law office aesthetic
The experts culled for this article on law firm design advise that our work space should reflect our “firm’s identity.” In cultivating our physical plant, they say, we need to consider how we want others to perceive our business and incorporate “specific materials to create the desired impression.” For example, firms looking “to project an established, old-school image should focus on materials that depict antiquity,” like solid woods and leather upholstery. Those wanting to draw “high-tech markets and younger, progressive clients” should employ “[c]ontemporary colors and bright materials like chrome and metal.” This guidance presumes that we fashion our office space largely to affect clients and other office guests. That’s a fair presumption. But, it misses the more important point that our workplace’s design affects and reflects our own state. The article obliquely addresses this point in its discussion of Feng Shui, the “Chinese art or practice of positioning objects [ ] and furniture based on a belief in patterns of yin and yang and the flow of chi that have positive and negative effects.” My wife and I have used Feng Shui at home and at work with the help of our good friend, the very talented Reiko Gomez of Reiko Feng Shui Interior Design. Upon walking into my office, people often comment on how calm, inviting and energizing it is. And my mediation clients tell me that the environment is conducive to resolution. I’m thrilled for them, but even happier for me. Absent this design synergy, I wouldn’t be as content or efficient during my long work day.
