EcoCaddy is leading the charge on a new space for digital natives.

Collaboration over competition – it’s a mantra that’s growing throughout Adelaide’s small business community, and one Daniels Langeberg has been a vocal advocate for.

Because of this, it was only with mild surprise that CityMag received news of the EcoCaddy founder’s latest venture: a co-working space named Mâché.

“The manifesto is really to look at how you can co-work in a different manner,” Daniels explains.

“From the research we’ve done and the conversations we’ve had, there is a deficit. There is a gap in the market for this type of offering.”

The opportunity to move into the co-working space came after EcoCaddy HQ moved from the corner of Wright Street and Bartels Road into the old Radio Televisione Italiana property next door.

Though the site has seen better days, its in-built facilities, Daniels believes, makes it a unique offering, and the perfect shell within which to construct a hive of co-working creatives.

“We have the studio, recording studio, photography studio… it’s a facility that you could hopefully use if you’re a digital or an audio artist, or a content creator,” Daniels says.

“There’s more content being produced, digital platforms are becoming more prevalent… so there’s a need for it.

“There’s already a lot of big content creators or content pushers out there, [and] you think they’re in these amazing spaces, but a lot of them are working from home or working out of cafes, and so we’re hoping that we can create a space for them, so they can actually come together.”

Mâché’s tenure on Wright Street though will be limited. Even from EcoCaddy’s very beginning, Daniels has known the site will eventually be demolished, but what some might see as a catch, Daniels sees as an opportunity for innovation.

“It’s something different, and that’s the transient space,” Daniels explains.

“We have that core group of dedicated people that will be our community… sort of little generators, these little engines that are helping things to evolve, which is the greater space, which is Mâché, and then it all gets demolished, it all goes away.

“But the framework – the idea – is still alive, you know? Sort of like [how] you use a balloon as a mould and then you layer the newspaper over the top and then pop the balloon but the form still stays.”

The concept of a co-working space that will shift after 12 months in one location is new, but it’s not without a tangential precedent.

“Are we crazy?” Dans posits, “Not really, because it’s exactly what Renew Adelaide’s doing, and it’s exactly what RCC do every year, you know? It’s there for six weeks, then they demo it and recreate it again.”

With some tenants already locked in, Daniels hopes to garner enough interest to launch by the end of August and start the process of defining what Mâché is to become.

“This place isn’t going to exist forever, it’s not going to be refined and polished like Hub Adelaide. We’re young, we’re learning things as well, but with that there’s an opportunity for [our tenants] to put in and help things grow,” Daniels says.

“If we’re going to create new industries, then we need to think about how we can work differently to create new ideas.”