Motorcycles made in Estonia

Since the motorcycle has among other things become a luxury item, it offers the designer a great number of new opportunities to approach the task from a completely different angle. This was the basis for Renard.

"Motorcycles are something that we love and like to be involved with. Something exciting from childhood that we never got enough of," explains one of the creators, Andres Uibomäe.

In the beginning, the Renard design concept was inspired by the beauty of 30-40's motorcycles, and that is where the girder front suspension came from. It is a conventional 1930's double-fishbone solution that has a functional benefit besides it's retro appearance – the bike does not "dive" during heavy braking. One main part of Renard's GT essence is design, so you may say it is a design motorcycle, but it is definitely not a motorised sculpture! It is a bike you want to take to trackday; it is made for cornering.

"During the creative process it became our mission to prove that it is possible to create an eye-catching product in Estonia, one that would be accepted internationally by experts in the field for its design, innovative use of materials and functionality. At the same time it should be an example to local enterprises to demonstrate that through collaboration between industrial design and the manufacturing industry it is possible to produce an internationally competitive product," explains Uibomäe.

Engineering intelligence
The DNA of the Renard Grand Tourer is engineering intelligence – an ultra-light composite unibody, longitudinally mounted V2 engine and components that represent the cutting edge in the motorcycle industry.

The Renard GT’s carbon-fibre monocoque weighs only 11 kilograms, and is reinforced with Kevlar to make it resistant to impact and vibration. Thanks to an increased cross-section, the composite body is stiffer than a regular pipe frame, and thus, ensures very precise steering.

The modern air-cooled engine produces approximately 125 hp at 8000 RPM, and the GT has a top speed of 230 km/h.

The further success of the motorcycle relies on what happens next. “Personal contacts and communication are the key to good business,” says Uibomäe. The next step for them is to show their work at moto fairs and make contact with potential customers.

http://renardmotorcycles.com/

www.looveesti.ee/eng

Breaking out with Estonian music

In 2009, Bedwetters released their debut album under Swedish label “I Can Hear Music”. Besides Estonia, singles from the album received airplay in Sweden, Finland, Latvia and Lithuania. The music video for the track "Long.Some.Distance" was #1 on MTV Baltics and was aired on MTV Sweden and Finland as well. During the last couple of years, the band has been performing at the festivals and clubs in Sweden, Finland, Latvia and Lithuania.

In autumn 2010, Ewert and The Two Dragons signed a deal with Latvian label I Love You Records. The second album for the group, and their first international album, will be released at the beginning of 2011.

IIRIS is also currently negotiating recording and publishing deals.

What does it take to break an Estonian artist abroad?
“I would like to start off by saying that an event like Tallinn Music Week has gotten us so much nearer to the dream of breaking an Estonian artist into foreign markets – the very heavy door to the music industry has been opened for Estonian acts, and for the first time we are considered cool enough to play with,” describes Toomas Olljum, owner of Made In the Baltics Management.

Here’s where the work really starts. Helen Sildna and the entire TMW team has managed to get the attention of the hottest players in Scandinavia and the rest of Europe, so that at the beginning of every spring, Tallinn is flooded with industry professionals coming here to check out the “Estonian sound”. How can we take advantage of that?

It always starts with a song. “If an artist does not have the songs that labels want to release, that radios and TV want to play, and people want to listen to – then no agent will pick you up and put together a tour, and to cut a long story short – we have no
business. I’m not the first one to quote this legendary saying that "first get your songs right and then get a haircut",” explains Olljum. Fortunately, young Estonian musicians have understood that three chords are not enough any more, and the level of professionalism is growing rapidly.

“On a more personal level, I think that so far I’ve only just prepared myself for all the work that lies ahead. The future will bring us international albums by Iiris, Bedwetters and Ewert & The Two Dragons. There are also young songwriters on the roster who will be taking part in international song writing camps and writing international hits by 2013,” adds Olljum.

If we want music exports – we must start to educate and support young managers, booking agents and so on. “And don’t expect an overnight success. At the end of the day, a new era in Estonian music has definitely begun, a lot has been done, but a lot needs yet to be achieved,” concludes Olljum.

www.myspace.com/bedwettersband
www.myspace.com/iirisvesik

The Estonian National Museum

The Estonian National Museum(ENM founded in1909) collects, preserves and studies Estonian culture, the cultures of all nationalities living in Estonia and that of Finno-Ugric peoples. These are a unique part of European cultural heritage, and folk patternsin particular are without doubt an important part of this heritage.

As a result of close collaboration between the museum and enterprises, patterns from the museum’s collection have found their way onto shirts, gumboots, jewellery and sneakers. These patterns arean important aspect of Estonianhistory and thanks to creative enterprises the diversityand uniqueness of our cultural by Estonians and foreignersalike. The museum supports this kind of creative entrepreneurship.

In addition, the museum staff also conduct training sessions; for example, it was as a result of the “Employed through handicraft” (Käsitööga tööle) project that the women of the non-profit association “Tule-Loo” established their own business producing a variety of items ranging from jewelleryand patchwork quilts to umbrellas and clothing. All of these feature elements of folkart are made by hand.

The museum encourages cultural tourism

The museum also supports the development of cooperation with tourist enterprises and through this they contribute to the development of Estonian cultural tourism. The issue of a new building for the Estonian National Museum has highlighted the need to entice more culturally minded tourists to the museum, aswell as to Tartu and South Estonia in general. This inturn requires more consistentand much more varied collaboration with guides, tourism companies and cultural institutions.

At the instigation of the ENMa cultural tourism conference and package factory (Paketivabrik) was organised. This was a seminar aimed at tourism enterprises to demonstrate how existing services can be improved and value can beadded. By creating synergy between tourism enterprises, accommodation providers,guides and other cultural institutions in Tartu and TartuCounty better results can be achieved.

The museum is also active in a number of other areas. For example, they sell products inspired by pieces in the collection, such as their lighter in the shape of a deity from thefolklore of Setomaa or their two-year calendar. The latter features pieces from the silverand textiles collections.By using our collections in this way we can provide items for our visitors to buy thathave real value since they celebrate our cultural heritage in a meaningful way through quality products.

www.looveesti.ee/eng

Vaba Lava (Open Stage) creates new opportunities for the performing arts

SA Vaba Lava (Open Stage Foundation) was brought to life in May 2010 with the goal of providing a platform for independent companies active in all areas of the performing arts – a platform of the finest quality. In Estonia, there are many top companies that do not have the opportunity to perform on the big stages of the capital, use professional sound and lighting equipment, build sumptuous stage sets or even rehearse properly. Vaba Lava would like to grant them that opportunity. To offer a home for independent companies and to function as a support organization to project theatres that have proven their artistic merit.

In order to achieve all this, the plan is to establish a theatre facility with two stages and rehearsal halls at the Telliskivi Loomelinnak, due to open at the beginning of 2012. According to Kaarel Oja, chief executive of Vaba Lava, this in the long run could go on to create similar organizations to provide venues and technical equipment as necessary in other parts of Estonia. “In many countries in Europe and Scandinavia these types of theatre facilities exist and operate well. In the future, the plan is to move beyond Estonia and invite companies from other countries,” explains Oja.

Vaba Lava is an excellent means for future cross-border co-operation. “For example, a director from Bergen could come and realize his or her idea at a Vaba Lava venue using Estonian actors and actresses,” says Oja, illustrating the desire to provide the scope for international encounters. In his opinion, the performing arts are becoming more and more international. “Culture is viable if it is in constant development and a prerequisite for development is international mobility. Observe what your neighbour is doing and invite your neighbour here to see you. This is certainly part of our plan at Vaba Lava” he continues.

To completely realise the Vaba Lava success story, there is a plan to pay more attention to the appearance and public image of the venue itself. “Vaba Lava’s own brand has to be strong, because its repertoire will be diverse,” explains Oja. Sufficient investment right from day one will guarantee that we are visible to everyone.

The capacity of Vaba Lava is intended to be at least 200 events a year, which would entail an estimated 30 thousand visits. The theatre venue will offer new opportunities for existing companies and theatres, but also to those yet to be born.

See more at: www.looveesti.ee/en

Service Design Conference "Services of Tomorrow - what's next" on September 23 is part of Innovationfestival held in Tallinn.

The global economy has shifted from the creation of objects to the creation of services. Services are seen as the primary source of new economic growth, development, and innovation. The increasingly complex and sophisticated lifestyles in developed economies demand more services. Also in Estonia services already constitute more than 60% of GDP. Accordingly — services matter!

However:
— We often experience bad services;
— We wonder we are not asked which services we actually need;
— We develop services hoping that our clients will like them;
— We try to guess if our partners understand our services.

The first Estonian conference on service design on September 23^rd 2011 looks to the future of services by asking how to develop services in new ways. We ask what to do when there are plenty of clients but few touch points with them? How to cope with the clients' individual needs when services are consumed by the masses? How to provide good service when the quality depends on many other parties?

In order to select topics for the conference, two workshops were carried out in March and April 2011 with representatives from private and public sectors. Discussing problems facing the service sector, the most important themes were singled out. Thus we may say that as these topics were important for your partners and competitors, there is a high probability that they are of interest for you too.

The conference "Services of Tomorrow: What's next?" aims to discuss new demands related to the development of services, and the changing role of design in this process. The Conference begins with the professor of psychology Göte Nyman (University of Helsinki) and service designerReima Rönnholm (Palmu Inc.) debating over the future of services. The importance of service design is explained via introducing several actual practices from various fields of private and public sector. Alastair Fuad-Luke (sustainable design facilitator, consultant, trainer, educator, and writer) focuses on public services: how to co-design (co-future) in the public sector. Erik Sakkov, member of the management board of Tallinn Airport, and Sirle Arro, cruise and ferry manager of Port of Tallinn, focus on co-creation in the service sector. Transformation futurist Tuomo Kuosa (DynamicFutures) and concept designer Jari Koskinen (DynamicFutures) present an overview about the research results on how service design is understood, how designers' competences have changed, and how the field of service design has developed in Estonia and Finland.

The conference will also provide great practical value via workshops. Leaders of workshops are service design experts from Estonia and Finland: Dan Mikkin (Brand Manual), Hannes Seeberg (Provoke Tallinn),Hannu Kaikonen (Lahti University of Applied Sciences), Janno Siimar(Velvet), Jannus Jaska (Velvet), Kaarel Mikkin (Brand Manual),Kristjan Jagomägi (DF Ltd), and Sami Makkula (Lahti University of Applied Sciences).

The conference day is moderated by service design expert J. Margus Klaar (Brand Manual).

This conference is a part of an international three year service design project (ServiceD: see www.servicedesign.tv) carried out by Lahti University of Applied Sciences, Institute of Design and Tallinn University, Estonian Institute for Futures Studies. The conference takes place in the frame of European Innovation Festival IF... and Design Night from 16^th to 25^th

Invitation:Creative Entrepreneurship for Competitive Economy

ATTENTION!! Creative thinker!

A call for a paradigm shift in the way creative economy is understood and supported takes place in Tallinn, Estonia, October 19 – 21, 2011. Register here.

By now it is familiar to many that the role of creative economy can be a provider of growth to the whole economic sphere and a contributor of added value to a range of agendas. Indeed, multiple nations, regions and cities have invested substantially in creative economy strategies and programmes, with aims that range from creating jobs and attracting investment to building confidence and embedding creativity throughout other sectors – even across society as a whole.

Yet after the crisis, many are calling for a re-think on the role and value of creative economy and for a sharper and more nuanced approach to policy and strategy. This includes a refreshed approach to how we support creative entrepreneurs, a radical reappraisal of the relationship between culture and economy, and a more targeted agenda that calls for cities and regions internationally to develop creative economy strategy on their own terms.

Be a part of the major international conference! Creative Entrepreneurship for Competitive Economy takes place 19 – 21 October 2011 in Tallinn, Estonia.

Be part of Tallinn, European Capital of Culture 2011 – as the city takes a lead in creative economy strategy and development.

With speakers from Brazil to UK, Australia to Denmark, here's a sample of what you'll hear:

Prof. Justin O’Connor looks for a new paradigm, focusing on Creative Entrepreneurship for Cities and Regions. Dan Hill speaks about nurturing creativity in society. Dan describes himself as a designer, technologist and urbanist based in Sydney, moving to Helsinki to join Sitra's Strategic Design Unit. Justin is a professor of Creative Industries Faculty in Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia and visiting Chair at Jiaotong University, Shanghai, China.

Rasmus Wiinstedt Tscherning, Managing Director of Danish Centre for Culture & Experience Economy speaks about the role of Creative Entrepreneurs for the wider Economy – and asks where we go from here.

Head of Crossmedia Production MA Programme in Tallinn University Baltic Film and Media School, Professor Indrek Ibrus speaks about Collaboration, Cross-media activities and opportunities for Creative Entrepreneurs: Opportunities & challenges.

And that is not all. The conference programme is produced and the conference itself is moderated by leading international creative economy expert, Tom Fleming. 

For more about the programme and speakers take a tour at www.creativeestonia.eu

Join us in Tallinn as we discuss the role and value of Creative Entrepreneurship for the Creative Economy. Register today! 

The conference is organized by Enterprise Estonia in cooperation with Creative Estonia, Estonian Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications. It is supported by European Social Fund.

Valentines`s Day presents from Creative Estonia e-shop

Creative Estonia recently opened an e-shop, the primary aim of which is to introduce the creations of young designers and provide them with a channel for selling their products.

It is often difficult for young, talented entrepreneurs to find a suitable place to sell their products; usually, they also lack the knowledge and resources. “Estonia has many talented creators whose products are of high quality and are necessary. We believe that many people would prefer domestic products to mass-produced alternatives, but unfortunately it is quite difficult to find the goods of lesser-known small producers,” said the Project Manager of the Creative Estonia Shop, Madli Merila.

Creative Estonia helps designers introduce their products, by giving advice for compiling product introductions as well as selecting illustrative material. The product selection includes Estonian ceramics, glass, clothes, jewellery, interior decoration products, textiles, board games, and developing toys for children. At present, the shop introduces the products of 17 designers and the selection is constantly expanding.

“Helping our creators in the field of art, fashion, and handicrafts will boost Estonian creative entrepreneurship as well as the development of the Estonian economy as a whole. It is good to know that by purchasing something you have contributed to the development of the young creative entrepreneurs,” said the Executive Manager of Creative Estonia, Eva Leemet.

To celebrate Valentine`s Day with a lovely present to a good friend, Nedholm Design offers a variety of products that are illustrated by red heart figures. Nedholm Design is a succesful exporter of Nordic home design, in Estonia only available in Creative Estonia Shop. You can find Nedholm products bu browsing creators Geidi Hein, Meelis Mölder, Karin Paris, Klaarika Sinimeri, Marie Gustafsson.

Creative Estonia is a project initiated by Enterprise Estonia, funded by European Union Social Fund, in order to promote and value creative economy and entrepreneurial creativity in Estonia.

www.pood.looveesti.ee

Creative Estonia: entrepreneurs feel the need for marketing training

 Creative Estonia is organizing free marketing trainings in February to creative entrepreneurs in six Estonian towns.

The trainings taking place in Põlva, Tartu, Paide, Jõhvi, Kärdla and Pärnu are supported by Enterprise Estonia and EU Social Fund. Practical trainings are led by marketing expert Anu-Mall Naarits and feature video interviews with a number of marketing experts from Estonia and Nordic countries. There is a local business presenting its success story in every session.

 „We know that there are many smart products in Estonia, but even the best thing does not sell itself. Creative businesses have come to acknowledge the fact and that explains the increased interest in marketing trainings as all sessions are overbooked“commented Eva Leemet, Executive Manager of Loov Eesti.

The businesses that attended the training say that knowledge in marketing is essential for a small-sized business. „Marketing expertise is something that we lack of during our previous work,“explained Priit Jõesaar from Film Factor, a company that produces introductory videos for businesses. „As our organization comprises only two people, we attend the training in two towns to make sure that we get the best of knowledge,“ said Kersti Pook from non-government organization Käsiteokoda.

Creative Estonia is a project initiated by Enterprise Estonia, funded by European Union Social Fund, in order to promote and value creative economy and entrepreneurial creativity in Estonia.

More information on webpage www.looveesti.ee

Creative Estonia fosters entrepreneurship via theatre

Creative Estonia in cooperation with Management Theatre is organizing plays „Good Luck on Every Occasion!“ for students to increase their interest in etrepreneurship in  three towns – Tallinn, Viljandi and Tartu.

A thetre play is the most creative way to pass on the necessary knowledge about establishing a business. During the 2,5- hour play actors show the creation of a business and experience the typical stumbling blocks entrepreneurs fall into. The play consists of three methods training: theatre, lecture and case-study. Actors perform a story that is cut off and analysed by short lectures and comments being funny and serious at the same time.

„Good Luck on Every Occasion!“ is lead by Heiti Pakk and performed by Piret Laurimaa, Sepo Seeman and Tiit Palu.

The play takes place:
14.12 in Tallinn, Rävala 8 saalis (fully booked)
15.12 in Viljandi, Pärimusmuusika Ait (Tasuja 6)
16.12 in Tartu, Korp!Rotalia (Tähe 3)

www.looveesti.ee

New study: local entrepreneurs value festivals highly

Creative Estonia and Estonian Ministry of Culture in cooperation with Estonian Institute of Economic Research conducted a research „Evaluation and Analyses of Regional and Economic Impact on Cultural- and Sport-Events“ according to the example of the Guitar Festival of Viljandi. The goal of the study was to evaluate the impact of the Guitar Festival of Viljandi on local entrepreneurship. The study is a pilot project for the extensive research on the economic effect of cultural and sports- events planned in 2011 covering the whole country.

The results of the study conducted by Creative Estonia and Estonian Ministry of Culture revealed that 86% of the entrepreneurs involved found that the event was enlivening to entrepreneurship and 93% expressed the will to cooperate with the festival further on.

www.looveesti.ee