Olaf Growald
Olaf Growald
Olaf Growald
Brent Baxter
Olaf Growald
Brent Baxter
Brent Baxter
"May I see your menu?” is not an uncommon question asked by curious passersby who walk into Common Desk. That’s what happens when a coworking space sets up shop in Crockett Row at West 7th, the bustling development on West Seventh Street known for its restaurants like MASH’D, The Social House and Fireside Pies.
The space did used to be a restaurant. Booth seating to the right of Common Desk’s entryway is a nod to its past life as the Brewsters’ burger joint, which closed last year.
But, to the dismay of hungry patrons hoping to grab a bite, Common Desk is a coworking space — approximately 13,000 square feet of desks, conference areas and even nap rooms for freelance workers and entrepreneurs.
“We really enjoy it in a prideful way when someone comes in and asks us if we’re a bar,” Common Desk CEO Nick Clark says. “No, it’s an office space.”
Common Desk began in Dallas when its first location opened in Deep Ellum in 2012. The company now has four locations in the Metroplex; the first in Fort Worth opened last fall. Dallas companies ENTOS Design and 44Build designed the space to follow a modern industrial aesthetic. And while there’s plenty of Dallas influence on the design, the space’s copious selection of art and themed rooms offer plenty of homages to Fort Worth.
Those who first enter Common Desk are greeted by what’s called a Hospitality Bar, a small kitchen with bar seating stocked with coffee, KIND Bars and beer. Wooden shadow box shelves hold glasses and mugs, as well as décor like books and succulents — a setup that could be easily mistaken for a coffee shop. Nearby is Common Desk’s bright neon sign, hoisted upon a steel wall.
Surrounding the Hospitality Bar is space shared by all members, offering a plethora of seating arrangements, from couches in a living room-esque setting to restaurant booths under spherical pendant lights. Most furniture is midcentury modern.
Around the back are private “Chat Rooms” where members make phone calls, and each room is outfitted with its own collage-style wall art by Dallas artist Lesli Marshall.
Conference rooms are named after places in Fort Worth, and each room has its own personality. The Stockyards room, for example, features a black-and-white mural by Will Heron (known professionally as “Wheron”), depicting cacti connected by ladders — some cacti have cowlike skin, and others are shaped like light bulbs, with roots that appear like lightning bolts underground.
Another conference room, Panther Island, features a graffiti wall by Leighton Autrey. The Colonial room has a putting green floor — complete with hole, so members can play golf.
There’s plenty more art throughout the space, done mostly by local people. Fort Worth menswear artist Matthew Miller (the Instagram star known as “Sunflowerman”) contributed paintings of men’s clothing on textiles that hang in various spots within the office. A large-scale installation of metal strings that sweep across a wall (by Gray Garmon, Ryan Roettker and Andrew Barnes) hovers behind conference tables in the shared space. The black-and-white sketch of a skeleton hand holding a coffee cup that reads “Death Before Decaf,” a piece by artist Mariel Pohlman, or Marpohl, playfully appears by the coffee station.
But arguably Common Desks’ pièce de résistance appears on the east side of the workspace — a massive, 21-foot mural by artist Treslyn Shipley depicting a smiling Fred Rogers. Beside his portrait, a quote from Rogers to remind workers about what’s important: “It’s really easy to fall into the trap of believing that what we do is more important than what we are. Of course, it’s the opposite that’s true: What we are ultimately determines what we do.”
Common Desk isn’t short on amenities. Bikes decoratively hanging on the wall are also available for rent. The space even has rooms with beds so members can take naps at will.
It’s an effort to make Common Desk a hospitable place. “Fun, fast and flexible,” as Clark says, are the key attributes Common Desk aims for in all of its spaces, whether it be in Dallas or Fort Worth.
But especially in Fort Worth.
“We’re obsessed with it feeling very authentic,” Clark said. “We strived hard for [the Fort Worth location] not to feel like something that we fabricated, but something that authentically reflected the Fort Worth community.”