03/04/2020 - Another episode in our series about the thoughts and reflections of designers during the lockdown. In these uncertain times of global emergency, to #stayathome is the imperative necessity. But can this “suspended time” be transformed into opportunity and can creativity help us to see a light at the end of this tunnel and imagine a future beyond the coronavirus crisis?
After Marcio Kogan, Ramón Esteve and Constance Guisset, we asked Masquespacio to tell us about their personal experiences during the lockdown.
After Marcio Kogan, Ramón Esteve and Constance Guisset, we asked Masquespacio to tell us about their personal experiences during the lockdown.
How is the current situation affecting your life and work?
The truth is that Ana and I have always been working from our home so for us it hasn’t been a big change in this sense. Although our team was used to be in our studio everyday if they weren’t visiting a construction site so this was a huge change for them. The most difficult aspect in this case is the ability of concentration and to mix work and spare time at home. It has been difficult the first weeks for us as the negative news created we think a big mental impact on everybody, so your concentration goes to a lower level, but now after almost 20 days of lockdown I think we managed to adapt our life to the new circumstances and bring our concentration to an higher level.
How did you organize, or reorganize, your workspace?
We maintained our actual set-up and with our team luckily we are already using the online management programs to make it easy to work together. The huge difference although is that instead of working all together to a project deadline now we do daily online meetings with specific tasks. On a personal level at our home / workspace the space were our team is normally having their activity is now converted in a temporary sport and meditation room. On the other hand we are in the center of everything as all samples are in our studio and new samples are send here so we need to manage all sample decision by phone with our team.
Could this “makeshift” be transformed into opportunity for planners and designers? And if so how?
For us at least it is an opportunity to take a step further in our progress towards projects with a high craftsmanship level. Before the actual circumstances many clientes were seeking more for perfection, when we tried to evolve into the other direction in search of natural handmade materiales and production. Now everybody is thinking of how life was going too fast and how we were forgetting to treat well nature. We think there is a great opportunity here to take a step forward to sustainability through craftsmanship and handmade production with respect for nature.
Are there new projects born from this particular situation?
The opportunity right now is that now we have all the time to work on these projects we are always saying we want to work on, but never take time to do it, due to the lack of time available. In our case we started to work on different personal projects at full capacity and taking this opportunity to trie to take another direction in our career as designers.
How do you spend your spare time?
First of all we are trying to maintain the same discipline as during the normal studio opening. So the little time left we spend it reflecting a lot about the actual moment and the direction we want to take after this with our studio. The little time left above we spend it doing sports, meditating or reading. During the weekend on the other hand by night there is some time left for a movie.
Do you have any suggestions for your colleagues and others?
Although we are all passing through a difficult moment, as creatives, designers and architects we have to take this moment to reinvent ourself and make the world a better tomorrow.
