Kingston Creative Hub: The future of the creative industry and downtown Kingston

Design Week Ja 2020

Chances are you’ve passed the Swiss Stores building, located at 107 Harbour Street, oblivious to the magic that happens upstairs. The top floor of the historic building is now home to the Kingston Creative Hub, the brainchild of Andrea Dempster-Chung. Interior designer and Managing Director If Walls Could Talk, Joelle Smith curated the niche co-working space with the collaboration of many.

The 2,200 sq-ft space boasts six offices, a podcast booth featuring a Mara Made live edge guango tabletop, a large conference room which doubles as a photography studio, and a mix of lounge and hotdesk seating.

Mural-clad walls by Rebecca Levy and Tamara Harding, large-format pop art by Kianne Hutchinson, drone photography by Yanic Barrett, and an indoor garden complete with hanging chairs, create backdrops for Instagrammable moments.

The result: a modern space that seamlessly fuses clean lines with traditional design elements.

The ‘Create’ mural executed using Sharpie pens by artist Tamara Harding…

… is the first thing you see as you ascend the flight of stairs.

The Rebecca Levy-painted mural Play is a piece inspired byJamaica and created in approximately 20 sessions with interiorwater paint from Sherwin Williams. (Photos: Garfield Robinson andKingston creativehub)

If you need a little ‘swing spiration’ the hotdesk area is the perfect place to be. An artsy basket chairand two swinging chairs, complete with plush cushions, comfortably seat up to 15 hotdesk members ata time, while still maintaining social distance. (Photos: Garfield Robinson and Kingston creativehub)

The conference room, which also doubles as a photography and videography studio, can seat up to 20, but has beenconfigured to accomodate a socially distant group of 10. The space boasts clean lines, with white walls accentuated bydrone photography by Yanic Barrett. (Photos: Garfield Robinson and Kingston creativehub)

The focal point of the podcast booth is the MaraMade live edge guango tabletop

Smith played up the limited space by using fabric to pull inspiration from outside. Because there are no windows in the room,the leaf-printed fabric was used to introduce greenery from the outdoors, while the blue leatherette was used to represent thesky. The taupe suede brought in earthy vibes and the black and white sombrello fabric incorporated for contrast.

One of the creativity nooks, with digital art from artist andphotographer Kianne Hutchinson

The office spaces include six 80 sq-ft spaces that offer someprivacy with frosted glass walls, while still maintaining an open-planfeel.

The Kingston Creative Hub is designed for creatives to work, while remaining socially distant.

The Kingston Creative Hub’s clean lines, muted tones, and an overallopen and airy feel encourage freedom of thought and creativity.

Kingston Creative Hub: The future of the creative industry and downtown Kingston

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