I am very excited to present my very first creative space on a boat! I grew up around boats and have always wanted to live on a one at some point in my life (seasickness and wifi addiction aside!), so I love the idea of using one as a working space. I find water soothing and inspiring and can imagine that it would make a great environment in which to be creative.
Boost mentee Ellie moved on to the boat at the beginning of August and immediately had her eye on the back room as a shared work space for her and design partner Steph.
She set up her Mac first and then started covering the walls with their latest projects and current inspirations. She says: “Since then its been the place where we’ve had our best new ideas, quarrelled about prices and printing, folded dozens of tea towels and drawn up long term plans for the future! Not to mention many, many cups of tea.”
Ellie says working on a boat has mostly pros and just a few cons. Pros being: “the fabulous views, the good feeling of distancing yourself from the sirens and traffic for a while, and the use of the wheel house as a meeting room.”
She describes the main con as “the clash between Steph’s long legs and the low ceiling in the back room.” Steph can only stand upright if she puts her head out of the sky light!
Ellie continues: “Our ideas usually come from shared nostalgia and affection for similar things in the every day world; chip shops being one of them. We gather as many visual references as we can, plaster the walls with them and start spiralling into an excitable ideas debate.”
“Sometimes we can be happy with designs we’ve taken a couple of days to do – others take us months. Time management is definitely something we’re working on. A good reminder of this is the ‘time is running out’ labrador; he’s always on the mantel piece, always watching.” I love his watch!
“We look forward to the day when we’re too big for the back bedroom on the boat and can get a real studio space… maybe even one people over 5ft 3 can stand up in! Until then we’re enjoying our miniature floating office.”
Further reading for the especially geeky:
- interview :: home slice
- interview :: charlie & jasper
- interview :: chloe owens
- interview :: amy whitworth
Great! I have many friends in Amsterdam who live/work on boats. The events agency Continental Drifts are based on a barge in Leyton… and all along the Regents canal right now there are barges doubling up as book shops, clothing stalls and cafes, a refreshing change from the high street!
Great stuff! I’d love to get some of the accessories please!