Effortless Design & Engineering With Our New Studio

igniting new ideas with our recently remodelled design & engineering studio

Read more about how we created this impactful space

After purchasing new office space for our industrial designers, we set out to create an interior design that would meet their needs, incorporate our company culture, and capture the hearts of our customers. Stephen and I discussed that the space needed to be functional and creative, and we ultimately achieved this goal while keeping costs at a minimum. Our customers are always amazed by the innovative concepts that come to life in our office, and we couldn’t be more proud of the space we’ve created.

The idea was to design an industrial feel with black walls, ceilings, some natural wood, and a motorbike hanging on the wall. We made sure to incorporate our brand identity but with a touch of yellow and some greenery. Stephen had his requirements which was a pinball and an arcade machine. There had to be an element of fun and down-time included in the limited space.

The design presentation created for the industrial designers, was well received, and they appeared excited about the space we were designing. We wanted this space to be fun and to reflect creativity on immediate entry. Our business classified under manufacturing and our “blue-collar workers” sound orthodox, but I am very much non-ordinary. The aim of our business with its recent merge has been to be far from ordinary, very much out of the box, and unique. You won’t find many companies in South Africa that can offer a client professional R&D, and qualified industrial design, through to moulding and manufacturing, assembly, and delivery, all under one roof. At the same time, our business has its brands innovating, designing, and manufacturing all our products in different industries. Therefore, this space, which we decided to call “Think Tank,” needed to be “out of the box and extraordinary.”

The hardest part for me was the shopping, curating, and sourcing of the furniture, lights, gaming equipment and greenery (so everything…lol) because I had to be mindful of cost. Everything was triple checked on price and quality. But this makes the wheel turn slowly. A project we thought would take 2 months took approximately 5 months. The significant changes made to an empty shell building were blocking up a staircase, building new bathrooms in a tiny space, re-creating a kitchen with a coffee bar and adding a workshop. Finding a place for the gaming equipment was probably the most creative aspect of the design. We blocked up the staircase going down to the factory and created a lowered mezzanine floor to walk down into to play some games. I had to lower this area to hang the greenery and lights which I was adamant on having.

We found an old, battered motorbike all the way from Rustenburg and bought it after seeing a photo of it on my cellphone. The price seemed reasonable but when it arrived everyone laughed at my purchase. I started to doubt myself, but fortunately, continued with the vision and my builder came to my rescue. We knew a bike panel-beating company that could repurpose the bike and had wonderful ideas on restoring it. These included adding an old-looking number plate and our family crest, giving it sentimental authenticity. It’s now an heirloom we will leave to our sons one day. What wasn’t factored into my original design was the Star Wars and Lego meeting rooms. These were birthed from seeing phenomenal custom-made wallpaper on Instagram which sparked the idea of finding Lego and Star Wars images, printing them onto wallpaper, and turning the rooms (which were originally planned as offices) into funky meeting spaces.It can be difficult to find furniture inspired by Lego or Star Wars, but with a little creative thinking and some research, you can find some great pieces.

Design is important to me because it provides people with a place to spend time together and create memories. I wanted to make the Think Tank space better for the designers and an awesome experience for all those coming through our doors from other employees, customers and even interns.

Dearest team, we hope you like your new creative environment and are inspired by loads of new ideas.

My advice for interior design projects on a tight budget:
1. Continually check the price
2. Online offers higher discounts than in-store ones.
3. Create a vision board—I like Pinterest for this—so that you don’t veer too far from it.
4. Compare costs from various vendors and contractors.
5. Seek out lucrative sales
6. Furniture and used objects should be reused and repurposed.
7. The best fittings don’t necessarily have to be bought; they can sometimes be constructed on the spot. It may be more practical to create exactly what you want yourself.

Effortless Design & Engineering With Our New Studio

igniting new ideas with our recently remodelled design & engineering studio

Read more about how we created this impactful space

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