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Office Space – Decorating to Inspire and Motivate

Every trade has trends, and decorating, especially for offices, is no different. From the traditional dark green with wood and leather, and the industrial-grey days to open plan offices and everything in between, some of the fads have been fabulous, and can still occasionally be seen today, while others died quickly, and are only seen these days in internet memes.

When decorating your own office space, you may find yourself tempted by the latest trends and fashions, but keeping the space practical is really important, and a refurb is a great excuse to have a look at ways to inspire and motivate your workforce every single day.

Layout

If your office needs areas where the team are all together, a designated quiet zone away from this area is a great idea, for those moments that require a little more focus. Desk separators can also work well to give individual privacy when necessary, while also keeping the team in the same place.

Colour Scheme

The colour scheme can have a massive effect on how the whole space feels. Bright, striking colours, like reds or monochrome, can be distracting or make the space feel oppressive, especially in a small area. Blues, yellows and greens in lighter shades will be less distracting and make it feel like a brighter, more pleasant space to spend time in.

Wall Art

This is an area where personal taste is still allowed to be king, as long as no piece chosen for the office is too distracting, of course. Pieces related to the industry, motivational or inspirational messages, famous quotes and even abstract pieces can all be great in an office setting.

Furniture

Your first considerations here should be comfort, practicality and durability. Comfort is important, though, as nobody who is uncomfortable is going to be focused on their work. Check as many reviews as you can, or even better, go try them out for yourself, as what looks comfortable might not feel the same way.

Plants

Plants are a great way to inject a bit of life in the office. Nothing too fragrant, nothing too likely to attract a lot of wildlife and something that doesn’t need much care are the basic rules, making cacti and other succulent plants the perfect office buddies.

Any decorating project is an opportunity for improvement and checking every aspect and detail will help you get the most from your refurb.  

Making yourself a workspace should be a fun task? Read our blog “A Space That Wants To Work” for more ideas!

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Black & White Delight Exploring Art & Photography in Black & White and Monochrome

For artists and photographers, the word “monochrome” has different meanings, which can be confusing for beginners and old-hands alike, as art and photography naturally cover a lot of similar areas.

We aim to untangle the two and give you a better understanding of both, with a thorough explanation and some well-known examples.

Photography

In the field of photography, monochrome refers to images captured and developed with no colour, so that the image is only affected by light and shadow. Often referred to as black & white, this technique often uses shades of grey to produce detail and definition in the subjects and also covers images captured in sepia, cyan or brown.

Monochrome was the starting point for photography and remained the dominant technique for almost a century after the first successful experiments with colour photography. More recently, monochrome images tend to be used for artistic purposes, allowing photographers to experiment with light and shadow, and to take multiple shots of the same view under varying conditions.

Famous examples of monochrome photography include Doris Ulman’s work, Laborers Hands, taken in the mid-1920s and depicting exactly what the title suggests – a labourers hands – and the whole collection of pictures taken of the workers who constructed the Empire State Building, taken in the same era.

A more recent example is the work of Markus Landsmann, a German photographer whose portfolio has cityscapes and landscapes from around the world in variations of monochrome.

Art

For artists, monochrome is a concept which uses all hues of a single colour (or black and white) to create images. Any colour may be chosen, but to be a monochromatic works, it must only use hues of hat chosen colour.

Paintings entirely in hues of black are recorded as far back as the 17th century, and by the late 1800s, monochromatic works were the centre of a trend, and were representing nature, politics, people, feelings, ideas and more.

Famous monochromatic works include some early ones, such as the works included in Pablo Picasso’s collection, The Blue Period, and more recent offerings, including some digital monochromatic art from French artist Serge Malivert, famous for his monochromatic celebrity portraits.

Checking out these examples online should give you a great illustration of the difference between monochrome photographs and monochromatic art, and better able to tell and to understand the difference between the two.

From colourful collages to monochrome masterpieces, browse through an array of hand-picked artwork.

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Summer Scene

It’s that time again! Summer is here and after so much of 2020 being lost to the pandemic and lockdowns, the galleries of Dubai have a lot for you to see and do. This is a brief overview of some exhibitions available in Dubai for summer 2021 – they can’t wait to welcome you back.

XVA Gallery

Opened in April and running until early June, Drawings & Editions, from digital and collage artist Elizabeth Dorazio, is a beautiful selection of works inspired by the natural world.

These pieces aim to really draw the viewer into the piece and allow them to experience a familiar landscape or concept from a fresh perspective by creating extreme depth, with items in the foreground made large against backgrounds of immense detail and comparative size.

This venue is also home to an art-themed café so you can grab yourself a snack along the way.

Jameel Arts Centre

Begun in January and open until August 14th this year, Age of You: a kaleidoscopic exploration of the extreme self is a collection of works across different media from over 70 different visual contributors who work in areas including art, design, photography, film making, technology, and music.

The focus of this exhibition, curated by Shuman Basar, Douglas Coupland, and Hans Ulrich Obrist, is the interaction between people and technology and how the relationship between the two has changed during the course of the pandemic. With many people forced online more and more, this is a timely exhibition and bound to stir up some emotion.

Theatre of Digital Arts

Although the Theatre of Digital Arts already dedicates a regular spot in a long-term exhibition to the works of Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh, the Being van Gogh exhibit is a new immersive experience based upon the life and works of the celebrated impressionist.

Made up of a short play, video clips of the artist, and stunning displays of his works, this experience is available until July 2021, so get your skates on. The all-encompassing experience of a world-renowned master of his craft makes it well worth a visit.

It’s been a tough twelve months for all of us and with lockdowns, social distancing measures, and extra public protections in place, galleries and exhibitions have seen their visitor numbers fall dramatically. Visiting the galleries is a great way to show your appreciation and have yourself a great day out along the way.

Browse Drawdeck's different art forms such as photography, collages, digital, illustrations, paintings, and calligraphy. Connect to us at https://www.drawdeck.com/

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Poster Art – Spice Up Your Space

With their striking graphics, bright colours and their bold, thick borders, posters are some of the most immediately discernible artworks out there. From posters drawn by artists to advertise their own exhibitions to works commemorating pop-culture moments, movements and iconic scenes and characters, there aren’t many areas that don’t have some poster art celebrating them.

These informal and fairly self-explanatory artworks are accessible in nature and in price – most people can recognise what a poster is made in reference to and in many cases, poster art is more affordable than original pieces in other forms.

The nature of poster art also means that it can sit quite easily among other works in different forms, so long as attention is paid to a theme or scheme through the works, and they can be a really great way to express yourself and show the people and moments that helped to inspire your own ideas.

These pieces can also be used together as sets, making striking displays and really emphasising your love for your chosen genre, and could become collector’s items in the future.

If there is a specific room you have in mind to target, posters might be just the place to start looking. The definitive themes, displayed so boldly, make it easy to find pieces that fit the bill.

For children’s rooms, poster art is the perfect addition. Bold colours and easily identifiable themes, outlines and characters make these great pieces for introducing children to art in general, as they can instantly recognise and interact with what they are seeing.

Kitchen and dining rooms will always have a huge array of posters available. Food, chefs, brands and all the related areas, such as menus, ingredients lists and food packaging, have all found themselves under the artists spotlight at some point and the wealth of poster art available in this area is enormous.

For bedrooms and living rooms, your existing theme is king but adding posters that match this will give any room a personal edge and a talking point.

Our own range of posters includes comic characters, myths and legends, homages to movies and actors as well as some yummy looking foodie posters and more, which is a good indication of the diversity of this range and really shows that there is a poster available for every room in the house.

So have a flick through, whatever you love, there is sure to be a poster representing it. Explore the latest wall prints ideas!

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Style File – Tips on Creating Themes and Schemes

Decorating can be a tough job. From the original design stages through to finding your materials and executing your plan, using a theme or scheme to help tie your ideas together can help to simplify this process from start to finish.

What’s the difference?

A theme is a topic or subject that runs through your room via the furnishings and decoration, like animals, music, movies, nature etc. A scheme is simply a colour palette for you to keep to within the room.

For the best results, finding a scheme and theme that complement each other, like a green or brown palette with a nature or plant-based theme, will help to really enhance the overall effect.

Schemes

There are several types of colour scheme you could use, with each choosing colours to give different effects and feelings. These are three of the most popular, although there are more complex schemes available if none of these suits your purposes.

Monochrome

Not what it sounds like. A monochromatic scheme uses different shades of the same colour and mixes them with bold pieces of black and/or white. These are quite rigid and might appear bland without enough splashes of strong blacks or bright whites to break up the colour.

Analogous

These are probably the most well-known and popular. Analogous schemes use 3 colours that sit next to each other on the colour wheel. You can jazz these up with different textures and materials and they work great for different effects, depending on where on the colour wheel you choose your shades from.

Complementary

These use only two shades and take them from opposite sides of the colour wheel to create striking contrasts. These are easily embellished and might work the best when using a strong theme, too, as the theme will allow you to escape slightly from the scheme.

Themes

Themes can be a little more fun to design and can be based around pretty much anything you like. The biggest tip here is not to go overboard – there is a difference between a rock and roll theme and a shrine to Elvis, afterall.

Soft furnishings, art work and a few other pieces like statuettes can have enough effect and you can have a lot of fun adding to this with smaller touches like coasters, candlesticks and oil burners.

Most importantly, make sure you love your scheme and theme before you begin to implement it. Use decorating apps to better visualise your end result and don’t be afraid to change your mind in the early stages, was doing so later on could be costly. Click here to browse a variety of themes and schemes style art available at Drawdeck.

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A Gloomy Start for Art

As the world picks itself up from the global pandemic, art still seems to be having a bad time. As a mainly self-supporting industry, when the worlds economies grind to a halt, who funds artistic endeavours?

Although times of hardship and economic downturn tend to see creativity flourish, bouncing back from the struggles is not always as straightforward as putting brush to canvas. Funding has been cut from arts councils the world over, galleries have been closed, talents unrecognised.

It is expected that over the coming decade there will be a boom in the art world. History has taught us this. Whilst we patiently await the boom, we thought we’d take a look at some recent art faux pas of a lighter nature to help pass the time.

Donald Sculp

A recent renovation of stonework around a bank in Palencia, northern Spain, left one of the featured women looking slightly less 19th century farmer, and more 21st century US President.

Over time the stonework had become weathered, unfortunately the renovation has left the poor woman worse off. Before and after pictures show a beautifully crafted maiden, reduced to what some have described as a ‘potato with eyes’.

One quick witted individual likened the face to Donald Trump. With a 45th POTUS pout and questionable hairline, it’s easy to see why.

The Defective Conception of Los Venerables

Another restoration gone wrong this year was The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables, by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. A furniture restorer was hired to restore the piece by the works owner and following two attempts, was left in poor form.

The Virgin Marys face was left completely botched with bright red lips, uneven eyes and a complexion Donald Sculp would have been happy with. Unfortunately, this is a common occurrence amongst ‘restorers’ as the profession remains largely unregulated.

Greener Pastures

To avoid dwelling on disasters, some uplifting art news from Canada. The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria in British Columbia received a generous donation. Two previously unseen works by one of Canada’s most famous artists, Emily Carr were kindly offered up by two brothers who inherited the works from their grandmother, a friend of Carr.

The works hung for two generations in the family home, having never been seen by the outside world. Now the pride of the British Columbian gallery, the pieces make up part of the biggest art collection in the province.There are a fantastic range of canvases, framed pictures, and posters with multiple styles, designs, and genres to choose from, just Click here.