Page 46 - homestyle New Zealand (February - March 2020)
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PEOPLE —— Space to create
mezzanine, painted the walls and floor being in one room together and having How do you like to start the day
white, and built work huts for each of our own space. We can focus and avoid before cracking on with work?
us. It’s worked wonders. getting distracted, while also being W: Life at the Mount is well suited
able to hang out. to making the most of the early
What guided the aesthetic? G: We’ve mornings. Some of us run up the
spent the past few years making It looks like you get a good chance to Mount each morning — rain, hail
products that make other spaces fun, road-test your range here… W: Our or shine — some of us go surfing,
so it was an extension of that. We workshop walls are always covered with and sometimes we even play golf.
wanted it to be quite a basic shell, with prototypes and ideas. If we’re thinking You can tee off at 7am and be at
interesting features throughout it. about a new product, we can build it in work by 8.30. We’re pretty lucky
W: It needed to serve several purposes, the workshop and whack it up on the in that regard.
to be an office, a photo studio, a dust- wall while we consider it in more depth. G: We’ve recently bought a coffee
free workshop, and somewhere we could We use our existing products to display machine, so generally everyone
host events, including the weekly yoga our goals and shopping lists. arrives at work and makes a coffee
classes we’ve started. We thought white before getting into it. We’ve also
would be the best colour and it’s such What’s a regular day like at G&W HQ? started hosting 6am yoga classes
a nice contrast to our previous space. W: There’s lots of variety, which keeps in the studio with our yoga instructor
things exciting. Usually there’s a bit of friend Sarah Gunson, which is always
How did the huts come about? G: They design and a few products to be made, a good start to the day. It’s a pretty
were a practical solution to a heating some customer service, some product fit and active workplace. I have a
problem. Our studio has a tin roof and design and some photos/video to be labrador puppy called Frida who
gets pretty cold in winter, and now we taken. We’re currently focusing on comes to work every day and takes
can heat each hut individually. They improving our packaging to make up a bit of time — she’s pretty fun
give us each a cosy little desk space, opening it more fun for our customers. to play with!
providing a happy medium between It’s all going to be plastic free. georgeandwilly.com
46 homestyle
