New Studio Progress...
30 December 2007 by: YervantThe Docklands Melbourne
Well after 12 months of waiting, we have now finally got the keys to our new studio at the Docklands. The building is finished and now we can start our own internal work and set up, the exciting time now begins!
The property is part of the New-Downtown of Melbourne, a lot of modern constructions, including restaurants, cafés, nightclubs, wedding receptions, shopping strip, the main Football Stadium, a Marina, Melbourne’s own movie studio where (Ghost Rider was made), the second largest Ferris Wheel in the world is almost completed right amongst a huge entertainment area, a lot of high rise residential apartments which have attracted the young professional, the ‘Yuppy’ types who love spending a lot of money… the area also houses Melbourne’s main and largest train station. The area very close to the Casino & Trade/Exhibition Centre, and Tram lines are already in service to transport from and to the city area.
My studio is positioned right on the main strip, Harbour Boulevard, it has 10 large windows which we will utilise to showcase our work, we are lucky that all Trams and driving traffic have to all go past our windows, and in fact have to stop at the traffic lights right outside our studio, perfect position to stop and see what we have in the windows, so I am now working on images we will be displaying once we are in.
At the moment, it still is four walls and concrete floor, right after the New Year break, our own workers will go in to start erecting the separations, wiring, floors, walls, etc etc .. the fun is when we start decorations and furnishing and launch the first Designer ART- Photography Boutique. We will be flagship studio for an exciting new concept which we have been working on… more will be revealed on the opening… !
We plan to open around end of May 2008, and the new IMAGE of the studio will be launched soon after with all our new products and services.
A deliberate slant towards European Panache & Style will be dominant in the new studio along with products to match the new style.
In keeping with the European slant, I just bought my staff their own company cars, Sporty Italian FIATs with all the extras, shiny and black, fast, young, trendy, cheeky and very European!
My staff loved them, we surprised them at our Staff Christmas lunch, Anie asked them to arrive in taxis, they were surprised why this was requested as it was only a luncheon and they were to go back to the studio afterwards… in the mean time, we got the cars delivered to the new studio site, got them parked in a stylish way, had the glass roofs open etc…. then we waited at the new studio, when they arrived, we showed them around and sought their input about the new setup etc… then we casually walked them out towards the restaurants behind our shop, in the meantime, Anie had srt up big gift bags on the cars, had the lights on and the girls just could not believe their eyes, they though Anie and I had bought new Fiats for ourselves as they know how much we are both car crazy…
We gave them the keys and a little speech on how much we appreciate them, how good they are and praised all their hard work. The gift bags contained Silver Fiat key rings, a sporty Fiat cap and some other fun things Anie had put together for them…
We strongly believe in REALLY LOOKING after our staff, actually, we like to spoil them as much as we can because we want our staff to be like FAMILY, we want them to feel they BELONG, we want them to have personal pride in what they do and where they work. We empower them with individual responsibility for which they take great pride and in return bring in superior results… and receive greater rewards. Happy people produce better results!
Anie has been busy designing a whole new range of stationary, presentation and packaging paraphernalia while I am working on the displays and albums and a couple of new products which we have the exclusivity to offer…
OK, where is all this leading to? Totally ‘Top shelf’ !! No prices !! Just ‘Art’ for the discerning clientele who appreciate the best, demand the best and pay for what is the best.
DESIGNER ART- Photography Boutique.
More to come…