Esin's roots are based in a series of creative workshops that ran between 2000 and 2004 in Tokyo, Sapporo, Taipei, New York, Berlin, Kassel and Providence, Rhode Island. Those workshops were managed by tomato, the UK based creative agency, and attended by over 200 participants from around the world.

The central focus of Esin is inspiring creativity through workshops building on the tomato model. The premise is simple: bring together some of the world’s top creative talent and mix with a group of participants of all ages, backgrounds and skills who are serious about exploring, developing and applying their creative abilities.