A French company seeking to develop Chinese creative talent has
been set up in Shanghai, reports Jenny Hammond.
Three enterprising French expats have been inspired by
Shanghai's cultural and creative environment to set up a business
to nurture new artistic talent.
Their Shanghai "hub" of French parent company Elegangz has been
open for two months and one of the directors, Pierre Laret, is busy
introducing the concept to the market.
In essence it is an international multi-media production
organization looking to develop the potential of local creative
talent.
"Elegangz was created by Adrien Moisson, a visionary who started
a music label from scratch while still at school," says 29-year-old
Laret, explaining the Parisian origins of the company.
Moisson realized early that the future was not in just one media
but by combining all of them and through starting Elegangz he
enabled artists to pool their talents to achieve a better
result.
The French company has since combined the skills of more than 70
artists ranging across the creative spectrum of illustrators,
directors, video makers, musicians, art directors, photographers
and architects.
Moisson visited Shanghai two years ago where he had what Laret
describes as the "blade runner effect," seeing the future as we saw
it as kids watching movies.
"We are the home studio generation, creating albums or even
movies with our simple home computers," Laret said.
It has taken the time since Moisson's visit to establish the
right structure and attract the best people for an office to be set
up in Shanghai. It is now fully operational with Laret in
partnership with Coralie and Monsieur Theophile.
But what is Elegangz and what does its presence in a thriving
cultural hub like Shanghai mean for budding artistic talent?
Elegangz is both a production company and a talent agency that
encourages dynamism and creative freedom.
Laret says Shanghai, a young city in constant cultural mutation,
is a great stimulant for the creative mind.
"It seemed the most suitable city in China to fit our
philosophy, an amazing frontier between East and West, with an
extensive culture of exchange since its foundation," he said.
"In China, our role is to build on the model developed in
France: Finding young talent in schools around China, giving them
the opportunity to work with established artists, and opening the
opportunities to work through our network in Europe."
Making contact with universities and creative schools around
China, Laret aims to identify talented students for the company
fresh out of learning.
"The experience of our artistic collective combined with the
freshness of new talent creates a mixture that directly benefits
all our multi-media clients," he said.
Elegangz's artists are given an opportunity to be creative on
commercial projects and gain financial freedom to develop their own
projects.
"Of course we are a business, but we invest most of the money we
earn in research and development, in finding ways to create
synergies between our cultures, in helping young talents to
blossom," Laret said.
The Parisian native Laret had worked as DJ, music producer and
art director under the stage name Flaneur before moving to Shanghai
in 2005, planning to stay one month. Since then he has provided
music consultancy to brands such as Volkswagen China and organized
product promotion tours of China.
"Elegangz wants to create an exchange in China that goes beyond
pure business, to bring something here as well as learn from this
complex country, Laret said.
"My dream is that in two years we shoot a TV commercial for Nike
in Paris with a Chinese young director, a French crew and an
English musician," he added.
For more information, e-mail Pierre.laret@elegangz.com, or
visit www.elegangz.com
(Shanghai Daily by Jenny Hammond January 1, 2008)