Category: Organisational Aesthetics

Explorations of the aesthetic, emotional, and symbolic dimensions of workspaces, drawing on art practice, organisational life, and Human Relations thinking — including what becomes possible when we pay attention to the artifacts in our own home work environments and the quiet ways they communicate meaning

Optimizing Your Backdrop for Professional Image and Connections

Organisational Aesthetics

AI created the featured image above after it read my post. I wouldn’t say I liked the first one it chose, but I settled on this one as the colours tied in with the green and gold that I talked about this week. This week, I’m reviewing the different themes in bookshelf backdrop styling that I do for my own shelf in my 9 to 5.

Themes for your backdrops

You can theme your shelf or backdrop beyond the colours of the books. The pictures below show how I have fallen into the trend of colour-coded bookshelves and am working to curate more meaningful staging for myself.

Consider curating talking pieces on your shelves to help you connect with colleagues. Avoid those bland vanilla Items you got because the influencer told you they look great. It might be a good idea to plan your shelf styling. You could take a picture on your phone and get the AI to rehash it to produce a simple outline like the one I did below. This might give you a sense of where the lines of the styling need altering so that they form that V shape or pyramid going across.


Image above based on photo of my bookshelf and the Android AI amended it to produce other stylised versions that I then selected.

Remember that it’s all about your personal branding (the extent to which you, in your backdrop, epitomise the organisation or company brand/ strategy), especially if you are a leader. It is also about your well-being through the social connection that can arise from extended chats about you and your curated collection. So what you place on the shelves should open up tales of your interesting travels, curious pieces of art you bought because you liked what the artist said or the strange way they made their art. There could also be pieces that tell of your scrapes and how you got through things; some examples below have those.

A green themed show. Artwork and all items connect by colours, including what I’m wearing.
Caught me in the middle of styling and pointing to placement of newest item. But other items on the shelf have been used to tell stories of fires, favourite cosmetic brands and awards I have won.
A wide angle just after I realised audience thought my bookshelf was a photo I uploaded to teams.
After some careful styling this has a white black and gold theme, with lights on.

Whatever you do with your shelves in your 9 to 5 backdrop, ensure they are on message for you. Remember, it is your home, but it also plays a significant role in your personal branding and your potential in the organisation. The way we present ourselves on camera is now as crucial as the attire we used to carefully select for meetings with the boss.

Our backdrop is our new jacket.

What do you think or do about your backdrop for meetings? Think about it if you want your professional personality to shine beyond using the standard images available in Teams and Webex. Zoom, etc.

Black and Gold Lighting Design: Submission to the Design Competition

Organisational Aesthetics

The WordPress AI generated the featured image above of the gold lighting, after it read my post. I think it’s OK as an illustration of the mood. It seems to understand what my blog post is about home offices and new forms of lighting. But it does not represent what I created, but I’m glad it didn’t use my design. It only used the colours I’m talking about. So that’s what makes it OK.

15cm x 18xm painted skin assembled on table lamp frame.

Last week I wrote about preparing for the design competition, using my inspiration from visits to the design centre in Chelsea and noticing other lighting creators offering their variations of the black and gold lighting theme. This week I can report that i have submitted my work to the competition. Below shows the other images and videos I took of the later part of my process.

https://videopress.com/v/CUodZzn6?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&posterUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fvideos.files.wordpress.com%2FCUodZzn6%2Fvid_92810228_193319_747_mp4_std.original.jpg&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true
Lamps in situ on display on my bookshelf
The black and gold lamps lit up
Finished two just one more to go. Experimenting with legs

See listing in the shop

Unique Office Lighting: Black and Gold Marbled Transparent Shelf decor

Organisational Aesthetics

The WordPress AI generated the featured image (above), after reading the content of this post. I quite like it.😍 It’s fun.

I’ve started creating my three entries for the Etsy Design Awards, inspired by my visit to DCCH. Yet I didnt anticipate to create what I created, but, after further thought, I think I subconsciously did. Instead, I’ve abstracted the black and gold lighting theme to create a very unique piece of office lighting. Below are some videos that capture key moments this week from my process.

I’d returned from a refreshing 5 days holiday by the sea and was inspired to use beautiful natually found items in my home as a basis for my art.

Arraniging wilted flowers for a still-life study to be painted at a later date

The original inspiration for my black and gold lighting (pictured above) really looks very different to what the fabric ended up looking like.

Then I started špaying frames gold. I did a 15cm and two 20cm frames.

The end result was a curious leopard pattern. The gold and black separated in amazing and unexpected ways. I might be creating a wonderful office lighting gift for leopard lovers 🤓

That’s me hand painting the skins using a combination of fluids and mediums.

Next week I’ll show the finished products. I’m currently in the space of fully understanding what I’m creating but I hope to show you more next week.

Who else do you think might appreciate an elegant black and gold marbled transparent shelflighting gift for their office? I’m thinking.

  • Gift for leapord lover?
  • Gift for wildlife enthusiast professional?
  • Office warming present for Zookeeper?
  • Happy birthday/ leaving gift for big cat keeper?
  • Lion Man office equipment
  • Stylists looking for black and gold alternative

Please leave your answer below.

PREVIOUS POSTS

For monthly newsletter readers, here is a list of posts from the last 4 weeks.

Complete Housewarming Gift Sets with Lampbases and Artwork Soon

Organisational Aesthetics

I’m planning on making accessories available soon to go with the main items that I make. Etsy has loosened their rules making it easier for shop owners like me to supply complimentary accessories.

In future the paintings will be available with frames, the lampshades with lampbases, and a lightbulb as well as set up instructions. There will also be super duper gift box versions for bookshelf styling.

A bookshelf styling gift basket will have storage, lighting and some faux greenery in complimentary colours and textures with guidance for displaying the shelf as the professional stylists do.

Most centrally, I’ll be curating gift boxes for housewarming parties. Housewarming Gifts

The gift boxes for housewarming parties will contain a complete set of lampbases with lampshade so that customers get the exact look that they see in my pictures.

Those gift-boxes will also contain and lightbulbs so that the kit that customers or receiver get is ready to just plug in.

Gallery wall, bring and hang fest.

I have thought of another social phenomenon (not sure if it exists but) If friends are gathering to view your new home, get them to help turn a blank wall into an eclectic gallery wall, invite them to buy you an artwork (it would probably be polite to give a ceiling on the price say from £10 to £200) and let them tell you and the other party guests why they thought of you when they got it. I imagine it might create very memorable and meaningful moments.

To help with this I’ve created another house warming gift box which will contain ready framed ready to hang or place artwork.

Thanks for reading, follow to get updates for new gift packs coming up.

Colorful vs. White Lighting: Wow House Display Insights

Exhibitions & Events, Organisational Aesthetics

The current lampshade and lighting trend is for big white empires with the gathered version emerging as being a preference.

Above is an array of white neutral lampshades for table lamps in a variety of styles and forms, seen at the Design centre Chelsea during my Wow House visit.

However, please enjoy the feast of table lighting fashions taken from my recent trip to the various rooms in Wow House at Chelsea last week.

https://videopress.com/v/izPlK2Xj?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true

This white lighting trend at some areas of the Chelsea design centre appears to echo what I wrote about in my previous posts, especially the one anbout high street table lighting.

As a lampshade maker, I don’t make big white lampshades.

More white drum lampshades

Instead, I specialise in creating small lighting and shade accessories so that they both fit on a shelf system or bookcase arrangement on bedside tables adding a pop of colour, to support shelf styling and staging themes.

I’m here to support those whose tastes for colour are not yet met by monotonous style trends or lackluster supplier management tactics. Did the mainstream lampshade suppliers suddenly say you can have any colour as long as it’s white (just like Henry Ford said about cars in the early 1900s)? I also understand, the plethora of white lampshades might also be down to the minimalist’s quiet assertion and retaliation against the rise of maximalism.

Despite the dominant theme of white lighting, I was pleased to notice more bold and characterful displays of table and ceiling lighting for the home. These seemed to be more fun and cheeky suggesting a personality of their own. Alas, there wasn’t many of the colourful ones to find.

They are rare find indeed. I noticed that the more colourful ones were displayed in the trade shops in the Chelsea Design centre, while a couple of select dark red, purple hand sewn table lamps with or without gathers were thoughtfully placed in the Wow house display.

https://videopress.com/v/WmcLIIZV?resizeToParent=1&cover=1&autoPlay=0&controls=1&loop=0&muted=0&persistVolume=1&playsinline=0&preloadContent=metadata&sbc&sbpc&sblc&useAverageColor=1

This was a development from previous years as those with colour in the Wow house previously were looking a bit anemic, washed out. Might we see more colourful table lamps in the Wow house next year?

Update: 1st July. Just Seen Homes and Gardens on Instagram just posted a thought provocation, asking scrollers to consider the whimsical style featuring colourful lamps and various colour palettes Homes and Gardens on Instagram thus we live in hope of the un-bland-ing of ambient lighting pieces.

The main thing to remember when selecting your lighting or designing your lights for ambiance within  a colour scheme is to not be pulled in by what is obviously available. Dog deeper for more interesting suppliers. Go for colour drenching, harmonising or coordinating until you are happy that you are making your own mark and showing your personality.

Do you prefer a colourful light for ambient lighting or white lights?

Let me know in the comments, below.

Click on the link to view the colourful lighting I have in my Etsy Shop

Since it’s the end of the month here are links to the previous four weekly posts, just in case you missed them.