Time flies

Time flies when you’re a startup company with tons of awesome projects, clients, and team members. That’s the saying, right? It’s (past) time to reflect on the 2+ years since we opened up Comma Designworks in Nashville. Sometimes, (perhaps especially for Architects as we seem to always be looking forward) it’s difficult to adequately put into perspective how you got to where you are. For Comma, it’s been simple to this point: the personalities and mindsets of the people inside our building are the driving force behind the momentum. Of course, we know that everyone says that. We know it’s cliché and if you say anything other than that, you’re asking for criticism. That doesn’t change the fact WHY we say that. We say that because collectively, the people here genuinely care to do something great no matter what’s in front of them. It’s not always easy, and there are many variables that determine the eventual success of a project, but what we can control is our thought process, energy level, and thoroughness we apply to what we do.

Highlight of 2022…. ARIANI HARRISON. We added Ariani in June and have loved every second of it. The facial expressions that happen during any meeting, conversation, or even just while typing a typical coordination email are stellar, out-of-this-world, and always entertaining. When she gets into a laughing fit (often from one of her own jokes), just give it a couple minutes… she’ll breath eventually.

A close second to adding Ariani is moving out of our 160 square foot office space deemed “the closet” and into a respectable 1,400 square foot space in the Wedgewood Houston neighborhood of Nashville. Growing into a new space was the natural next step and has allowed us to spread out a little bit and talk about the future with more intention and with seats to fill.

Our projects over the first couple of years have ranged from 175 square foot cookie shops to 1,500 square foot restaurants to 210 unit urban mixed-use projects. There are office projects, hospitality projects, and industrial re-use projects that fall somewhere between the extremes. We value this project diversity as we get exposed to a wide range of finishes, details, and clients and we believe that it keeps us mentally fresh by varying our day-to-day. While we have a focus on mid-scale multifamily and mixed-use projects, we always want to preserve the ability to do small, high detail that have unique challenges.

As we move into Comma’s third year and beyond, we are focused on growing the team with great personalities (with or without Ariani’s high-quality facial expression game) and performing on projects of all scales with a passion for design-focused solutions, regardless of project type or client.

Over two years in and only getting stronger. Here’s to many more!