A Platform Encouraging Creatives to Verge Off the Beaten Track

on 14th Nov 2012

öff-beat founders Ben and Luke

öff-beat is a lifestyle brand and platform that has set out to create something truly unique within the creative community. Founded by Ben Prevezer and Luke Brookner, both 23, earlier this year, they wanted to create a unique experience for their audiences through the collaboration between artists, designers and musicians.

The founders have set out to create unparalleled events by working and experimenting with creatives. öff-beat events are a chance for their guests to connect with each other whilst bridging the gap between talent and opportunity for the artists. Speaking to Urban Times the founders said:

“Our artists have the same vision as us; to create unbelievable showcases for our audiences. When you have 15 artists all with the same creative drive and ambition, the event is 15 times as engaging (about 15 anyway!)”

On top of this, the boys have recognised the opportunity the events presented for creative individuals to meet each other.

“We noticed that with every creative project there is an intrinsic need for artists that have a variety of skill sets. The collaborative aspect of our initiative has seen us focus on developing öff-beat into a network that can facilitate this process … In a world, where everyone is interacting via email, social media and text, we want to lead the renaissance of face to face communication. Real connections are made face-to-face and we want to create these opportunities for everyone we work with.”

A key facet to the success of öff-beat is how they promote their events. The involvement of artists and partnerships with like-minded brands creates a mutual interest for all. By combining the networks of those involved, invitations and marketing material spread throughout the creative community.

Lydia Baylis performing at an öff-beat event

In addition to the events, öff-beat create engaging online content for their audience by working with their artists and various creative brands. This is the second part of the platform where they can offer space, and further exposure for their partners through their website. Their partnerships enable them to provide new, exclusive offers and information to further engage their audience.

The main spectacle is, of course, the events and the founders are quick not to forget that:

“We are constantly looking to create experiences that offer over and above what our guests are expecting. With live art spectacles, design installments, live performances and quirky designer exhibitions, we feel we have succeeded in creating truly unique experiences for all involved.”

Their first event took place in September and was an all round success. Amongst an audience of 500, they had a dozen young musicians and DJs perform throughout the day and into the evening alongside mini-stalls where up-and-coming fashion brands showcased their wares. Their most recent event, celebrating November’s first Thursday, was a more chilled out atmosphere where guests could soak up acoustic performances amongst the backdrop of beautiful artwork and photography collated by öff-beat.

öff-beat’s September event

This time round, öff-beat are scaling up and have planned an event to take place on 1st December at one of London’s most exciting warehouse spaces; the Hoxton Docks. Here we will hear live performances from emerging musicians such as James Craise, Leanne Robinson, Anoushka Lucas, The Special K’s and the Moonjets. We also look forward to the launch of Ashley Marc Hovelle’s new clothing range, AMH2O, alongside art installments from Rebecca Zephyr Thomas and Makda Iyasu(Candid Interiors) and displays from Stephanie Kazolides, Anna Sebastian and Miaer Lloyd.

It is fantastic to see öff-beat put the emphasis back onto offline connections, which often gets lost in the ether of our online activities. Let their appropriately named platform tempt all of us to verge off the beaten track, even just for a moment.

öff-beat are running competition to offer a free ticket to their next event for anyone that can decipher what common phrase is presented in the illustration below. You can leave your guesses in the comment section: