Team portrait drawings
Above you see the winning portrait drawing of operations administrator Emma Skirton by Project Coordinator Liam Symes.
Team portrait drawings
Every now and then after a team meeting we play the Jenga game here in the office. The person that knocks it over has to come up with an idea to improve the general performance of the company or like in this case a suggestion of a different kind like a competition of some sort. When our designer Deborah McAulay knocked the tower over with a very daring move of one of the blocks, she called a team portrait drawing competition. We each had to draw a name from the fishbowl and draw their portrait. A week later everybody had to vote for their favourite portrait. The portrait with the most votes would win the honour of the competition.
Apart from great fun, it is an excellent way to explore unknown talent among team members. The winner Liam Symes joined our sister company Incognito Heat Co earlier this year as a Project Coordinator, so we knew he was talented. However that this tough ex military-service man had such great talent in drawing came as a pleasant surprise to all of us! So Liam, congratulations and we hope to see many of your drawings in the future!
Sarah Harper by Deborah McAulay
The second prize went to Deborah for the portrait of Quantity Surveyor Sarah Harper. A pleasant and joyful person who doesn't miss a penny in project calculations!
Liam Symes by Sam James
The third prize was for Sam James for the portrait of the winner of this competition Liam Symes.
Andrew Skirton by Emma Skirton
In this portrait made by Emma Skirton of the Incognito Sales Director Andrew Skirton, Emma captured the true a-symmetric character of this hands-on underfloor heating expert!
Roy James by Cigdem Ozluk
No surprise of course that creative talent Cigdem Ozluk comes with this portrait of Project & Operations Director Roy James. She managed to visualise his gimlet eyes and 'on the ball' character very successfully.
Simon James by Fiona Rennick
Also here it is clear from a distance that this portrait of founder and Finance Director Simon James comes from a member of the design team: Fiona Rennick. A free interpretation of the sincerity and experience of one of our senior team members.
Gavin Anderson by Ross Skirton
Ross Skirton managed to display that Business Development manager Gavin Anderson finds it hard to disguise his friendly face, however hard he tries.
Deborah McAulay by Vincent Hartman
Some artistic license loosely applied to portraiture by Vincent Hartman in this digital portrait of Interior Designer Deborah McAulay.
Chris Fielder by Grant Ker
Grant Ker really tried his best with this portrait of Accounts Administrator Chris Fielder. There is some resemblance but fortunately we haven't met him grumpy yet!
Andrew Robertson by Chris Fielder
Chris on his turn drew this transparent and recognisable portrait of Plumbing Trainee Andrew Robertson, of Incognito Heat Co. Prior to his arrival in the office early in the morning is always the unmistakeable noise of his motorbike.
Cigdem Ozluk by Andrew Robertson
Our young and bright plumbing trainee Andrew drew this portrait of Interior Designer Cigdem Ozluk. Very well executed and recognisable, but fortunately Cigdem is a joy to have around.
Fiona Rennick by Robert Milne
We could more or less say the same about this portrait of the then current Design Manager Fiona Rennick, drawn by Robert. She really does come to work in a car and fills the office with warmth and professionalism.
Julian Fielder by Andrew Skirton
Andrew took on the task to draw the portrait of Project Leader Julian Fielder. In all fairness, we had to look twice but it really does seem to be Julian! It looks like Andrew drew it very quickly and shows of a bit to make it look like easy to him, but we do expect him to have put in way more hours than he is willing to admit.
Sam James by Gavin Anderson
We are unsure who Gavin had in mind when he drew this portrait of Sales Director Sam James. We all know Sam James very well and surely this is not him!
Vincent Hartman by Simon James
An easy task for Simon to draw the lines of egg-headed Marketing Manager Vincent Hartman. Spot-on indeed, but what about that saloon car in the back ground?
Robert Milne by Roy James
Story teller Roy must have missed the brief about what he was supposed to be doing here. He came up with a cartoon of Installations Team Leader Robert Milne who is apparently spreading Australian Genes in the Scottish population?
Grant Ker by Sarah Harper
And last but certainly not least is this sketch by Sarah of our Managing Director Grant Ker who will tie the knot in December and seems a bit distracted the last few weeks...
Orgatec 2016
Every two years the European furniture industry gathers in Cologne to see and discuss the latest trends and developments in furniture and interiors. Well that's what they say anyway. It is also very much a networking event and the British organise their own parties and traditionally finish the evening off at Papa Joe's to get the real industry news! The Orgatec exhibition has grown over the years from a local German office furniture show to a truly international interior design Mecca and therefore two members of our design team, Cigdem and Deborah set off to Germany to get inspired.
Design Mecca or not, The Orgatec in Köln may be an international show but lacks the exquisite detail that the Furniture Fair in Milan has to offer. We also expected to be able to pay by credit card wherever we went but hey, we are flexible! We were impressed by the shear size of the place though and we had an amazing time!
Biophilic design
The things that inspired us as designers were mainly the involvement of Biophilia in stand designs and also the use of wood in products within their context. They showed that it is possible to integrate Biophilic Design in office environments because it really does make a difference in your health, efficiency, motivation, creativity and overall mood.
Wood finish used in legs (chair & table) and work tops were very popular and clever in how it was implemented. Different shades and grains were considered to suit its context. A wood finish always gives a calm feeling. Greenery, plants, trees were freaking everywhere, we fell in love! The one we remember most is the pomegranate tree at the Actiu stand. The stand designers also used a lot of relatively inexpensive raw materials in an innovative way i.e. painting of sterling board/chip board, cardboard tubes and also exhibited unfinished metal.
The shift from corporate workplace “desking and task seating” to much softer timber pieces enhances a different way of working. On the office furniture side many of the big players relied on their classics and didn’t bring anything fresh to the table. Don’t take this the wrong way, we LOVE the majority of these classics but thought they needed to up their game a bit. Our industry dinosaurs Sam and Vincent, who joined us for a day felt exactly the same, but also pointed out that there were a lot of sit-stand desking on display, even on design brand's stands, hoping that this would now finally mean a breakthrough into the mainstream market.
Acoustics
Acoustics was another big focus at Orgatec. This was very smartly integrated in decorative office ornaments, ceiling rafts, desk screens, pods and even lighting. We also loved the curtains! The ones made of interesting materials – chainmail, rubber, etc – a very cool way of bringing a domestic feel to the workplace whilst still being practical way to divide spaces.
The general hospitality was excellent and we had an awesome time. It’s about so much more than just finding new products. We felt the stand design and networking side to be just as inspiring and very much look forward to Orgatec 2018!
Interior design Edinburgh, RBS Gogarburn
In May this year our interior design team set off for Clerkenwell design week in London for inspiration and to keep up to date with the industry's latest developments. Clerkenwell is home to more creative businesses and architects per square mile than anywhere else on the planet, making it truly one of the most important design hubs in the world. To celebrate this rich and diverse community, Clerkenwell Design Week creates a showcase of leading UK and international brands and companies, presented in a series of showroom events, exhibitions and special installations that take place across the area.
Interior design Edinburgh
You don't always have to travel far for inspiration, as our designers discovered at Clerkenwell when they were introduced to some of the team behind the interior design and space planning at the Royal Bank of Scotland. Just around the corner from Amos Beech (from a national perspective), the world class headquarters for RBS are located, Scotland's largest company and the fifth biggest bank worldwide. The team were invited to come and have a look at their recently revamped spaces. Obviously, that offer was accepted enthusiastically and today we went to have a look.
Commercial interior design Edinburgh
RBS is located on a site that is named Gogarburn. The remains that were discovered in 2003 near the site suggest the site was used for agriculture in medieval times. The architects for the RBS Gogarburn development were Scottish based Michael Laird Architects and London based RHWL Architects. The concept was that of a business community with offices, restaurant, shops, leisure facilities, nursery and a training/conference centre. The main building at Gogarburn therefore has a clear social/community focus and circulation pattern.
Technology equipped meeting areas throughout the building are used to encourage collaboration with other business partners around the world as well as being an area where colleagues can “meet, focus, huddle, present or chat” depending on the project in hand.
“Scrum” areas are situated within departments where ideas, processes and improvements can be discussed robustly and advanced by using a simple step by step process allowing them to “fail faster, more of the time” – an expression that demonstrates their committal to “discover, design, develop & test” anything they create, before it is launched internally or externally.
Working environments play a key role in the attraction and retention of staff and it was great to see how RBS implemented this at their Gogarburn site in Edinburgh!
