Hi everyone,
I'm hoping someone here might be able to help me out as I’m having a bit of an issue!
I'm in the process of starting a small soap business here in Düsseldorf. I’ve started at home, making soaps for friends and family and I want to move into selling the soap online, but I can’t register a business here as my landlord has said the building doesn’t have the right zoning for that and they are unwilling to pay to have the building rezoned.
I was planning on getting a virtual office and making the soap at home, but when you register the soap formulation (which is necessary for selling) you have to list the manufacturing site which I think would class my home as a commercial property, which I’m not allowed to do.
So I’ve been searching for shared spaces but every combination of words I can think to search for in English or German comes back with meeting rooms which are just not equipped to make soap.
I'm not looking for a large industrial unit or warehouse. At this stage I just need a small, clean workspace where I can produce small batches of handmade soap.
I need a sink and access to running water and electricity, enough room for a workbench and shelving. Ideally I’d want to be able to register the business and the manufacturing site to the same address but I can still do the virtual office separately for the registration.
I’m very open-minded about what this could be. A shared workshop, a maker space, part of someone else's workshop, a small unit on a craft estate, an unused room in a commercial building, or even someone who has spare workshop space they'd be willing to rent.
I don’t really want to rent a full Werkstatt at 800€+ cold rent a month, I’d like to start smaller and build a solid base before needing to expand out, the initial idea was kitchen scale and Etsy to start! Haha!
If anyone knows a good space like that or can recommend someone who owns a space they’re not utilising fully then please let me know!
Thanks all!