eXpression Umeå, the business incubator for artistic and creative industries becomes part of the city centre. In cooperation with property owner Mofab, eXpession Umeå moves into the MVG gallery, where together they will develop the city as a place and enable entrepreneurs and creatives to take their place in the city centre.
Here comes Umeå's creative entrepreneurs, designers, fashion designers, musicians, architects, writers, filmmakers, artists and performers will be given the opportunity to showrooms, pop-ups, events and co-labs test and develop their concepts and business models.
I to seize opportunities and drive the development of tomorrow's sustainable city, there is much to learn from the new, creative and purpose-driven entrepreneurship.
The Future Retail Lab Accelerator will also take up space in the central premises of the mall and continue its journey towards collaboration, growth and new business models for a sustainable retail future.
We have a long experience of our companies taking over the city centre, thinking in new ways and changing the cityscape. Take examples like Team-Scandi, ÚMA vintage, Sisters in Law as well as Peach My. All of these stand for their unique expression, smart strategies and business models, says Marlene Johansson, CEO of eXpression Umeå.
Umeå leads the way through this cooperation. We see many advantages in eXpression Umeå moving part of its operations into MVG. That our visitors in the gallery will have access to an inclusive space to meet in and at the same time get an insight into what eXpression Umeå's creators are doing to enrich Umeå's business community and city, we see as something very positive. We believe in this type of collaboration, says Rolf Burlin vice president Mofab Umeå.
The process of creating a dynamic, inclusive, flexible and creative meeting place was initiated by Anna Parry, Proto Projects and Maria Östensson, EcoDesign & Inredning in the project already in mid-September.
With a world-class university, it was natural to invite students from the Schools of Architecture, Design and Art and the School of Business to the first experimental part of the project, to come up with ideas and prototypes. In an intensive workshop called 12 hours of Creativity, Anna Parry, from Proto Projects, leads the students through a super-fast process of taking over the space and prototyping full-scale, on-site environments.
It's always fun to work with students - they often bring their own kind of high energy and fresh thinking. A multidisciplinary group like this one also brings very different, complementary skills - and because they come from all over the world, they bring different ideas about what makes a city great. All in all, it's a great chance to create something that's inclusive and new," says Anna.
After the initial workshop, Maria Östensson, Ecodesign and Interior Design, takes the baton to develop the design process and create a concept with creative height and luminosity. By shaping the surface in detail and refining the explosion, she continues the magic of the process to finally complete a 3-dimensional environment.
A project with creativity at its core in the centre of Umeå feels incredibly exciting to design. Since a creative process is organic, many new ideas and dimensions are added to the development work, which breeds new thinking and innovation about what and how something can be or look. Then you have to stitch the ideas together and select what works as a whole. It also feels incredibly cool that a downtown mall is curious about bringing creative entrepreneurs into their environment and that they are willing to explore what might emerge as a result. Change takes courage, and creating a physical space where creatives and entrepreneurs intersect with the city centre and all the people will, I think, develop new ideas and connections on many levels, says Maria.
For more information:
Marlene Johansson CEO, eXpression Umeå
Marlene.johansson@expressionumea.se
070-674 95 39
Rolf Burlin, Vice President Mofab
070-676 71 11
