What’s On My Desk: John Leroux
John Leroux is a New Brunswick artist, architect, historian and the Designer in Residence of the Dr. J. Herbert Smith Centre for Technology Management and Entrepreneurship Program at the University of New Brunswick. He’s a busy guy, so he’s created a home workspace where he can get everything done.
Huddle recently paid him a visit to see what fuels his never-ending creativity:
Where is your workspace?
We are sitting in it right now. It is in my house, which is at 777 Churchill Row in downtown Fredericton on the second floor. It’s got a big window facing the street and bright during the day. It is actually a very nice room, the sun during the winter is great. My desk is here. A lot of my job involves writing and always working on a book or a paper or something like that. It drives me crazy sometimes, but ultimately I love it.
Did you put time and effort into making what you have?
Sort of. It’s cluster. I suppose to say it’s a mess, but it’s cluster. There are a lot of books around. Like I mentioned earlier, I am constantly dancing from one task to another. You see here, I’ve got a bunch of papers. I am just in the middle of trying to write my PHD thesis, so I’ve got those out. I got some graphic novels, a quotation book, some old family photos. I am working on the odd architecture [project] still, so I have got some drawings and pens around, my computer and my scanner. I got a ticket to New York city, because I am going there with my wife in a few weeks. I mean, it is a bunch of stuff, but I know where everything is.
What kind of things you do in your workspace?
Often times I am at my computer. I’m writing quite a bit. As you can see here it is a massive iMac computer because I work a lot with images and photoshop, as well as graphics. I needed a large screen as I am working on visuals quite a bit, but often times I write. The room is big enough that I’ve always wanted to make a painting studio, but I also haven’t got around to it yet, because I am so busy writing.
What kinds of things do you surround yourself with to become more productive?
My family, because they take a lot of work off my shoulders …The room is very bright. I guess as an architect, it is less about things than about space. So this is a very nice bright room so when you come in, it is a very productive space. It feels open; even though it is not a massive room, but with that openness I don’t feel constrained.
I have a book, the Oxford Dictionary Quotations, which is sort of just sitting here. If I take a break I just open up to a random page, take a read and get inspired. …I surround myself with the tools and things that I need. I can’t say that there is a certain object around that spurs me on. I don’t need much to get motivated to work. I work a lot with dealing with New Brunswick culture and history. I really get excited about that and inspired.
What can’t you have around?
[If I am working on something] visual, I love having music on. It is great. But if I am writing I cannot have music because it distracts me, because I listen to the words in the lyrics and it disturbs my flow for words. So I have two very different ways. My room is totally quiet if I’m writing or it’s quite loud if I’m doing a visual thing.
What inspired you to have this kind of workspace?
I’ve always wanted a nice, bright, open office that is a place where I could go and feel creative. It works really well. I’ve written several books in here. I have a new book coming out in about two months actually.
But this building, the house, was designed on this plot. This was the last unbuilt property in downtown Fredericton. Essentially it never had a house on it. So I wanted something that was really large and contemporary without being an enormous house. The house isn’t that big, but it feels big. This has a lot of natural sunlight coming in during the day. It’s also quite a quiet space. There is a lot of people walking and stuff but when it’s nice out the windows are always open and I can hear people come by and talk to people walking by. You feel really quite connected. You’re enclosed, but you don’t feel cut off.
What are the two most important items on your desk?
My computer, Apple iMac, because it has everything I need, all of my resources and my photos all my creative stuff, all of my drawings, I have it all on there. …And probably my day time calendar. We only have one smartphone in this house so it’s never really on me. I have to look at when I go to meetings.
I should say the photos of my family but they’re always around.
Some answers were edited for length and clarity.