Creating a home from home studio environment

At Abstrakt, we like to describe ourselves as a family and with that in mind we’ve made sure that the studio we work in is our family home. Here’s a list of a few things that make our work environment feel more like home.

Sustenance is key in any hard working office and our studio is no exception. It’s no lie that we’re really into food here at Abstrakt; luckily for us, there’s no need to eat at our desks as we have an area dedicated to lunchtime. We’re all good friends, so lunch time gives us all a chance to fill up and catch up. Being based only a stone’s throw from Hockley, there’s always food nearby to bring back or something from our recent Tesco delivery, there’s always something to eat and something to talk about.

Having plants in the office has been statistically proven to boost overall wellbeing and with that in mind, the Abstrakt studio has been filled with various plant life of all shapes and sizes; which included a 10ft pine tree at Christmas. Having a connection to the natural environment within the workplace has been statistically proven to reduce stress as well as increase both creativity and productivity; which suits us just fine.

Most offices you walk into will have a sofa or a soft space of some kind, it usually looks like a great place to sit and chill out, but they're never actually used. It’s not like that here, our sofa area is used from anything from weekly catch-ups to small meetings on a regular basis. There’s also no place better for a quick nap either or for writing blog posts like this one.

Music also plays a big part of day to day life here at Abstrakt, the Sonos is always filled with some of our favourite (and occasionally least favourite) tunes and some sing-along classics too. We may have varying individual tastes when it comes to music, but we can always agree on something we like from 80s / 90s classics to film soundtracks. Also being a musician myself means I have the best music taste. Fact!

Individuality is key here at Abstrakt and there’s no better place to show off our own personalities than in the place we work. Our studio is filled with things we’ve brought from home or amazing finds from one of Nottingham’s many vintage shops. To top it off we sometimes get pocket money to go out and buy something for the studio, such as Nikki’s giant A or my guitar (Ok, that one’s maybe just for me).

Sorry to those of you who either don’t like them or are allergic, but Abstrakt is a dog friendly place. Our office space would not be complete without our 2 favourite office dogs Aisha and Deefer. It’s a proven fact that dogs reduce stress levels and that’s certainly the case here (most of the time anyway). Their personalities and appreciation of food matches ours and the place just wouldn’t be the same without our canine-to-fives around.

Some of us like going to the gym before or after work, it’s a great way to stay in shape; however for those who have a more competitive edge, we have a ping pong table! Ok, so it might not exactly be one that meets International Table Tennis Federation standards and may just be a net over our boardroom table, but it does the job. Most lunchtimes involve a few tense games of Ping Pong to get the heart pumping, all in the name of fun and good sportsmanship. It goes without saying that we have a reigning champion in Jamie J, but there’s still hope for me yet. Game on!

Whether it’s for presenting findings from a recent conference, holding a workshop or just because we feel like it, team lunches are an important part of life here at Abstrakt. If we’re not going out anywhere nearby, our multi-purpose board room is a great place for all of us to enjoy a Deliveroo and discuss ideas or just debate over which is the best biscuit.

So it’s Friday afternoon and the weekend is almost here, what better way to get that started than by having a cold one. We have a wide selection of beers, wines and soft drinks to put a small off license to shame, there’s always something refreshing on offer for that last hour of the working week, which is earlier on Fridays because this place is awesome. Cheers to that!