Going For Office: Products for the Home Office
Today heralds the first day as a full-time freelance creative and I’m beyond excited! As I bid farewell to the day job last week, I gleefully welcome this new chapter in my life; the freedom to pursue my own creative ideas, to be my own boss, and the opportunity to fulfill my creative potential. Over the last year I’ve been steadily working towards this moment which all began with this self-initiated project, Mint Style Studio, as an outlet for my own creative interests and passions, and as a way to focus my energies into creating a ‘living portfolio’.
Since appearing in the Sunday Star Times magazine, Sunday, in an article about my visual merchandising work for Ballantynes and Mint Style Studio, offers of freelance work started pouring in. Before I knew it, I was traveling back and forth between Christchurch and Auckland to merchandise stores, attending meetings with magazine editors, curating and writing boutique business blogs, and sourcing products for styling shoots, and all on my days off from my full-time visual merchandising job. Chomping at the bit to escape the confines of my day job for the freedom of freelance life, I finally took the leap of faith and handed in my resignation. As of Friday afternoon, I stepped beyond the department store doors, my home and training ground for the past two and a half years, out into the startling spring sunshine, to embark on an exciting new chapter in my working life. In celebration of my new-found freedom I have created this product spread with a few of the essentials for my home office.
To me, a home office or studio is an oasis of calm, creativity, and comfort. Adequate lighting is essential – preferably great natural light – but working into the wee hours requires task lighting. Enter Dana Cannam’s contemporary LED task lamp ‘Clamp’ for San Francisco design company, Pablo. Winning the Red Dot Award for design and innovation earlier this year, it ticks both boxes for versatility; swiveling a full 360 degrees, and sustainability. Visit Design House Stockholm for further details.
Another essential requisite for my studio space is injections of inspiration. I love the duality of ‘Bau’, a sculpture and lamp in one, designed by Vibeke Fonnesberg for Normann Copenhagen from Design Denmark. Awaken the senses with a touch of luxury from Tom Dixon’s new accessories and giftware collection, Eclectic. These scented candles titled, London, Royalist, and Orientalist, evoke travel, trade, and nostalgia of British life. Each hand-spun vessel made of either brass, copper, or nickel, is topped with a solid Indian Morwad marble lid – utterly devine! What’s more, this beautiful vessel can be used to hold all those desk top bits’n'bobs once the candle is used. Contact Simon James Design to pre-order – I have!
Ferm Living’s house shaped cork pin board is perfect to tack up all those important invoices, receipts, and plane tickets. Available from Ferm Living Australia.
No office is organised without a good shelving system like New Zealand designer, David Moreland’s ‘Band’ shelving from Simon James Design. ‘Band’ delivers a versatile modular shelving solution with a choice of four different upright heights, three varying widths, and rubber bands in a myriad of colourways to add a subtle pop of colour.
Reading and research is a huge part of my work, whether it be reading up on the latest in visual merchandising trends and technology, discovering more about fellow creatives and their processes, or reading about other creative industries, an easy chair is a great way to get out from behind your desk and relax while still being productive. The majestic ‘Metropolitan’ easy chair from Matisse, has an accompanying footstool for ultimate comfort and style. Designed by Jeffrey Bernett for B&B Italia, it’s modernist lines conjure the power and effortless grace of Mad Men.
Appealing to my desire for industrial functionality, the Lloyd Work Table, was originally designed for the Lloyd Hotel in Amsterdam. Here the baby blue subdues its hard industrial edge. Also available in white, dark grey, black, and red from ECC Lighting and Furniture.
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Congrats!! Awesome, awesome news.