CoBo Lights will open its doors to the public on Thursday, 20th September, as part of the program "KRACH - Kreativraum Chemnitz". In shop premises at Theaterstraße 17, founder Franziska Dörner wants to design and sell lamps in "Industry Style". The opening begins at 4 pm. At the opening weekend, all customers will receive a 10% discount on retail prices. In addition, there will be a workshop on saturday, september 22nd, at 4 pm for custom lamp design. In the following days, until the end of september, CoBo Lights will open daily from 10 am to 8 pm.
CoBo Lights founder Franziska Dörner studies Prevention, Rehabilitation and Fitness Sports at TU Chemnitz. Since 2015 she runs her company incidentally. The 23-year-old makes lamps out of things that other people would throw away - from old industrial components such as thermometers or canisters to bottles. She has developed "mass production" with desk lamps made of copper pipes or on concrete pedestals. So far, she has mainly worked at home, selling via her online shop cobolights.de and on design and creative markets and fairs like the Maker Faire. "The KRACH program is the perfect opportunity for me to take the next step in the company's development - thanks to the rent-free commercial premises, the risk is manageable," explains Dörner. The international jury of experts was convinced as well. In her KRACH room in the city center Dörner wants to connect workshop, showroom and retail space. "Here I can work on larger orders without complications and also address the walk-in customers in the city center", she looks forward to the starting shot, in which she recently invested a lot of work: In addition to the sharpening of her business concept thanks to consultations by KRACH Network she also worked hard together with many friends to design the KRACH object at Theaterstrasse provided by WiC - Wohnen in Chemnitz GmbH according to her wishes. "I chose an industry look that matched my lamps," she explains.
In addition to CoBo Lights, other KRACH winners have signed their user contracts and moved into their office and work spaces - these are not publicly accessible. Further business openings are expected in the coming weeks after the reference skills of the provided properties have been established.
About KRACH - Kreativraum Chemnitz
The aim of KRACH - Kreativraum Chemnitz is to promote the establishment of companies and projects in the cultural and creative industries in Chemnitz. On the initiative of the City of Chemnitz, the Chemnitzer Wirtschaftsförderungs- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH and the industry association Kreatives Chemnitz eV, public and private landlords provide commercial space in Chemnitz for up to three years free of charge for these projects for use. In addition, the prize-winner projects receive a start-up budget of 2,500 euros and support from experts in business, law and marketing. The first round of applications ended on January 31, 2018, with about 50 submissions. In April 2018, the first winners were announced.
Journalists are invited to report on the opening of CoBo Lights.