FarmLab

Creative rural hub combining tradition, sustainability, and digital fabrication in southeastern Austria


 WHEN: October 2025

WHERE: Kapfenstein, Steiermark , Austria

FOCUS: Semi-self-sufficient farm

Summary of the programme

The programme offers an immersive peer-learning experience rooted in the rhythms of rural life. Over five days, the visiting peer will explore how creative practices, circular design, and community engagement can support sustainable rural regeneration. Activities include hands-on workshops, forest walks, site visits to local partners, and open exchange with artists, craftspeople, and local residents. Based on a semi-self-sufficient farm equipped with traditional and digital fabrication labs, the programme creates space for reflection, collaboration, and seasonal making. It aims to spark trans local dialogue and strengthen a growing network of creative hubs working in non-urban contexts.

Activities will include: 

  • Introduction to the local ecosystem: seasonal walk exploring foraging, biodiversity, and local knowledge (e.g. felting, dyeing, woodworking, digital fabrication, ceramic, 3d printing,...)
  • Hands-on workshop sessions: making sessions adapted to the peer’s field
  • Study visit to local initiatives focused on cultural or ecological rural innovation
  • Peer shadowing 
  • Visit to regional creative site: field visit to a local practitioner working with craft, ecology, or sustainability

Exchange period: 

The peer exchange with FarmLab will take place in October 2025. The selected Visitor will agree directly with the Host on the exact dates in October.


Description of the Host organisation

FarmLab is a rural creative hub in Kapfenstein, Austria, promoting a sustainable future through cultural and creative practices. They provide an open space where makers, artists, designers, researchers, and local communities explore circular approaches to local development through cultural and creative practices. Through workshops, residencies, and EU-funded projects, FarmLab blends traditional crafts with digital fabrication and ecological innovation. Facilities include labs for woodworking, ceramics, textiles, and a biolab for biomaterials. 

FarmLab.at | Explore Sustainable Innovation

 farmlab.at

What makes FarmLab an Ambassador of Good Practice? 

FarmLab demonstrates how a small, rural-based organisation can act as a hub for cultural exchange, sustainability, and innovation—rooted in local traditions yet connected to global networks. Located in Kapfenstein, Austria, FarmLab fosters global-local exchange through workshops, residencies, and public events. Using simple, locally sourced materials and refurbished farm buildings, they blend traditional crafts with new technologies like digital fabrication. Their adaptable, low-threshold model promotes cultural exchange, creative development, and sustainability rooted in rural life. Rather than offering a fixed format, FarmLab provides a responsive, replicable approach grounded in local and seasonal rhythms, generous land-based knowledge-sharing and slower pace—demonstrating that creative hubs can thrive outside urban centers and inspire similar efforts across Europe and beyond.

What does FarmLab hope to gain from the P2P exchange? 

“We expect the peer exchange to generate mutual learning, fresh perspectives, and new connections across rural creative hubs. Ultimately, the exchange aims to strengthen collaborative practices and contribute to the growing visibility of cultural regeneration in rural Europe.” 

Facilities for the Visitor

  • Accommodation for the visitor can be arranged in a rural guesthouse approximately 5 km from the farm, with transportation support available if needed.
  • The team speaks English, German, Italian, Spanish, and Catalan, and can provide multilingual support as needed.
  • Wi-Fi is available throughout the site, along with basic documentation equipment such as a camera, printer, and projector.
The Open Call for Visitors will be open until 07 September 2025


Apply here