Our new office is open and we’re certainly pleased with the results. When we began looking for the ultimate space, we had a key set of requirements that just had to be met. 1. We wanted lots of natural light. Afterall a consistent supply of vitamin D is vital to creativity! 2. Because all the directors live in the downtown core of Vancouver it was vital the space be easily accessible to all of us. 3. It needed to be open with plenty of room to move and play. We found our space at 314 West Cordova between Homer and Cambie. You blink and you could miss it. With windows on three sides and 750 square feet – we found the perfect space to grow into and set our roots with the rest of the Design firms and agencies in Gastown.
In planning the space we wanted an informal sitting area, plenty of desk space and a collaborative design & presentation area. We also looked for something that could house our printers, microwave, cables, pencils paper and any other oddly sized paraphernalia. We’ve all built up our own collections of inspiring stuff, but we wanted to keep the clutter at a minimum.
Some searching on craigslist and stores around town yielded some great deals. In the spirit of reduce, reuse and recycle we spent the first three days refinishing a solid wood 8 foot x 4 foot ‘island’ that we managed to get for the cost of bottle of wine! The theme of brown and white emerged from this monster of a piece which served double purpose as storage and presentation table.
Our white desks and lamps came from IKEA which we put together in record time. We were careful to recycle all of the cardboard and plastic (and believe us there was a lot!). We held onto all Styrofoam, as it is ideal for retaining water in planters (A nice little tip from Brad). Find out more on how to recycle styrofoam over at treehuggers
Our chairs were another amazing deal; 4 chairs that retail at $899 for $40 each –This is where ‘brick’ was added to the colour scheme, yet another craigslist find!
Some more chairs ($30.00), a sofa($150.00), lights($40.00/each) a few trips to Home Depot for supplies, and one trip to Moes for curtain panels($10.00/each) got us what we think is a very fine and inspiring work environment. All for under $2000.00. We were pretty happy about that!
But we would like you to be the judge! We would love to hear what you think.
