Every now and then, the City Weekend Home and Office team takes a tour of other Creative businesses around town. This month, we asked Archie Hamilton of Splitworks to give us the grand tour of his creative office. One look around and we can tell that this boss makes a space for teamwork and inspiration in the French Concession lane house.

Creativity is the essence of our business. Splitworks is a concert promotion agency. We also organize and promote branded events for our clients through our sister company, Splatter. In the early days of our company, we were based in a tiny, claustrophobic apartment. Since then, the company has grown and we have relocated to a quiet, picturesque location in the heart of the French Concession. This upgrade has even afforded us the luxury of renting out our extra office space to a few small, creative businesses, and creating a conglomerate of our own.

When designing this office, my main goal was to cultivate creative collaboration among the staff members. This was accomplished in two ways: first by promoting communication through an open floor plan, and second by fostering innovation through a laid-back environment, which would make staff members feel comfortable exploring novel ideas.

The most formal meetings are held in the conference room, which is the only area that can be completely isolated. Our old designer created a fresco from designs which we regularly used on flyers and posters. This mural stretches around all four walls of the room, and has rendered what was previously a depressing space into something warmer and more reflective of our company culture.

The heart of Split Works is the cozy work area at the back of the facility. Creativity is enhanced when we are able to bounce new ideas off one another. The desks are all uncovered and arranged around a central table where interns and visiting colleagues from Beijing are stationed.

This facilitates easy conversation, and I often hear employees discussing work or shouting jokes to one another in the background. This might seem a bit hectic at first, but I find it promotes cooperation and camaraderie among the staff. I want everyone working here to feel at ease exploring new ideas. As such, insuring a laid-back atmosphere was another central consideration when setting up the office.

One of my favorite additions is the Wall of Shame, a corkboard filled with embarrassing photographs. This was meant to create a sense of equality by shaming everyone, but being the boss, I’ve ended up covering most of the wall with a variety of my cringe-worthy memories. All of this assures my employees that they should feel comfortable proposing new and challenging ideas, especially to me.

Memorabilia from past events lines our office walls. It reminds us how far we’ve come and acts as a source of inspiration from which to draw new ideas. My favorite piece is one that is still sitting in the tray on my desk. It is the setlist from the José González concert we put on in 2009. For me, this show reflected the cosmopolitan nature of Shanghai’s music scene: a Swedish folk artist of Argentine-descent playing to a captivated crowd of Chinese fans truly demonstrates the endless possibilities for both us and the local music scene.

What do you think of the Splitworks space? How does it stack up to your office? Leave a comment below

Have you got a cool office space that you want to share with City Weekend? Send an email to johanna.hoopes@cityweekend.com.cn.