On the 12th June, we officially opened the doors to our office in Rosebank after almost a year of architects, renovators, tilers, coffee suppliers, countless red eye flights and many hours on William Nicol.
In the six months we have been open, we have been overwhelmed by how well we have been received by the city of Joburg. We are positioned in the centre of Rosebank, surrounded by agencies and production houses so we have been able to seamlessly fit into the creative industry in the city of gold. The street we are situated on, Jan Smuts Avenue, is fondly known as the “gallery strip” and is home to galleries big and small, famous and underground. Our office sits right in the middle of various galleries and our shop has become an inspiration space for people from the area or just passing through.
Cal spent a lot of time fine tuning the overall look and smaller details of our espressobar. The main feature is the Peter Mammes graphic mural that stretches across one wall, which adds a striking visual element to our space. The chalk wall oppposite the mural is reguarly updated with our latest menu, specials and not-so-inspirational quotes. Probably the biggest creative influence and essential part of our satellite office is Vini, our Chilean punk-rock barista. Vini hails from South Joburg/Chile and he imbues the place with Latino flavour and character. With the regulars coming in from the art galleries and surrounds, Vini knows almost everyone by name and picks up conversations where he left them the day before. His mother supplies the shop with empandas and chilenitos and Vini makes his own homemade salsa. Vini serves Cow Bell blend, a blended roast supplied by the incredibly supportive Alain Rosa at Double Shot.
Behind the espressobar is the edit suite and production. When our team from Cape Town isn’t stationed there, we dry hire the office to individuals, small teams or companies that don’t have a base in Joburg or have overflow in their own offices. The fully equipped edit suite and production offices is available for hire at R2500 per day, which includes WiFi (if you want to rent the office for a week or month, discounted rates apply).
Aside from serving coffee and editing commercials, our space is also used as an exhibition space. On 15 November, we will be exhibiting “Artists Have No Fucking Respect” which will include a handful of local South African artists. The show will be curated by Anthony Posner and will run for a month. We are also trying to get in touch with young, talented graphic designers who would like to exhibit their work for free in our office. If you know of anyone, give Jess a shout.