Etsy's website is as beautiful as its workspace. Join us at Generate New York on 28 April and find out how product designer Catt Small helps build a delightful, usable experience without getting distracted by process and tools.
Etsy's London office is a really special place to work because it is our first permanent home in the UK. When we first viewed the space in Clerkenwell, it had hideous bright blue walls and laminate floors and needed some TLC. Thankfully, our fearless office manager and designer saw past all that and fell in love with the enormous floor-to-ceiling windows. It's a wonderfully light and airy place to work.
The whole Etsy UK team contributed ideas and suggestions, and as a result the office is full of reclaimed materials, greenery and quirky decor from Etsy sellers. As soon as you walk through our front door you see a mantelpiece with handmade soft toys, vintage Bambi figurines, London maps and some painted logs – it's definitely not your standard corporate office!
All the desks are made by Etsy seller WickedBoxcar from reclaimed wood, and the bright orange barn doors make our space unique. Sound-absorbing textile 'clouds' all over the ceiling aid the acoustics, and the enormous industrial metal lights, from a salvage yard in Devon, give the office an urban feel.
It was important to us to have plenty of cosy, comfortable places to meet, so we have a large kitchen on the mezzanine, with a huge farmhouse table that we all sit around for 'Eatsy' – our weekly shared lunches. There is generally a lot of cake! Cupboards full of vintage teacups and plates make the space very homely.
We all decorated the office with art and homewares from our favourite Etsy sellers to give it real personality. My favourite items are the crocheted zebra head mounted on the wall of our meeting room and the three-foot 3D wooden dinosaur puzzle called Ralph that stands opposite my desk.
A wall mural and some lights spelling 'ETSY' are just a couple of the DIYs we've attempted since we moved in. We had a wallpaper printing workshop recently, so maybe we'll wallpaper one of the meeting rooms next!
This article was originally published in net magazine issue 266.
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