We’ve all been stuck in offices with the personality of a lobotomy patient. Blank walls, sleek glass tables and bustling, faceless office workers – it might be clean, but where’s its soul?
An office with a little bit of character will give your working day some zing, impressing visiting clients, improving employee productivity and giving it a hip and happening style that shows your finger’s on the pulse.
Indeed, the artsy workplace has become the trend du jour of the digital age.
Just take a tour of offices throughout Silicon Valley and you’ll spot walls daubed with graffiti, covered in modern art and marinating in a relaxed atmosphere that fosters creativity.
But don’t shell out for those Rembrandts just yet – there are cheap, easy and effective ways to give your workplace an artistic flourish. And we’ve come up with just a few.
Call the pros
Some people have a tin ear for music and some people can stare at some of the greatest works of art in the same way that they’d eye up dog droppings.
Those number crunchers and go-getters at the top of the business ladder shouldn’t, however, deprive their employees of some artistic interest. Instead, they should call up the pros.
Corporate art dealers are ten-a-penny, but only a few will find you painting’s cream of the crop. They’ll take a look around your office, decide where it could benefit from a few extra splashes of colour and implement their ideas.
It’s a no fuss, no muss process – so you can sit back and enjoy the latest additions to your office.
DIY creativity
Do you have any budding Renoirs kicking about your workplace? Or maybe even a few aspiring Banksys?
Then why not be their first patron?
An office creating its own style will have a greater sense of identity – and you’ll save on your interior design budget.
And, especially in a creative company, your DIY design aesthetic could say a lot about the kind of company you are. Use it as a calling card to reel in more clients.
Set up an inter-office competition to wheedle out any budding artists in your midst, then set them to work on their first creative project.
Just be sure they can actually paint – no one wants a crude set of stickmen covering their walls.
Get the oriental outlook
Feng Shui is an ancient Chinese spiritual practice, so popular that it’s still being practiced today.
While elements of the art will come across as hokey by today’s standards, its more practical sections will turn your office into a money-making machine.
Essentially, Feng Shui was the first guide in ergonomics. Call in an expert to reorganise your workplace and your art will shine all the more.