Where I Work

Design happens somewhere...

Honestly, design can happen anywhere. I'm constantly sending myself messages, writing notes and snapping photos on my phone as I find inspiration along my daily business and I carry a sketchbook in the backseat of my car everywhere I go. But there is always something to be said for the importance of place, even when that place is an office.

“There is always something to be said for the importance of place, even when that place is an office.”

I was wrapping up graduate school when the pandemic struck and I went from clean white spaces in the grad lab to my kitchen table. I'd always had a studio/office upstairs but it felt cut off from the rest of the house. Facing the wall my computer sat against didn't help. As lockdown stretched on and on I knew I had to confront the inevitable - creating a space that appealed enough to me to make me want to sit there for eight plus hours a day while still being efficient and well equipped.

Start With What You Need

It was a no brainer to start with the essentials: my computers, paper, pencils, straight edges and measuring tapes. Laying them out in the space where they'd be within arms reach was a great foundation for the room. I knew that my computer facing the wall was a non-starter. I'd never want to be in a room (no matter how attractive) if my back was to it the entire time. I solved that issue by moving my computers to a table in the center of the space. I still have files and other traditional storage in the desk just behind my new work area but, now, I face the rest of the room and windows and the whole room has opened up to me. I'm a visually driven person and I knew that how I stored all the things I needed was going to have to appeal to me to make the room work. Pulling in old art class pottery and my grandparent's jars, jugs, baskets and wooden boxes to store brushes, pens, rulers, etc was a great way to bring memories and comfort items into the space. I'm a big believer in making use of the things we've already collected - the hand-me-downs and passed around objects in our lives - rather than going out to buy the "perfect" item-de-jour.

The shelves are stacked with all of my reference books, dotted generously with family photos, interesting objects and, yes, it's crowned with my grandfather's defunct old shotgun, held together now with duct tape and my sheer will to not to let it go.

My studio is now a good reflection of me (past and present) and the trade I'm in - a mixture of rubber band balls from college and the tools of my trade in an organized chaos that inspires me. I'm happy to be here.