New York
Interview with Lee-san
Why this co-working space calls ninetytwo13?
well, basically this is the address of here, Akasaka 9-2-13. Also in US, they use to have old motor cycle association, and No.13 was supposed to like unlucky number. The reason why they put 13 patches even though it’s unlucky number, they were saying they didn’t care they were going to pass, to be independent, rebellious. So we are hoping to gather the people who want to be innovator and creators who can find their own path.
what is the theme, concept of this place?
I wanted to build the community of creators So attract the people who want to create, innovate. well I guess be behind, we can have a fully equal system within Tokyo, so if you come here, you expose all the things being interesting like sub culture, art, all the interesting activities going on.
Did you design all these interiors of this building?
yes, pretty much. I wanted to create somewhere genuine, and inspiring. So all the materials should have real texture and weight, and they have stories behind them.
Nice. So tell me about the stories of these interiors, material.
Most of them were found all over Us and Japan. I drove around and found lots of interesting stuff, met interesting people, it is kind of adventure. One time, I met a family who owned a 200years building in a small town in US, they had a big basement and all the junks in there, old books, chairs etc. I just dig through all of it and I bought some because they wanted to get rid of them. Instead paying for destroying, throwing away old things, I buy them and display
them and we can talk about the cities and stories of these things. It’s lots of work it doesn’t make sense if you are looking for profit, it’s better you just go to the discount store and buy it, that’s way cheaper. But for me each
peaces has stories behind, and this is priceless.
which kind of people are the major user here, student or designer, engineer?
well we’ve got pretty much whole range of people, so like people from tech industry or people like films, advertising etc.
People are from all over the world. Our staff basically speak English, and Japanese. But if you are here, you can
explore different culture, languages from all over the world.
Tell me about the facilities here.
we have 60unit, we have pretty much full now. We rounded share house unit couple weeks age, so they still have some availability, but even though it’s already half full.
typical size of entity
we have lots of freelancers who are basically individual, and also some companies which are 3people to 10 – 20 people. We can’t fit a hundred people here, it’s too small for this.
how many meeting rooms? Can we rent it even we are not member?
we have 3 meeting rooms. You need to be member to rent this place.
What makes your co-working space different from the others?
well, there are lots of different co-working spaces, some ones are quite similar to here, like fiscal aspect, have meeting rooms or common spaces etc. But I think each cowering spaces is different base on community. I think I want to attract
creators community here, like entrepreneurs.
Do you organize seminars?
yes, we have lots of different seminars. We are doing one next week for blockchain, and startups pitch, UI, UX seminar. Lots of event arts events, different exhibition. We did whiskey testing with jameson whiskey few days ago, salsa lesson, jujutsu, yoga classes, because I figured wellness is a component so, we are trying to find new inspiring things.