Morgan Arcade Studios: creativity and spark, hidden away upstairs in beautiful surroundings

In the middle of October, the Morgan Arcade Studios in the, er, Morgan Arcade, threw open their doors for curious passers-by to come and have a look at the workspace as part of Cardiff Design Festival.

The studio is the first place in the arcade that I’ve featured which isn’t a shop that is open to the public. Instead, it’s a place where people can have some office space without having to rent out a whole building.

I have a couple of friends who work in here, and I had always imagined that it was more like a co-working space where people can come and go as they please (such as Indycube, in the Castle Arcade). Therefore, I expected it to be a little blank and impersonal. Not to say that that’s a bad thing, but I hadn’t quite realised that the people occupying this space were pretty much permanent fixtures.

Turning up to the studios, I expected to only be there for a short period of time. However, walking around the place for a little while, it soon became clear that I could probably spend the whole day here capturing it. Not only is every workspace uniquely personal to the person occupying it, but there’s also beautiful light, fantastic windows and wonderful fireplaces – all things you’d expect from the gorgeous architecture of the Morgan Arcade I suppose.

There’s a nice mix of creative people here, seemingly mostly people who paint, draw, illustrate or create other visual images. But there’s also people here from other industries, such as film-making and app-development.

Alas, I didn’t have the whole day, but I think I still managed to capture some good shots. My favourites are those which show some of the people who work at the studios actually doing their work.

I’d like to say a big thanks to all the people at the studios who took a couple of minutes out of their busy days to chat to me and listen to what I was doing. It was really interesting and feels like a fantastic environment to work in.

According to the Morgan Arcade Studios website, the studios are currently full, but you can be added to the waiting list should a space become available.

Check out the pictures below of some of the beautiful spaces in the studio, and as always, any comments, thoughts and suggestions are very welcome in the box below.