Fourteen people at one table
Every working day at one o’clock the whole studio eats lunch at one table. It is the best management decision we have made, and it costs less than a coffee machine.
By Maja Aagaard. . 1 minute read.
When Fold started in 2016 there were two of us, and we ate at our desks. By 2019 there were seven, and we noticed that nobody knew what anybody else was working on.
The rule
We eat together at one o’clock, at one table, in the studio. The lunch is cooked by a member of the team on a rota, so each of us cooks about once every three weeks. The budget is small and the menu is whatever is in season.
There is one rule, which is that nobody talks about a drawing. If you need to say something about a project, you can say it at two.
What it does
It tells everyone what the studio is working on, without a meeting. It lets the juniors talk to the partners without making an appointment. It gives people a reason to be in at lunch, and a reason to leave their screen.
It has also, to our surprise, made the work better. People have found they can explain a problem to the person next to them in a sentence, and that when they cannot, the problem is not yet understood.
The table
The table is a 5.4 metre oak top on trestles, made by Snedkeriet Egelund, who also built the shelves in the Reading Pavilion. It seats fourteen with one chair free for visitors. It has a lot of rings on it.
What we would say to other studios
If you are thinking about it, start with one day a week and see what happens. Make someone responsible for it. Expect it to be awkward for a month, and then expect to stop noticing.
Visitors are welcome to join us at one o’clock by arrangement. We will tell you what is for lunch, and we will not talk about drawings.