GQ USA – May 2017

• I’ve been at GQ for seven
  years now, and in that time
  I’ve had four different offices.
  In each one, the same lazy
  aesthetic has reigned: This
  is where I put my pile of
  unopened mail. This is where
  I drop my bag. This is where
  I put my lunch when I eat at
  my desk. (Sorry, neighbors.)
  This is where I put my bottle
  of Nicki-Minaj-bust-shaped
  Nicki Minaj perfume. (You
  pull off her head to spray it!)
  But then my boss switched
  me to a bigger, corner-ish
  office (thanks, boss) with
  giant glass doors that give it a
  fishbowl vibe, one that made
  plain to all my co-workers how
  much nothing I’d done with the

8

Buy Some

Serious Art...

Start by heading over

to Artsy.net, then

selecting the genres

and styles you like

in broad strokes. They’ll

find related works—

that fit your price

range—using a Pandora-

like algorithm. If you

like what you’re seeing

but don’t want to

drop more than a couple

hundred bucks, hop

over to Exhibition A

(exhibitiona.com) to

see if it has something

similar at a more

reasonable price.

9

...And Then Give

It Some Room

Eve Robinson, an

interior designer in

New York, recommends

choosing only a few art

pieces sized as large as

your wall permits: “It’s

an opportunity to reflect

who you are and what

you like, and having just

a few makes each

piece look important.”

10

Finally, Don’t Get

Too Attached

Once you’ve perfected

the shui (or is it

the feng?) down to the

last paperweight,

it’s time for a change.

“Every three months,

take something away

and put something

new in,” says Caroline

Ventura of New York

design store Calliope.

“Getting into a routine

and letting stuff

get stale and stagnant

isn’t great for your

office or your work.”

The Guest-Chair Comfort Spectrum

• If you’re going to meet in your o∞ce, you’ll need a chair for your guest—and you’ll wish you had
  a countdown timer, too. Here, the best chairs, based on how accommodating you want to be.

place. So I decided to enlist

the help of Homepolish, an

online by-the-hour design

consultancy for people who

don’t really know where to

start. Ariel, my Homepolish

consultant, asked lots of

questions and made me a

detailed Pinterest board, but

her most valuable service

was clarifying what was really

important to me. Which turned

out to be lighting: in particular,

golden yellow light from actual

lamps. Overhead fluorescents

make me sad. I got other stuff,

too—a chair, a not-clunky

coffee table, an Ikea couch—

most of which won’t get used

on most days. I’ll use the light

every minute I’m there.

30 Minutes

Eero Saarinen Executive

What it says: “Teamwork

makes the dream

work. For exactly one-half

of an hour.”

10 Minutes

Eames Molded Plastic

What it says: “Before coming

into my office again, ask yourself:

Could this be an e-mail?

Or an entry in your journal?”

Eternity

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Barcelona

What it says: “So, tell me: How

does this inventory spreadsheet

really make you feel?”

They’ll never

leave.

GQINTELLIGENCE THEWORKINGMAN

LIGHTING

101

78 GQ.COM MAY 2017

SEE ADDITIONAL CREDITS.

Bring the

Lights Down

On Your

Career

When GQ executive
editor Devin Gordon moved
up to a larger office, he
learned a key business truth:
Brightness is overrated

TOMI UM