Open Call for the CREA-UP Working Lab (closed)

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REIMAGINE      REPURPOSE    REINVENT

Are you a designer, artist, or creative entrepreneur passionate about sustainability and upcycling? 

Do you want to develop new skills, explore sustainable practices, and connect with like-minded innovators? 

Then this is your opportunity!

WHAT IS CREA-UP WORKING LAB?

The Crea-Up Working Lab is a 10-day immersive experience dedicated to sustainable design, innovative upcycling techniques, and practical business development strategies:

*Sustainable Design Workshops: Learn advanced techniques and innovative methods for upcycling and creating sustainable designs.

*Hands-On Projects: Engage in collaborative activities to design and develop impactful projects with real-world applications.

*Business Development: Gain insights into practical strategies for building sustainable creative enterprises.

*Networking Opportunities: Connect with leading experts, peers, and organisations in the sustainability and creative industries.

DATES & LOCATION

It will happen between 18 and 27 February 2025.

It will take place in the heart of Berlin, Germany — a vibrant hub of creativity and sustainability. The exact venue will be announced soon.

CLICK HERE TO APPLY!
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION!

WORKING LAB AGENDA OVERVIEW

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Creative Exchange in the Belgian Context

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Creative Exchange in the Belgian Context

In April 2025, the European Development Institute hosted the Belgian edition of the CREA-UP Co-Creation Workshops in Brussels. The two-day event gathered local designers, artists, and creative entrepreneurs to collaborate on sustainable design concepts, reflecting the growing interest in circular and environmentally responsible creation within Belgium’s cultural and creative industries.

The sessions provided a platform for experimentation and dialogue, enabling participants to share expertise and explore new design perspectives based on reuse, transformation, and material recovery. The workshops reinforced CREA-UP’s vision of creativity as a practical driver for sustainability.

Objectives and Structure

The Co-Creation Workshops in Brussels were designed to strengthen community building among creative professionals and to foster cross-disciplinary collaboration. Participants worked through short thematic sessions focusing on:

  • Investigating material reuse and sustainable sourcing within design and production;
  • Exploring approaches to circular product development;
  • Exchanging good practices between creative hubs and independent professionals.

This process helped establish links between the Belgian creative sector and the broader European CREA-UP network, ensuring that local experiences contribute to shared learning across partner countries.

Contribution to the European Framework

The Brussels workshops played an important role in connecting Belgian initiatives with the transnational objectives of CREA-UP. Insights from the activities supported the preparation of upcoming exhibitions and dissemination events, promoting a unified European narrative of sustainable and innovative design.

Through these Co-Creation sessions, CREA-UP continued to encourage collaboration, experimentation, and the long-term integration of circular thinking within Europe’s creative communities.

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Building on the Working Lab Experience | Co-Creation in Germany

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co creation germany

Following the intensive ten-day Working Lab, Green Muse e.V. organised a two-day Co-Creation Workshop series in Berlin to further develop and refine the ideas, prototypes, and collaborations initiated during the earlier phase. These sessions provided a focused environment for participants to revisit their projects, integrate feedback, and explore how creative upcycling could evolve into sustainable practice and professional collaboration.

The workshops encouraged interdisciplinary exchange, connecting designers, artists, and researchers working at the intersection of creativity and environmental responsibility. This continuity between the Working Lab and Co-Creation phase ensured a deeper engagement with the methodologies introduced by CREA-UP.

Objectives and Process

The Berlin Co-Creation Workshops aimed to consolidate the practical outcomes of the project’s experimental phase. Activities focused on:

  • Strengthening teamwork and refining project concepts initiated in the Working Lab.
  • Investigating design strategies that extend the lifecycle of materials.
  • Discussing how local creative ecosystems can benefit from circular and community-driven approaches.

The sessions were intentionally collaborative, allowing participants to define concrete paths for the future development of their prototypes and to align them with the project’s European objectives.

A Collaborative Step within CREA-UP

The Co-Creation Workshops formed a crucial bridge between the laboratory phase and the public exhibition programme. Insights from these workshops informed the preparation of final presentations across the partner countries, demonstrating how local experimentation contributes to a shared European dialogue on creative sustainability.

Through this process, CREA-UP continued to highlight the role of creativity as a driver for sustainable change and collective innovation.

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Crea-UP Platform and Guide on its way!

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The Crea-UP Platform is currently almost finalized and will meet with the users soon! 

 

The platform will offer a wide-range of opportunities for creative community members and creatives from different backgrounds! 

 

Crea-Up platform will provide its members online catalog service, capacity building training, business model development guide, and communication and networking services such as knowledge-experience sharing.

 

The platform will be a place of sharing, learning, interacting and community building, networking for creatives from all over the EU! 

 

Platform will also enable a free of charge space for its members to showcase their portfolios, businesses and reach customers! An instruction guide in e-book format about 40 pages and available in 4 languages (English, French, German and Portuguese) will guide the members of the community on how they can do business on the platform, sharing catalogues, creating a profile, taking orders and customer relations.


Crea-UP Platform will soon become available as free of charge and free access through our project website www.creaup.org! The Guide will also be available for members to easily navigate and benefit from the Platform!

CREA-UP Platform

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Crea-UP Mid-term Meeting was held in Nice, France on 23 February 2024!

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The Crea-Up- Creative Upcycling for Sustainable Art & Design: Building Creative Upcycling Community project’s mid-term evaluation meeting was held in Nice, France on 23rd of February hosted by project partner Les Creatives de Demain!

 

The meeting was held successfully with the participation of all partners with 4 in-person and 2 online. During the meeting, the partners have discussed the project’s so-far progress, current situation and future steps.

 

The partners have evaluated the overall project promises, assessed the achievements so far and discussed possible steps and/or measures needed to be taken in order to make sure the Crea-UP Project continues to reach its impact.

 

Stay tuned to hear more about the Crea-UP Project’s exciting journey!!

Read more about CREA-UP!

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Crea-UP Creative Upcycling Community Grows!

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The objective of the Crea-Up project is to instill the habits of reusing, repairing and repurposing products within society. By doing so, both consumers and designers will actively contribute to ecological transformation and climate change mitigation.

 

With this aim, we are building the Creative Upcycling Community with members from France, Portugal, Belgium, and Germany! The partners are already in collaboration with our target group and initial members of the community to join us in this journey are selected by the partners!

 

These pioneers will join the project in its journey towards creating the Upcycling Community! The selected community members will join us in the ‘’Crea-UP Working Lab’’ activity to be held in Germany. Within the Working Lab; The skills and capacities of the creative community will be developed in the eras of reuse,repurpose and upcycling of waste or useless products.

Read more about CREA-UP! 

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Crea-UP Training Programme Content is Ready!

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The Crea-UP Training Content – Sustainability Guides – content and materials are free and open to Creative Community members and everyone!

 

The purpose of the guides is to equip emerging entrepreneurs in the fields of fashion, furniture, decoration, design and art with comprehensive knowledge and practical strategies pertaining to sustainability. These guides aim to offer a structured and informative resource that empowers individuals to integrate sustainability concepts into their businesses and organizations. By providing insights into areas such as Marketing, Branding, and Business, with a specific focus on sustainability, the guides aim to foster a more environmentally conscious and socially responsible approach to entrepreneurship. The ultimate goal is to enable these entrepreneurs to make informed, sustainable decisions that contribute to a more eco-friendly and ethically driven business landscape.

Sustainability Guides

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Building Creative Upcycling Community officially started!

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Crea-Up- Creative Upcycling for Sustainable Art& Design: Building Creative Upcycling Community officially started with the kick-off meeting on 6 April 2023 in Brussels. The project that co-funded by European Commission, European Education and Culture Executive Agency is going to last for 20 months.

Crea-Up project mainly aims to build a creative upcycling community to establish a supportive and collaborative network of designers, artist and craftspeople who are committed to sustainable practices.

During the kick-off meeting partners met with each other while going deeper to the project and coming up with creative ideas!

The project is implemented under the Coordination of Les Créatives de Demain from Nice, France. The project consortium consists of 4 institutions, including the Coordinator. These are;

 

–  Les Créatives de Demain (Nice, France)

–  European Development Institute ASBL/VZW (Brussels, Belgium)

–  Cru (Porto, Portugal)

– Green Muse ( Rheine, Germany)

 

Stay tuned for more news about the project!

Read more about CREA-UP!