Articles
LOOK: Short Term Shelter for Artists
Working creative people, especially those who freelance, tend to move around a lot. Often times, the cost of finding, say, a...
07.22.09
Founded by Rebecca Wolkenstein, who runs a creative agency of her own, the project was inspired, in part, by Wolkenstein's series of transcontinental, work-related moves. "I hate looking at the figures," she says, "but relocating to London and then coming back to Australia again probably cost us well over 45,000-pounds that is. To have a house we could stay in while we found our feet would have been the most amazing leg-up."During this time we would let newly arriving Aussie photographic assistants and makeup artists and the like stay at our house rent free and mind our cat, Bunny. I know this gave them such a break in a new town and we were happy to help. I just thought wouldn't it be amazing if we all pooled our resources, if expats coordinated their trips home with new arrivals in a city instead of passing each others' planes in the sky?"With the help of MadeByExpo, developer Damien Aistrope, and her husband, Wolkenstein built Caravan, which she likens to a dating service. So far, it's serving about 100 mostly English-speaking people in countries around the world, adding about five users a day. "This kind of system only works if you have a bit of faith in humanity and use common sense. I am optimistic that my members have both, or they probably wouldn't list."