This East London Coworking Space's Calming and Characterful Checkered Scheme May Actually Help You Get Stuff Done — And Make You Feel Like You're at a Cool Boutique Hotel

I was never the 'WeWork' type, but Conductor just convinced me it's time to give my routine the design upgrade it has long deserved

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A frontal photograph of a lounge decorated with wood and upholstered seats, two olive green, oversized sofas, one checkered one color-blocked one, standing plants sitting in ceramic vases, and see-through curtains.
Ever wondered what would happen if your office looked more like one of your favorite restaurants or holiday stays? Designer Tabitha Isobel is on the quest.
(Image credit: Courtesy of Conductor. Design: Tabitha Isobel)

Easily distracted and unable to complete any of the tasks your manager assigns you on a given day? Well, perhaps it's time to rethink your remote working setup. And trust me, you won't be the only one to consider swapping your at-home days with something else — or shall I say... something better? — after peaking at the interiors of the Tabitha Isobel-designed Conductor, a newly unveiled creative workspace located at URW's Coppermaker Square in Stratford, East London.

A collaboration with the architects of Studio Multi, the hub, operated by IWG, is an airy, inspiring 1970s-style dream office. A palette of earthy tones and pastel greens is revived by occasional, acid pops of chartreuse, timber coffered ceilings, paint-washed, industrial-cool piping, and sci-fiesque, suffused light installations hover above people's heads. And so do the semi-transparent, wavy panels that, turning sunshine into the key feature of the address's central atrium, merge the inside and the outside.

That Conductor outdoes even the sleekest home-office designs isn't a surprise. What caught our eye, though, is the way in which the checkered flooring trend that decorates the space is used to ground people in place, and who knows, maybe even make you more productive.

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Can Great Design Help You Work Better?

A series of interior shots of a workspace designed with terracotta-hued checkered floors, coffered ceilings in wood and back-lit blocks, pendant, see-through lighting, mid-century furniture,

We might be biased, of course, but have got plenty of reasons to think so.

(Image credit: Courtesy of Conductor. Design: Tabitha Isobel and Studio Multi)

At the heart of Conductor is a desire to actually help visitors forget they are even working. "We wanted people to walk in and be surprised that it is a workplace," Isobel says. That's where the hospitality industry's ongoing flirt with immersive design came in handy. Glancing at photographs of the Stratford coworking hub without knowing it was one, you couldn't be blamed for mistaking it for one of London's next-generation private members' clubs.

Throughout its 3,400 square meters, oversized, low-slung couches, woody mid-century modern furniture, and sculptural lighting varying from industrial LEDs to mushroom-shaped table lamps and floating cylindrical pendants evoke the laidback-coolness and social-first atmosphere of those establishments. Maybe that's precisely what we need from an office: to feel as if we are not simply there to get stuff done, but to feel energized and inspired by the environment and the people around us, too. That, rather than stricter deadlines, may be the key to keeping on top of KPIs.

A Biophilic, Cadenced Interior Scheme — 'Cause Repetition Is Key

A series of interior shots of a workspace designed with terracotta-hued checkered floors, coffered ceilings in wood and back-lit blocks, pendant, see-through lighting, mid-century furniture,

Image credit: Courtesy of Conductor. Design: Tabitha Isobel and Studio Multi

A series of interior shots of a workspace designed with terracotta-hued checkered floors, coffered ceilings in wood and back-lit blocks, pendant, see-through lighting, mid-century furniture,

Image credit: Courtesy of Conductor. Design: Tabitha Isobel and Studio Multi

A series of interior shots of a workspace designed with terracotta-hued checkered floors, coffered ceilings in wood and back-lit blocks, pendant, see-through lighting, mid-century furniture,

Image credit: Courtesy of Conductor. Design: Tabitha Isobel and Studio Multi

A series of interior shots of a workspace designed with terracotta-hued checkered floors, coffered ceilings in wood and back-lit blocks, pendant, see-through lighting, mid-century furniture,

Image credit: Courtesy of Conductor. Design: Tabitha Isobel and Studio Multi

Conductor really ticks off the requirements of today's ever-demanding lifestyle space: it's meticulously researched in its furniture choices and details — the amber-toned interiors are a nod to the Coppermaker Works development it rises within; bespoke joinery turns its chocolatey café (yes!) counter and volcanic ash glazed tiles-topped reception desk into design highlights; and textural pieces from the Livingetc-approved Nordic Knots, Ferm Living, HAY, and &Tradition are incorporated throughout — but nonchalant.

It favors opportunities to socialize, as demonstrated by its conversation pit, but also feels remarkably calm. Its exposed concrete columns lean toward a brutalist, loft-y sensibility, while also being alive with plants, and thriving ones, making it into a biophilic paradise. Still, if we were to pick one detail that makes Conductor especially striking and fitting as a coworking space, it's the cadenced rhythm of its composition.

Inserted across the whole scheme, the warm terracotta and white tiles on the floor, crafted by Solus, create consistency throughout all aisles of the workspace. But they don't do just that: their patterns, repeated from nook to nook, from table to table, heighten familiarity, making guests feel 'at home', and, in doing so, focused. Whether in the color, the materiality, or the lighting, there is no sharp change of scenery, but a reassuring, growing sense of comfort.

A series of interior shots of a workspace designed with terracotta-hued checkered floors, coffered ceilings in wood and back-lit blocks, pendant, see-through lighting, mid-century furniture,

The conversation pit of Conductor looks straight out of a film.

(Image credit: Courtesy of Conductor. Design: Tabitha Isobel and Studio Multi)

I am speaking for myself, but I find office interiors that try to do too much at the same time — every room, a different palette; a plethora of contrasting, just-thrown-there furniture styles, patterns, and textures — distracting. Conductor remedies that by rooting its atmosphere in nature's hues — dark sage, red wine, walnut, moss, and clay — and signs.

Learn more about Conductor.

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Gilda Bruno
Gilda Bruno
Lifestyle Editor

Gilda Bruno is Livingetc's Lifestyle Editor. Before joining the team, she worked as an Editorial Assistant on the print edition of AnOther Magazine and as a freelance Sub-Editor on the Life & Arts desk of the Financial Times. Between 2020 and today, Gilda's arts and culture writing has appeared in a number of books and publications including Apartamento’s Liguria: Recipes & Wanderings Along the Italian Riviera, Sam Wright’s debut monograph The City of the Sun, The British Journal of Photography, DAZED, Document Journal, Elephant, The Face, Family Style, Foam, Il Giornale dell’Arte, HUCK, Hunger, i-D, PAPER, Re-Edition, VICE, Vogue Italia, and WePresent.