GQ USA – May 2017

GQ COM

SPACES WE ENVY

2 OF 3

The Chill Guest Lounge

• Coltrane Curtis, who owns Team Epiphany,
  a New York creative agency that works with clients
  like Heineken, W Hotels, and Nike, wants you to
  sit, please, on a comfortable couch, because relaxation
  breeds creativity. Curtis says, “My o∞ce ‘lounge’
  is livable, diverse, and a safe place for big ideas.”

THEWORKINGMAN GQINTELLIGENCE

Add Some Life

“We’re close to

the florist district,

one of the still-

feels-like-the-

good-ol’-New-York

neighborhoods.

Every week we

curate different

arrangements

to brighten up the

space with pops

of color and bring

our neighborhood

inside.”

4

Bring in Nature

(Dead, But Still)...

Plants can be needy.

So Dunning suggests

simplifying with a

beautiful piece of

petrified wood or gnarled

driftwood, or a length

of dried cholla cactus.

5

...Or Just Get a Plant

You Can’t Kill

Look to the world of

“waxy ornamentals”—

hard-core survivors

in even the harshest office

conditions. (The

cylindrical snake plant

is nice.)

6

Get a Standing Desk

That Isn’t Ugly

GQ’s creative director,

Jim Moore, recommends

the Renew by Herman Miller

($1,499, hermanmiller.com):

“It actually matches the

rest of the office. The legs

are almost invisible.”

7

Make Your Computer

a Design Object, Too

If you wouldn’t frame a

swirling galaxy, it shouldn’t

be your computer’s

wallpaper. Set your screen

saver to innocuous

and your file-icon size

to minimum.

If You’re Gonna

Frame a Picture of

Your Kid, Go Big

“Every year,

I commission

pieces of the most

important thing in

my life—my 5-year-

old son, Ellington.

Yung Jake created

this portrait entirely

out of emojis.”

Show Your Work

“My artwork

changes, borrowing

things from the

campaigns we

actually produce.

These flags are from

our event at Lincoln

Center for HBO’s All

the Way premiere.”

White Is

Your Friend. So

Is Mr. Clean.

“I was frightened

at first to have white

walls, but it really

enlarges space.”

Find a

Creative Outlet

“My wife and I

own this business

ourselves, so

we’re all about low

cost. I’d say half

our furniture came

from an ABC outlet.”