How do you meet new people in a city like London where there are 8.6 million inhabitants?

Also, how do you meet people in a city you’re visiting for a precise period?

@everythingart1998

French-Italian Londoner, Valentine del Giudice, co-founder of creative community ssshake, told me that the only option she had was Tinder. This was in Finland during her Erasmus exchange. After studying fine art in Paris and Design Management & Culture at the London College of Communication, she said that she really wanted to meet local and creative people.  By using Tinder, her and friends “used it to match people, like musicians and started a group”. She realised ‘the need of a non-dating platform for the creative industries’.

Finding like-minded people to collaborate with can be a struggle. Ultimately, ssshake is all about ‘helping you to connect with nearby creatives’.

Every two months, and on the first Wednesday of the month, you can go to a ssshake gathering where you can meet the team and other creatives. They have also created a Facebook group called the ssshake creative community, where you can ask for people’s help on a project or you can just share opportunities you’ve heard around you. You can meet people from advertising to photography, but also dancers, designers, illustrators and many more. Basically, you will find ‘everything that can be useful on a creative project’.

The ssshake platform is available soon as a phone app (iOS & Android) where you will be able to ‘connect with your Facebook or Twitter and create a profile’. Then, you just have to look for people based on skills, industry and location.

@ssshake

If you can’t attend a ssshake event because you’re too busy partying (no judgements here), at least test out the app.

As Valentine realised on her trip to Finland, ssshake ‘needs to happen’. This is the future of networking in the creative industry.

Now, fly away and go get started on new projects!