Our practice, like many others – now scattered across London and beyond, has had to adjust quickly to working away from the studio. In the first days of the pandemic we made sure everyone was equipped and comfortable at home (a good chair being key) and now many more weeks in we’ve all become accustomed to ‘remote working’. This testing time has revealed many things about the way we used to work and how that may change but more than anything it has shown us that we really are social beings. So much of our creative life is social and we’re all really missing those spontaneous moments, cup–of–tea chats, scribbled ideas and verbal musings that you just can’t replicate through a screen. 

A big part of team life and the collaborative nature of TM and our sister companies at the Trust is about sharing – showing each other ideas, putting them up on the walls and stepping back together to review, investigate & resolve. We all make sure to keep in touch, with daily meetings and catch ups but other side to this is a techno-facilitated, communication fuelled, hyper-connectivity – multiple chats across multiple platforms with multiple people and no natural down time in-between. An increase in screen time in and outside of working hours means that by 6pm Friday, most of us are ‘zoomed’ out, and are looking for ways to be more creative with our time after we clock off. We are a pretty resourceful bunch as a quick look at our desks will tell you – creativity starts here. 

See  here  for Sophie’s piece ‘Isolation heightens detail’, written for  Creamer & Co  on her personal experience of isolation and creativity.