CASE. 5 years of Urban Crafts: Once upon a time

by Laura Verbeke, pictures by urbancrafts.tv

Have you got your golden ticket for the Urban Crafts Award Show yet? If no, click here. 

It's the fifth edition already. The fifth! But how did it all started? Since we all tend to forget about the when and why's of such things (especially at 2 AM on the dance floor), we wrote you a nice recap. So sit back and relax. 

It was back in 2010 when the idea to start up a community of young entrepreneurial minds first popped up at Trendwolves. Tom Palmaerts, partner at Trendwolves, had spotted a global - yet, at the time, very underground - increase of craftmanship. 

Skaters in Barcelona for instance, were losing their interest in shallow fronting. Wearing the right shirt wasn’t as important anymore as their tricks and skills in the halfpipe. Only talent and technique really mattered. And so it was in other cities, in other youth cultures, in other branches. Skills became a dominant factor to gain respect among peers.  

Around that time, in the slipstream of the Do It Yourself phenomenon, all kinds of makers' communities emerged in Europe's main cities. It began with in an increased interest in craftmanship, and it evolved into a whole new movement. A movement that re-discovered and upgraded old crafts such as woodworking and brewing, or invented brand new ones at the intersection of creation and technology. So DIY became Do It Together. A must read on that matter is Richard Florida's The Rise of the Creative Class (2002)

All these crafters, makers and DIY enthousiasts had one thing in common: they shared their creative output with others through the internet. Creativity is very shareable, because it's inspirational. Makers are believed in and followed. Those who excel and are able to contribute their expertise and teach others the tricks of the trade in an accessible way, are viewed upon as heroes. 

For us it was clear that, after a side job as a DJ, God was becoming a designer. Creativity became very quickly the new status symbol of choice. A provider for independence, followers, fans as well as respect. Real influencers were from now on distinguished not by their words, but by their creations. It was clear that creative entrepreneurs where the next big thing.

“God is a designer. An architect, an engineer and a crafter. A maker, a creator. Someone who creates something from scratch.”

It was around that time that Trendwolves was invited by PALM Belgian Craft Brewers to have a chat about youth trends and strategic marketing. Back in these days, PALM was struggling with an outdated brand image. "By developping Urban Crafts - or Cool Crafts, as we called it in the first stage - we were able to connect with a target group of young makers that was very aspirational for other youngsters", our chief Maarten explains. "We initiated wokshops, pop-up cafés, events and contests in an urban and rough context. It didn't have to be arty, we wanted youngsters to learn while having fun mostly. PALM was a buddy through adventures such as Route du Soleil, Carbage Run and much much more. 

More on PALM and Urban Crafts following this link

Since 2010, over 200 crafters got the opportunity to show off their talent on Urbancrafts.tv, to learn from each other during co-creation projects, innovative events and community weekends, to connect with the corporate world, and to challenge their pr skills during the finals of the annual Urban Crafts Awards. Alla Charlotte, last year's finalist, won a ticket to Burning Man Festival in the desert of Nevada, by the way.

The marketing strategy behind Urban Crafts is vintage Trendwolves. "We transferred our trend insights and our knowledge of youth culture, into a strategy that connected PALM on a cultural level with a young target group", Maarten explains. 

In 2015, Hello bank! joined the community and became Urban Crafts main supporter. Since last year, Urban Crafts and Hello bank! teamed up for co-creation projects (eg. the hello tram and more recently at KIKK festival), and of course the upcoming Urban Crafts Awards. 

Did we already mention you can be there (for free!) on december 17th in Brussels? Simply click here We'll be happy to meet on the dance floor, while Vuurwerk and Mensch Erger Je Niet are hitting the stage of La Tentation.