My first studio

I've been an illustrator for eight years. All these years I have had my office at home. And it worked very well. I think I can be proud of having maintained the discipline that working from home as a free-lance implies. But I had been thinking for some time about having an office physically separated from my home. Last year I did a little test working from a co-working space. Unfortunately the space moved after three months so I went back to my home office. It wasn't a problem: my home office is spacious and bright. And comfortable, what could be more comfortable than having your own home around?

But sometimes comfort isn't everything. So this year I started looking for a space to rent. It had to be close to home, though. After so many years without the burden of commuting I had no desire to waste time going to work. But I wanted a separation: a "time to go" and "time to return" and what that implies. I also wanted more space. Especially for my offline projects. I want to paint more, draw big... and not have excuses for not doing it.

And I was lucky enough to find something within 5 minutes walk from my flat. It's big, it could be brighter but it's very economical and the perfect solution to be my first studio. To do the experiment : What happens to me and my work when I leave home.

These last months have been a small excursion to my old life as an architect. I started with the plan. The same day I visited the space for the first time I measured it and drew a plan in Illustrator to try out how I could organise it. Some 16 versions later, I ended up with this:

That was enough for me to decide: yes, that I would take it. Then I made this mood board while more or less learning by heart the catalogue of our favourite Swedish furniture house.

One day I'll take some cool pictures of how it's becoming (yes, still becoming). For now I leave you a gallery of before and after photos.