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Visiting a person’s workspace is like taking a peek inside their brain. Whether it’s at home or in an art studio, Nice Work explores where creative people do all of their, well, creating, so that you can steal their on-the-clock style.
Name: Raven Roxanne
Occupation: Artist
Time I start: 10 a.m.
Time I clock out: 4:30 p.m.
How I get to work: A seven-minute walk.
Three words that describe my space: Creative, positive, energetic.
How I found it: My husband worked upstairs, and when I got pregnant and my old studio space was raising the rent, he made it his goal to find a new place for me that was walking distance from home. He wrote the landlord about the downstairs space and was like, “Hey, would you ever add windows?” But that conversation never got started because the landlord said they’d like to sell the building! So we ended up buying it—and then added the windows. The studio is designed by John Adley Morgan Doyle of Pistachio Studio. Freelancers can rent desks upstairs, and I’ve always worked alongside two other artists; Blakely Made’s space is next to mine, and then behind us is Lulie Wallace’s team.
When I moved in: October 2021.
Most important thing on my desk: A photo of my 1-year-old son, English, sitting in my best friend Gregory Blake Sams’s office chair. He has a big, happy smile on his face and a ladybug on his shirt.
What’s on the walls: Paintings in various stages of completion. I just finished up my next Nest series, which is probably the series I’ve been painting the longest. It’s about the messiness of home.
Current creative fuel: Jil Sanders’s Spring 2023 ready-to-wear runway show. I love the darkness of the ground and that the models are all holding umbrellas. There’s this wildness of the flowers, but then the modern, clean lines of the clothing.
What I turn to when I’m stuck: I sit in my studio mates’ rooms and talk to them. I kind of hide from my paintings—they’re in time-out for a little bit.
How I stay organized: My assistant. Emails really overwhelm me, and I don’t like being on the Internet. I’m just not good at it. My main job is to paint, and if I can have somebody help me do all the other tasks, it works better.
Favorite pen: Le Pens. They’re skinny and make my handwriting look cool.
Best notebook: Ito Bindery’s drawing pad. It’s superclean—there are no design elements. It’s literally just a pad, and I love that.
Perfect paints: I love the color palette of Charvin acrylic paints. I found them in Paris, so they also remind me of that trip I took.
Work bag I carry every day: The Toogood x Charcoli Joiner bag. I love having that pop of blue, and the bag sits straight up, so when you put it down, it doesn’t slouch; it has structure.
Technology I can’t live without: I contribute a lot of my success to Instagram. It really is the way I connect to my clients and how people find me.
Desk chair that I could (and do) spend hours in: I hate to sit—that’s why I paint! I work on the ground, because the way I’m working right now is on raw canvas. So the paint has to sit and absorb.
Table I convene around: Our stainless steel restaurant worktables. You can’t mess them up. They’re where we eat lunch every day and where packing and shipping happens.
How I fight the 3 p.m. slump: An iced matcha from Harken Cafe.
Coffee I run on: A pour-over that my husband makes for me. My favorite mug right now is a polka dot one by Melissa Weiss Pottery.
Ideal office snack: A shortbread cookie or tortilla chips in 4 percent cottage cheese. It is the best snack in the entire world.
My biggest splurge that was worth it: My daybed. Blake [Sams] was showing me this auction and I was like, Oh, my God, this daybed is insane. I got aggressive. I was like, I will win this thing. I came to after the auction ended and thought: Why did I buy this daybed?! But I love it. I’m obsessed with the fabric. Now I have no regrets, but it was definitely an impulse purchase.
Preferred soundtrack: The playlists Claire Marie makes on Spotify. She does them for Chanel and other big brands. There are morning playlists, afternoon playlists—you can vibe it out.
