Inside onomao

An office diary

An old bakery in the back of our office was offered to us by our lovely landlord. His family had baked bread there for many decades for the bakery that became our office some time ago.

The bakery sparked ideas. Old walls with a less-than-attractive patina were refinished, a stage for our pottery studio was poured, and the historic tile floor was allowed to stay. Old meets new is usually a nice solution - and certainly in this historic bakery.

The room is not particularly large, but offered enough space for our ideas. A spacious kitchen with a large dining table where we can all sit was to be given plenty of room. The kitchen combined several of our needs at once and should visually fit into the old bakery.

We chose a wooden front from Reform Copenhagen to add visual warmth to the bakery. We like the minimal and timeless design. To match the kitchen, we added a sideboard from the range. The fronts of Surface are made of sawn natural oak. The countertop is made of solid natural oak, which makes it especially durable.

We also can't imagine living without our large dining table with long benches. This is where we meet to exchange creative ideas, have lunch together or our weekly team breakfast. And every now and then for a delicate glass of wine in the evening.

Furthermore, we wanted to create a place that is suitable for shootings, but does not have a classic studio vibe, but fits us, onomao. We could already produce some pictures in our "Backstube".

But our "Backstube" offers even more space for creativity: We felt the need to be able to work as a team with the raw product clay on site in Cologne and, among other things, to try out new designs directly on the potter's wheel. The solution is a pottery studio. This occupies the former backing area of the room. The space that was occupied for many decades by a baking oven has now been given an oven again. In a way it feels like a full circle, which we like very much. The pottery studio gives us new ideas that can be tried out and implemented directly - thus small, limited lines are also to be created there.

Our everyday office life sometimes reminds us of a shared flat. Whose turn is it to clean out the dishwasher? What are we cooking for lunch today? We're out of toilet paper! We like that. This friendly, family-like work relationship often makes the construct of "work" more enjoyable. It's not hours of holding out until "life" begins again. It's life. And after those eternal home office months, every hour among people feels like a party anyway.