Snaffle Tail

We wanted to put Creative Engineering on the cover and Marius Soflete's tail on the back of the magazine. That's how the whole team was on the cover, and when you turned the magazine over you saw Snaffle's tail. It was February 2020 and we were getting ready to bring out the March 2020 print edition.

We met first at the Creative Engineering in Bucharest, then I went to the photo shoot with Ioana Dodan at The Fab Squad. We continued with lunch at a nearby trattoria. Marius I had already met. Catalin (Caraza), Octav (Timu) and the others I knew then. Young, full of energy, they talked passionately about their work. I found plenty of inspiration in them. I fed off their energy.

It's been 2 years since then. 2 years! Seems like 10 to me, so much has evolved, so much has changed around them. New, serious projects have been built around Marius. Soflete.ro, Sophlete Academy, Integrall Buildings are just a few of them. Businesses that educate, businesses that build, businesses that change patterns of thought and action, businesses that inspire.

But the involvement of the Șoflete.ro team alongside pRO-nZEB cluster, in organising the nZEB Caravan in Cluj, because this is where I wanted to end up, I think it's another start, both for them and for the rest of us. I knew them and that's why I went prepared to have a pleasant surprise, but what happened at nZEB Week in Cluj-Napoca exceeded my expectations by far, by a lot. The exhibitors, the attendees, the talks on stage, the atmosphere and discussions at the end of each day, the party on Saturday night, the organization. Everything was superlative. But let's take them one by one.

Exhibitors

In this partnership formula, the organisers have managed to bring together - in addition to the older participants in the caravan, such as Litarh, Zecaph, NZEBshop - many new names, newcomers to the caravan, about 40 companies in total. This included many specialists from companies in the fields of wooden houses, insulation, windows, heat pumps, installations, energy efficiency measurement. Virtually all areas of interest on the subject of energy efficiency in construction were covered. Equipment suppliers to the industry were also present, such as Ligna Dumi Tech, a supplier of woodworking equipment and technology.

Participants

There were a lot of very informed people from all over the country, not only from Cluj. And I'll give you an example: Bogdan, a young man from Bucharest, who came to Cluj for the first time with his wife and child to attend the event. He has a plot of land near Bucharest on which he wants to build an energy-efficient house. He arrived on Thursday and left on Sunday. During this time he participated with the Creative Engineering team in the construction of the models prepared by Litarh and the other exhibitors, in discussions and presentations, and in walking on the site of the house opened by Claudiu Antohi for viewing. He asked continuously and received answers constantly. When he left on Sunday, he was still undecided between timberframe and CLT but certainly more informed than when he arrived.

Discussions on stage

Very interesting, interactive and consistent. Various issues surrounding energy efficiency in construction were discussed. Beneficiaries, architects, structural engineers, financial specialists, developers and many others were present on stage. The audience was large and knowledgeable, the questions and answers interesting and intense.

Beer at the end of the day

Hi. I liked it. And the excellent idea of not stopping the discussions abruptly but letting them flow after closing time, with a beer served on draft. According to Marius, the beer was brewed in Oradea especially for them (I think it was also called Șoflete, I'm not sure) by a former architect who had turned to his second passion, brewing beer. Anyway, the best way to end each busy day together. Quality networking with smart people, eager for new information, all in a relaxed atmosphere. One of the days I was even talking to Emil Baciu from Cadwork because he didn't have time all day to eat or go to the toilet. It was his time to relax. Well, moment is an understatement. This moment lasted one day until 11.00 am. In the halls of the BT Arena, no one kicked us out and we were gone until 11pm. Friday night after 10.00, some of us moved to the Zama.

Saturday night party

The EC Garden. With a brass band, a horde, and a fire. This is where friendships were clearly made. There may have been some networking and exchanging of business cards, but it was more about "strengthening" relationships than building them. It was that moment when even the slightest doubt about the success of the event was dispelled. The party broke up at 1.00 because the next day followed the tours, the presentation of the open house sites.

Presentation of the houses

We went to the one in Pădureni, opened for viewing by Claudiu Antohi. The one with photovoltaic tiles, the first house in Romania to have this tile installed. The house is built on a timberframe structure built by Litarh after a structural design by Creative Engineering. In fact, with Octav Timu (Creative Engineering) and Vlad Liteanu (Litarh) I also made a video for our YouTube channel, Revista din Lemn. We will also put the video made during the group's house presentation at 12.00. The interest was so great that two presentations were needed one at 10.00 and one at 12.00.

Organisation

Here I must congratulate the Șoflete.ro team, especially Darius for coordinating the whole event and Marius for the way he coped with the pace imposed by his team. It was very similar in its running, keeping the proportions, to global IT events with many stages and many guest speakers, events where you have to make your own agenda to make sure you don't miss what you are interested in. It was a modern event, impeccably organised. From talking to Marius I understand that the whole event organization took 4 weeks!!!

As a conclusion

2 years. That's how long it's been since the magazine shoot. What's it going to be in the next two years?! At this rate, I believe that in the next 2 years Marius Șoflete and his team will fundamentally change the way building is done in Romania. He's been saying that for some time and now he seems closer to that goal than ever. And no, don't imagine that legislation will change under pressure from Șoflete or things like that. Far from it. I'm talking about quality standards generated and accepted within the community around Marius, under market pressure.

I saw developers at this event who stayed for the talk until the beer at the end of the day, who also came to the party on Saturday night. I saw companies gathered in a very strong community. Some call themselves a cluster, others an employer organisation, but they are nowhere near as tight-knit as this one. We saw an informed market, increasingly informed, that will change the rules, that will impose standards. That's why I say that Soflete will fundamentally change the way we build. It's like a magnet that pulls all the energies in the industry around it. We'll talk more in two years.

I don't know if our idea would have caught on, the one with Snaffle's tail on the back cover. We never got around to it. The pandemic came and we suspended the magazine in print. But Marius inspires us too. We want to be part of the change. As can we, with the Wood Magazine, with The way home. From next year we will re-edit the Wooden Magazine in print. We can do it!