What’s On My Desk: Judith Mackin
Judith Mackin is a design force to be reckoned with.
Last year, the owner of the already successful interior design retail store Tuck Studio on Prince William Street decided to make another mark in uptown Saint John.
Mackin is almost ready to open the new office for her interior design business, Tuck Interiors, just a few blocks up from the retail shop. We recently paid a visit to get a sneak peek of what Mackin says will not only be an office, but an installation for the whole city to enjoy.
Where is your workspace?
We’re in the lower-level of what used to be the Bustin’s building. It’s an Historica Property and we’re in the corner basement. But it’s of course not a basement because we’re on a hill, so it’s the main level on Grannan Street.
Can you describe the efforts you made to make the space what it is?
I wanted to push my own boundaries in this space, because just like in design and journalism, in everything, mediocrity can kill us. We do a lot of the same design and we love our design. We have a very Judith Mackin style to the work that we do. But in here, I wanted to push my own boundaries. I don’t mean that to sound pretentious. I really wanted to say “Ok, you don’t really have a budget. You don’t really have a client. You can do whatever the fuck you want in this space. Go.” So my approach to this space was “Where is it that when you have to go to work every single day and you want to be inspired, what are the things that you’re going to do with this space that you’ve never had the opportunity to do anywhere else?’ … This is a very, very private space that’s sort of in the mind of Judith Mackin.
The only sort of boundaries I set for myself was that everything has to be purposeful to me and then any client that wants to be a part of this space and meet here will either get it or they won’t … I wanted a space that also reflected my travels, so there are a lot of things in here I don’t sell but I wanted, like the Timorous Beasties cushions or the Seletti Skull, things like that.
This space really just comes down to pushing the boundaries not only on my own design but pushing the boundaries of what we think is regular office space.
If I’m going hijack the corner of this block, I need to make sure there is something really beautiful at nighttime for people to experience from the outside when they’re walking by. So as soon as the signage is done and we’re ready to go, this will always be lit up at nighttime so people can look in and see Janice Wright Cheney’s artwork, they can see the Dear Ingo chandelier … they see the “Fuck Mediocrity” sign. It’s like this little art installation as they go by and hopefully, they will stop by and Instagram it, or say ‘Hey, that’s cool’ or “Hey, I’m going to rethink what I could do in my own office to push the boundaries of mediocrity.”
Can you describe the kind of work you’ll be doing here?
Most of the work that happens in here is actually done in solitude, the interior design. So working on design boards, putting together CAD (computer-aided-design), just basically being in an inspiring space where I can sit down and put together somebody’s entire living room design. It’s also a place for our clients to come meet with us in privacy so we can go through the design boards, go through the budget because design is a very personal thing. It’s not just about putting pretty pictures and sofas in someone’s home, it’s a very personal exchange that you’re having. So the idea would be to come here, sit, meet with them. All of our materials are here, wallpapers, fabrics, swatches for furniture, and once we’ve settled on that, we’ll walk down to the [Tuck Studio] and look at the items there.
It’s more of a meeting space and then a working space. I’m divided into two people. I’m high extrovert. I love and feed off of people, but with that also comes the strong need to be in a quiet isolated place for me to focus on my clients’ design needs.
What are some of the things you surround yourself with to help you stay productive?
I think the better way to answer that are the things I don’t have around me. Oddly enough, I don’t like having a lot of people around me when I’m working … The absence of people around me is important when I’m doing design work or thinking about ways to work within the city or do projects within the city. The things around my work really have nothing to do with designerly things. Obviously, everybody is going to say they have an iMac or they have a dictionary and all that, but my things are much more personal.
I have a picture of my parents out. Everybody talks about having a picture of their kids on their desk. I know what my kids look like, I’m around them. I know what my husband looks like. But my parents are gone and I miss them and they were the biggest influence in my life. So no matter where I am in a workspace, I always have a picture of my mom and dad. I don’t know how they’d feel about the “Fuck Mediocrity” sign though.
Then the other thing that is so not sexy and not on-trend in 2017, but I have to have lined paper and a Sharpie on my desk all the time. I’m a list maker and I’m a very goal-driven person. So I will start the day, doesn’t matter if I’m even repeating what was on the list the day before, I start from scratch and write a list.
Also the lack of clutter. I’m easily distracted so the cleaner my workspace is when I’m doing that kind of work the better.
Besides people, what can’t you have around when you’re working?
This sounds snobby, but I don’t like working in ugly spaces. I can’t work in an uninspiring space and part of the reason I decided to move here was that it was so busy at Tuck [Studio] that during the summer I had to take my computer up into the storage room and I worked in the storage room with no windows, no light. It was a hovel and that was soul-killing to me. I’m not terribly happy to work in a space that’s soul-killing.
I like to think I’m really not high maintenance … I think it’s more about the things I do want around me and I want things around me that are purposeful, they push my creative flow and artistic elements around me.
What’s inspired you to have a workspace like this?
I think I’m a citizen before I am anything and I don’t take the role lightly. I think it’s a privilege to be someone who pays taxes and lives and works in the City of Saint John. I know that sounds corny, but I’m 50, I’m allowed to say that. I would have never thought of it in those terms when I was 30. But I almost feel like on many levels, we all have an obligation to do the very best that we can do for our community.
It would have been easy for me to build a glass wall at Tuck [Studio] with a door and save a shit-ton of money and just make that my design offices, but I see people like Jakob [Lutes of Port City Royal] across the street and Sean [Dunbar] down at Picaroons and Jody [Kliffer of the Five and Dime] right next door and Yuk Yuk’s, the list goes on. I see people who’ve said “I’m going to step up and be a citizen” so for me, taking on this space wasn’t just a gift to myself, or to my team or to my clients, but I wanted it to be a gift to the city as well.
I’m not going to be around forever. Who knows, I may move out of here when my lease is up in three years. But I see this as a higher standard now for maybe the next person who moves in here.
I really get off being in a space like this and making it beautiful … It’s fucking amazing to me. You can build a house in the North End with beautiful straight white walls, but to make something out of whole cloth from this space … this was a basement for storage and now look at it. People would kill to have this in other cities. Even Fredericton would kill for this. Our architecture is quintessentially Saint John and it’s gorgeous. That’s what inspires me. It’s not “What am I going to do for a design office” it’s “How can we better Saint John by our initiative?”
I live for this shit. I live for this. I’m more excited about you guys seeing this space than I am being in this space. I love sharing this.
What is the most important thing in your new office?
Rumble Shakes. I have a tendency not to eat. I get very focused. I had a beer and cornflakes this morning and it’s 3 p.m. So, I don’t eat properly, but Rumble Shakes are always in my fridge and those are key to keeping me going.
___
The interview has been edited for length and clarity.