform. The world’s leading platform for creative professionals to gain exposure and get hired. They empower creative professionals to make ideas happen.

About WHY! Create

WHY! Create is an official Behance Network Ambassador in Great Britain. It is also a creative network and showcasing platform for emerging talent. (N.B. we are not employees of Behance, we just believe in their message)

For More Information, contact Candy Willems at: 07889559754

candy@why-create.com

How to Use Coworking Spaces

Our members were recently asked by mashable to say what it is like to be a coworker. In the process one Alex O’Byrne from WeMakeWebsites gave us a little quote on how to best use a coworking space and what it means to him.

“Co-working is about achieving economies of scale without being a big company. Be prepared to share your skills, contacts and experience with other co-workers and you’ll find they do the same for you. The result could be a new contact that becomes a client, or discovering a new tool that helps make your company more efficient. In short, it’s about being open and part of the community by treating each other as comrades and not competitors.”

Create an industry specific discussion group:

We champion diversity and even within industry you can gather a diverse group of people. Alex created this group to help members in the Web industry solve problems, innovate, and create work, below is what he says about it…

“Try and create a niche group within your co-working space, such as a group for web developers or one for physical product designers. This is a great way of aggregating knowledge and experience within a particular industry, effectively allowing you to improve your business faster. You might learn a killer tip for gathering new clients or for improving your design process, or it may just mean you can learn from others’ mistakes without having to make them yourself.”

About THECUBE Coworking Space
THECUBE was set up in September 2009 and we focus on creating economy through innovation. Our members come from varied industries, age groups, and different levels of experience. Our role is to provide events which stimulate thought, a highly aesthetic space, and professional meeting spaces.

If you would like an info pack, please email info@thecubelondon.com