Translated material
"Floors" change the format: now startups will be placed there
Loft "Foods", which has been working in St. Petersburg for ten years, announced full rebranding. Within six months, the number of art exhibitions will be reduced there-they will be replaced by lectures and festivals about entrepreneurship. New spaces will open in the building, Russian startups will be occupied.
How will the change in the format affect the visitors of the loft, which will become with old residents and how will the project promote its franchise in other cities of Russia? "Paper" tells everything that is known about changes in the oldest loft of St. Petersburg.
"Floors" are now focusing on startups. ART exhibition because of this will become smaller, but they will remain
The fact that the “floors” change the format was announced on October 25, 2017-in the year of the decade of the project. Now the loft will focus on supporting entrepreneurs, as well as on festivals and lectures on startups.
This decision is the owner of the brand Denis Kuznetsov (according to him, as the owner, he does not affect the events and content of space - approx. “Paper” ) explained by the fact that in modern conditions the “creative economy” becomes the most interesting for people.
-People have a desire not only to go to exhibitions, but also to do something ourselves. Over the years, a new generation has grown up, which wants to realize its creative activity in such [entrepreneurial] projects.
At the same time, Kuznetsov emphasized that we are talking about startups not only from the IT sphere, but also any other. According to him, the loft will primarily support creative entrepreneurs.
As the General Director of the Floor, Svetlana Polynkova, noted, due to the reorientation of the project in the loft, there will be fewer art exhibitions, but they will continue to be carried out in parallel to the events dedicated to startups. The number of citywide festivals will remain the same.
Rebranding will not affect the old residents. For startups in the loft, new spaces will open
By 2018, the leadership of the “floor” plans to rent 40 new reconstructed premises with a total area of more than 400 square meters. meters. They are also located in the building and courtyards of the former plant on Ligovsky Prospekt, 74 are intended for entrepreneurs and their startups. At the same time, what kind of projects will be open is still unknown.
Entrepreneurs, according to the General Director of the Floor, Svetlana Polynkova, will have special rental conditions: at first they will be able to pay from 500 rubles per square meter. meter per month. For each project, according to Polynkova, the period during which it will be possible to pay less for rent, they will choose individually. The leadership of the “floors” calls this favorable conditions, comparing them with the rental rate in the main territory - 3 thousand rubles per square meter. meter per month.
According to Denis Kuznetsov, the current residents of the loft will not affect the change of format. He notes that they have not yet been announced rebranding, but the outflow of projects is not expected.
The design will change in the loft. It will be pixel
Within six months, the corridors and stairs of the “floors” will be painted in the style of an 8-bit game: the logo, official font and posters will change. The new loft design was developed by St. Petersburg designer Mitya Harshak.
According to Harshak, the chosen design "reflects the essence of this rebranding." He notes that pixels “help loft to speak the same language” with his young audience.
"Foods" launch the Fund Fixes and plan to open in other cities of Russia
The fact that the “floors” will open in different cities of Russia was announced by the general director of Loft Svetlana Polynkova. She said that Loft had already begun to cooperate with the Alter Invest franchise company and they jointly developed a franchising program. According to her, negotiations with entrepreneurs from the regions are now underway.
- Especially for the “floors” we are developing the “Antifranshiza” project, which will be called “Food Floors”. There will be no typical sale of rights for using the name. Here the rights will be issued to entrepreneurs who are going to open spaces for startups.
According to Kuznetsova, the franchise can open in any region of Russia, regardless of remoteness from St. Petersburg.
The last event of the old format will be an exhibition of the best works from previous exhibitions. The first event of the new is the festival of creative startups
On the occasion of the change in the focus of the loft-from art projects to startups-on November 17, an exhibition of the best works from the previous 10x10/Transform exhibitions will open in the “floors”, which will be overseeing Irena Kuksenet from the Formula gallery (also in Loft). What exactly will be presented at the exposition is not yet reported. According to Denis Kuznetsov, this exhibition "will complete the history of" floors "from 2007 to 2017."
The first event in the new format in early December 2017 will be the festival of creative startups, at which seven directions will be presented: from design and art to fashion and retail. The festival will be lectured by existing entrepreneurs, exhibitions of startup projects and educational programs for everyone.
At the same time, the leadership of the “floors” notes that rebranding is a process that will gradually take place in a loft for six months.
"Floors" opened 10 years ago and became the first creative space in St. Petersburg
The Loft Project "Foody" opened in 2007 in the building of the former bread plant. According to Valentina Vasilieva, who worked in the “floors” of the PR manager from 2010 to 2015, the loft has changed during this time-because of which its audience has changed.
- Initially, the “floors” were a “party for their own”, where new and new people gradually joined. In 2007, it began as an art project, but by 2013 it began to change towards shops, food courts. This happened due to the requirements of the external environment: more and more people came, they were more interesting to show rooms than exhibitions. Because of this, the loft also changed. Now there are a lot of youth, and before there were more artists and artists.
For ten years, the project increased its area from 3 thousand square meters. meters up to 7, held more than 2 thousand events and several hundred exhibitions in the galleries of the cluster "Formula" and "Globus".