Turning Japanese
I’m not much of a shopper, but I do like to check out shops I don’t see locally, and going to London provides ample opportunity to do that. And even as a minimal shopper it’s wonderful to find a shop where you love the ethos and the design and would happily buy just about anything they stock. A chain I’ve always enjoyed mooching about in is Muji, the Japanese company that sells well-designed, functional products with no branding and – hurray! – at reasonable prices.
I’ve always loved the clever things they come up with that you’d never think of until you find them in a Muji shop. They have all kinds of bottles, tubes and pots to decant toiletries into for holidays, ingenious, irresistible stationery and covetable kitchenware of oriental simplicity. This time there were some fabulous steel desks and shelves perfect for homeworking, well-designed laptop bags and the usual extensive range of storage drawers, boxes and trolleys.
They do clothes too and I found another stripey T shirt to add to my collection, and made a mental note to come back on my next trip to the city. If you can’t visit in person, you can check out www.muji.co.uk for yourself.
April 28, 2009 - 7:47 pm
Hi Judy – I saw an item at the weekend and thought it might be of interest to other homeworkers.
On the subject of making the most of a compact workspace with nifty storage solutions, how would you fancy working from a shed at the bottom of the garden? This Guardian article explores how to go about it.
It’s an appealing idea, I think. Sometimes when I’m working from home, I find it all too easy to become distracted by (or bothered about) all the other little domestic jobs which need doing instead of focussing purely on work. I can believe that taking a few steps down a path or across the garden into a purpose-built professional environment could help build work routines and the whole process of entering productive’work mode’.
I particularly like this one. It reminds me of a Tardis. What do you think?
April 28, 2009 - 8:08 pm
I agree this is a very appealing idea. I’m in the process of writing an article for a business magazine about maintaining a professional image when you work from home, and this would solve many of the most common problems in one fell swoop – leave behind the family noise and domestic detritus and whisk your visitor into your sleek, shiny OfficePod in a corner of the garden. Light years away from the traditional shed and very impressive! Can’t say I’m as keen on the ‘Tiny House’ illustrating the Guardian article. It looks like a hobbit’s house in a wheelbarrow!