Communities

ONE.shirt is a social enterprise dedicated to integrating and supporting vulnerable individuals in the labor market. Through a zero-waste workshop, ONE.shirt develops practical and manual skills among these individuals by repurposing unwanted textiles, thereby reducing their negative environmental impact. The workshop promotes a sustainable approach to the fashion industry by transforming textile waste into unique, high-quality garments. Complementing this mission, the accessory brand WAESTE wear expands the sustainability concept by creating products from production scraps and unwanted textiles. This brand capitalizes on leftover materials from the production process, turning them into innovative and sustainable accessories that perfectly align with ONE.shirt's zero-waste philosophy. Together, ONE.shirt and WAESTE wear represent a blend of social inclusion and ecological responsibility, supporting the circular economy and inspiring positive change in communities and the textile industry. These initiatives demonstrate that a sustainable future is achievable through creativity, solidarity, and respect for the environment.

The pandemic has fundamentally changed us on all levels. It changed us on a personal level, it changed the way we relate to the world, to information, to people. It changed our businesses. It has changed our priorities. It has changed the way we think and relate to the idea of community. As a consequence of these changes, the pandemic has also highlighted a significant problem: the growing need for meeting spaces, individual work spaces and adaptable operating models. Our response to this problem was building.a.community. This project serves as a living laboratory and model of sustainability, providing a flexible space for creative entrepreneurs and social innovators. Utilizing recycled shipping containers and natural materials, buidling.a.community creates an environment conducive to collaboration and community activities, responding in this way to the needs and problems faced by the Timisoara community.

Urban regeneration has been one of our main areas of focus from the very beginning and remains a subject close to our hearts. We strongly believe that a city can offer much more than we imagine, without the need to crowd it with new buildings. The story of FABER is one of preserving and repurposing the city's industrial heritage. Since 2018, we have co-owned, together with our partners at Faber.community—Cristina and Valentin Mureșan, the FOR team, and Adrian Erimescu—the former Azur paint factory. Alongside friends and collaborators, we transformed it into FABER: a new space for creation and connection, dedicated to the communities of Timișoara. Here, we also relocated the headquarters of AMBASADA, which had previously operated for its first five years in Paltim, the former hat factory. FABER now stands as a testament to the potential of urban regeneration, breathing new life into old spaces while serving as a hub for collaboration and innovation.

CreativeMornings Timișoara is a project dedicated to the local creative community, an event that brings together people passionate about design, art, innovation, and culture. Through accessible morning meetings, we aim to inspire and encourage the exchange of ideas in a friendly and open environment. Each edition explores a unique theme, connecting participants with local and international speakers who share authentic stories and valuable perspectives. CreativeMornings Timișoara is a vibrant community of curious individuals eager to contribute to the development of a creativity-driven culture in our city.

AMBASADA is a social economy structure founded by the PLAI Cultural Center in 2015, with the aim of supporting local communities focused on positive impact in the creative and non-profit sectors. As an independent cultural center, AMBASADA is the first of its kind in Romania and part of the international network TransEurope Halles. Recently, it also became the founder of a new entrepreneurial structure, Faber, which continues the mission of preserving and valuing the local industrial heritage. In 2020, as part of the Cultural and Creative Spaces and Cities project, AMBASADA launched a community garden in the Azur yard. Responding to feedback from its active community, it later transformed this space into a hybrid work and meeting area: building.a.community.

PLAI Festival is more than just a music festival. In fact, it represents an innovative project for civic and cultural education, wrapped in the form of an artistic event. Since its inauguration in 2006 at the Banat Village Museum in Timișoara, the festival has grown organically, based on a community of volunteers dedicated to positive social change. Music serves as a pretext to promote and infuse values such as volunteerism, sustainability, and collaboration into the community. PLAI has become a meeting and celebration space for cultural diversity, supported by a vast network of non-profit organizations and creative entities, and continues to be a source of inspiration for participants of all ages to get involved and contribute to the well-being of the community.