I worked as a
freelance journalist for couple of years. As a free-spirited person I loved
that style of job – getting up more or less when I wanted, planning my work the
way I wanted, working at nights or in the very early mornings. It wasn’t an
idyllic job – sometimes with nights shorter than 5 hours but there was something in it. That time I was
dreaming about the place where I can meet other people working the same way as
me, from different creative industries, emanating with a can do attitude, sociable, passionate, connect with them on
professional as well as social level, have a free space to work instead of
sitting in my PJ in front of my computer and loosing motivation. I found something what seemed like that in Warsaw but… it wasn’t
for free. Finally I found the place in London. I am not working as a journalist
at the moment but still looking for such places. And when I went to Camden
Collective all those years came back to my mind. Nostalgia.
It is hard to
define the Collective. It is a place that doesn’t like definition, a place with many faces. To describe it as clearly as possible, I can say that it
is a charity working under Camden Town Unlimited which is a privately own
business managing other businesses in the area. Collective provides free
working space 24/7 for start-ups involved in creative industries: digital,
food, technology, fashion, media etc. Free internet is attached to the space as
well as opportunities to organise events, meetings with partners and
contractors and much more. Apart from that Collective runs pop-up shops around
Camden which allows the start-ups to see how they feel in retail environment as
wells as job brokering for young people who want to work in creative
industries.
That’s on the
surface and what’s Collective under that? It’s a hub where creative minds of
London meet to develop their ideas, network with each other and have fun. At
the moment it is set up in two locations located 2 minutes walk from one
another. One is in an old tenement and the other in tall business building. They
both look different – in the tenement it is a one big room with platforms on
the wheel which serve as “offices” but can be moved and arranged as necessary. To
get there you need to actually know it exists. Located somewhere in the narrow
mews between one building and another, you need to buzz, open a heavy door on
the side of the building and then you are in. Don’t expect anything glorious or
glam but definitely expect simplicity and creative atmosphere. The other site is
a typical open-space office but with such oddities like old couch and armchair
or cupboard. The idea is to divide the space into homey parts, like kitchen
(where food business are), living room, relax area with puff-chairs.
An example of how Camden Collective works is Alex Cooper, a chef who opened secret supper club Basement Galley and provides extreme dining experience such
as eating high quality dinner in an old tube carriage or a warehouse. I visited
Collective on Wednesday, his first day there was just before that and by the
time of my visit he already spoke with another food business based in
Collective to organise a project together. He knew what other people are up to
and felt like duck in the water. He finds the space perfect for work: “It has all
the office supplies with stiff office atmosphere” - he says.
And this is what
attracts all those people to the Collective. From speaking to some of them, I
think they most enjoy the company of like-minded people, then comes the no cost
factor and many others – opportunity to network, be part of the fellowship, see
such place growing and good address at NW1 is a plus as well. The last one
tells other what kind of business you have. Camden
Collective is open, provides opportunities and is unique... what else businesses may need and
want.
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