This Kid-Friendly Office Is Every Parent's Dream Place to Work
To borrow a phrase from the iconic film Mean Girls, this isn't a regular office—it's a cool office. I'm talking about the Dumbo, Brooklyn headquarters of Maisonette, a fashion-forward kids brand founded by Vogue alums and meant to cater to a new generation of parents and their cool kids.
Sylvana Ward Durrett and Luisana Mendoza Roccia met while working at Vogue for renowned editor Anna Wintour. Wellversed in the fashion world, they were underwhelmed by the options for kids clothes when they had children. So, in 2017, they joined forces to found Maisonette, an online destination for stylish kids’ clothing.
With the company growing, the founders turned to designer Ariel Okin last year to create an office space for the team in Dumbo. The mission? Design an open, airy space that made for an efficient and happy HQ for their employees—and also served as a welcoming space for their children.
"Maisonette was looking for a space that exuded the ethos of their company but remained an efficient and sophisticated workspace," Okin says. She designed an open-concept office that fosters collaboration, then added on breakout rooms and meeting spaces that feel more cozy, like a jewel box of a phone room and a conference room where chairs are covered in plush sheepskins.
Meanwhile, several walls are covered in a wallpaper made from Maisonette's signature doodle print—a nod to the playfulness of the brand. "We infused a ton of color into the space, from the saturated fun wallpapers to the pretty paint color in Sylvana and Luisana's office," Okin explains. "We also utilized a lot of Maisonette's own product (read: toys), to make the space feel kid-friendly!"
Visiting tots are greeted with a shelf full of toys and books to keep them occupied, or can head down the hall to a lounge area with a sofa and more playthings.
Meanwhile, the founders' shared office—Luisana is based in DC, but on her frequent trips to New York she works out of the same room as Sylvana—is far from the corner one: Sylvana and Luisana work at an oversized desk in a glass-walled room in the center of the space.
"It's about transparency—we literally work in a glass box," Durett quips. The space is covered in Farrow & Ball's Calamine pink ("It's just so happy," Durett says) and decorated with personal photos as well as imagery from Maisonette's ad campaigns, which feature the founders' own children and their friends' kids.
"We really wanted to incorporate a family-friendly environment," says Roccia. "It's lovely to be surrounded by that."
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