Inside the eclectically cool workspace of Jackman Reinvents

By Peter Saltsman | March 28, 2016

By Peter Saltsman | 03/28/2016

WHAT: Jackman Reinvents, a hybrid management consulting, design and branding agency that works with clients like Walgreens, Rexall and the Beer Store
WHERE: A building (marked by a distinctive hot pink doorway) at Spadina and Adelaide
HOW BIG: 24,000 square feet over three floors for 115 employees

Joe Jackman launched his eponymous firm in 2010 with a couple of like-minded friends. Since then, the company has outgrown its offices and moved—twice. Jackman turned to B+H Architects and Mazen Studio to create a sizable workspace that would suit both sides of the company—the buttoned-up management consultants and the denim-clad marketers and graphic designers (or in Jackman parlance, a space that melded “facts and feelings”). The result is an open-plan office with separate wings for the corporate and creative teams and lots of comfortable nooks where staff can meet and collaborate. The office hub is a huge central cafeteria where everyone convenes for a catered lunch every Friday—and where the company band, the Jackman 5, puts on occasional shows.

The banquettes were there when Jackman moved in (the ground floor was originally the restaurant Autogrill). Mazen covered them with caramel-coloured leather.

Jackman wanted the kitchen, a natural gathering place, to be in the exact middle of the office. But that meant there wouldn’t be any windows, so these ones are artificially backlit to mimic natural light. The neon heart is by the Toronto artist Thrush Holmes.

The sheep were made in Germany and can be used as stools. Jackman says the black one is there to represent his company’s position as “an outlier” in the industry.

The table in chief creative officer Israel Diaz’s office is crafted from the wood of a single tree, hewn by the artisan D. B. Johnson. The fireplace is original to the space; the stretcher is vintage.