How important is the right environment for inspiration? We visit three creatives in their work spaces - no fluorescent lights in sight.
Liam Bowden
On the street there is the faint hint of fish scenting the air, but inside the workroom of accessories label Deadly Ponies it smells like delicious, breathe- in-as-deeply-as-you-can, leather. It seems as though it is everywhere - finished leather bags hanging on a rack, pieces stacked on a workbench, a
half-completed bag in the hands of its designer, Liam Bowden. It is here, in a studio across the road from the Auckland Fish Market ("perfect for Friday lunches"), that the majority of Deadly Ponies pieces are made.
Bowden, with his team of around five, has been based in this downtown studio for around a year, moving here from a space on K Rd. It has character, with its brick walls, wooden floors and a deck area that overlooks a vacated lot and out to the tank farm nearby; but when Bowden moved in it was more corporate than creative. Needless to say, the cubicles went, as did a couple of walls, and now the space is open plan, with three areas that merge into each other - a work area where the bags are made, a showroom area for selling to stockists, and an office area where Bowden designs new pieces and collections. Quirky pieces that have been collected over time make the space Bowden's own, and reflect Deadly Ponies' signature dark aesthetic - a stuffed rabbit inherited from a friend, a beautiful flower print by Richard Maloy, a laboratory flask displayed over his desk, used as a vase (but for twigs, not flowers).
There's also a large basement downstairs, which is used for storing stock and making pieces that require more space (like the painted canvas Deadly Ponies toilet bags that are part of the Sans beauty range).
When Bowden first moved in, there was "junk everywhere" - but instead of throwing it all out, he used it to make the industrial looking shelf and table in the main office area upstairs. "We didn't have to buy much," he explains. "We just made it."
Claire Kingan Jones
For some - or maybe just me - working at home would mean casual long lunches and procrastination in the form of lots of cups of tea, but for Claire Kingan Jones it means she's more efficient and gets the work done. The Kingan Jones and RJC fashion designer began working from home last year, after her workroom on Auckland's Upper Queen St became too busy; bursting at the seams with clothing to be sent out to stores. It's not exactly a bad problem to have - she credits it to the recent growth of her RJC label - but hustle and bustle in an open plan office isn't exactly conducive to creativity (Kingan Jones laughs that she went in recently and ended up being "boxed in" at her desk by boxes waiting to be couriered).
So she comes home to clear her head. "In terms of designing and planning, I can't do it at the workroom - I get sucked into everything that is going on, instead of concentrating on what I need to get done," she explains. Working from home was initially more project-based - about three seasons ago Kingan Jones and her design partner worked and designed a collection in her living room, and they got so much done that she began to do it more and more.
It's easy to see why - it's a beautiful home, with a collection of knick-knacks and artwork. Kingan Jones has a desk area that can be hidden by a roll-away door, with images pinned up for inspiration and largely white stationery that she has bought over time ("I hadn't done that on purpose, but obviously I've decided in my head 'white' - creating a blank canvas").
But she usually ends up working at a table in her living room, with large floor to ceiling windows that look out on to a pool and bush. "I love this room, with its beautiful natural light and how it looks out on to nature and the bush. You could be anywhere." She and her husband wanted the house to have a feeling of being on holiday, "like you were in a resort" - a nice environment for inspiring creativity.
Eventually, Kingan Jones wants to turn a spare room into a home office, something she jokes that her husband is keen on too, "because I spread myself throughout the house. I do like to have an organised space," she says, "I'm just not very good at keeping it organised."
Jade Hurst
Peri the peacock greets you, quite grandly actually. The taxidermy peacock was a unique office warming present, given to Jade Hurst by her husband when she moved into her space above K Rd about a year ago. Here she runs a brand management business called Raw Brand + Connect, with her business partner Pip Cameron, which Hurst explains, means helping companies like DB Breweries, Stolen Rum, G-Shock, Zabbana and Huffer "bring their brands to life".
Image is essential to branding, so Hurst's workspace is unsurprisingly sleek - all airy light and white walls, softened with various vintage touches. There are two areas: a large, white room for meetings, with couches, a table Hurst brought from home, Peri the peacock, and a collection of antique mirrors, plus an office area that showcases some of Hurst's other quirky antique finds - a large, old fashioned stamp found on Trade Me, medicine jars used as vases, a framed seeing eye chart, stencils that she found in a garage sale in New York and a metal gun cabinet made by a friend (it no longer holds guns). There are floor-to-ceiling windows that look out on to the street below, providing plenty of inspiration (and sometimes distraction). "I like having a big open space, and being able to look out the big windows and see lots of activity. It's pretty interesting - there's lots of people and all sorts of cultures. If I'm not staring at my computer screen, I often gaze out the window to the street below."
The peacock is from Flotsam and Jetsam, an Auckland design store that is a treasure hunter's heaven with lots of unique antique finds. "I would buy everything in there, and my house and office would be full of lots of treasures," explains Hurst.
She loves discovering quirky pieces that add personality to a space, and although Hurst says she "likes things", she doesn't like clutter - her things are carefully edited and arranged perfectly. And for her, the work environment is an extension of her home; something she describes as homely goodness. "I like to be able to come into work and feel comfortable, so it's quite homey for me. It's bright and clean, but it has comfort and personality. Having things around you that provoke fun is important, and inspiring," she explains.
"It's important when people and clients come here, that they see your sense of style straight away."
