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Walking in the streets of Kreuzberg, Berlin you’d have a hard time imagining that the graffiti filled walls and doors would hold within them a picturesque, cozy, and out of the ordinary coworking space.
Blogfabrik is a coworking space in Berlin that opened its doors in July of last year with a unique business model in mind. Maria Ebbinghaus, Marketing and Communications Manager, describes Blogfabrik as:
“Germany’s first coworking space where bloggers, instagrammers, photographers, and videographers can pay for their workspace with content so as to create an innovative center full of expertise that develops and spreads digital content through our online magazine DailyBreadMag.”
It’s a pretty sweet and simple deal. Members contribute one article to Blogfabrik’s blog and in exchange they get free workspace, along with all the perks and services that come with a regular coworking space.
Their blog, Maria tells us, “focuses on the digital transformation of our society, while at the same time it documents the Blogfabrik project. Every article is written by a content creator from our network and is shared through their own personal/professional channels. Topics span from yoga to fashion, from turkish people to people that blog from a wheelchair, and some cooking topics as well. It’s an experiment to bring people (artists) together in one magazine, and there’s a lot to learn from it.”
Blogfrabrik’s business model is unique in other ways besides not charging for their workstations. Maria tells us the idea came from MELO GROUP, a Munich-based company that focuses on media and logistics. Realizing that the print world is being replaced by the digital publication world, MELO GROUP wanted to develop a project that would allow them to better understand and dive into the digital publication world.
Asked why Berlin instead of MELO’s hometown Munich, Maria responded by simply observing that Berlin is the artistic city in Germany and the only place where they could successfully launch a project like Blogfabrik. And they were right, Berlin is full of artistic talent and Blogfabrik has been able to gather some of the best around–from published cookbook authors, to dancers, singers, writers, and professional photographers and videographers.
Originally conceived as a think tank project that would work with young entrepreneurs and online publishers, the project soon evolved into something more.
“While visiting a lot of coworking spaces, startups, and successful publishers we found there was a lot of inspiration and talent, but also realized that there was a space missing for these types of works and professions to be carried out.”
So, how does it work? How is Blogfabrik profitable?
Let’s just say that they embrace collaboration in many ways, asides from all members contributing to DailyBreadMag. The mix of members allows Blogfabrik to have a network of experts in various industries and areas, and together they have formed a sort of consulting agency.
As an entity, Blogfabrik offers various services to outside clients, including help with social media management, event planning, personalized workshops, advertising campaigns, and taxes. They also have “a product development team that is researching the intersection between content and ecommerce,” which also provides members and staff with unique knowledge to share with clients in order to create strong growth strategies.
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[/ezcol_1half_end] The consulting services brings profit to Blogfabrik, allowing them to continue offering space at no cost to members. Yet, they also use their physical space to have some extra resources influx; “our space is available to rent for events,” Maria tells us.
Speaking about the actual space, Blogfabrik offers shared desks as well as designated desks. They also have a full photo studio, a video editing station, conference rooms, and a spacious kitchen that’s used to host networking dinners.
If you’re in Berlin and want to apply to become a Blogfabrik content creator, in Maria’s words: “simply send an application through our website and tell us a bit more about your project and passion.”
Images via Blogfabrik, taken by Christoph Neumann – www.christoph-neumann.com
