05 April 2019

INFSD OFFICE VIRTUAL TOUR / CLUJ

Alina Ceusan # Articles

This is where at least half of the INFSD office lives. And I say half because the other half is in-the-making, in our new space in Bucharest. Our INFSD office and showroom in Cluj Napoca, a space where we worked (and we are still working) with a lot of love, a space that represents us, a place where creative ideas light up and take life in the form of our INFSD products .

The idea of ​​our business started – like many others – from a necessity. First of all, we were looking for a true swimsuit sized XS, a bathing suit with a certain cut, a bikini that doesn’t hang on you when you get out of the pool/sea, a bomb bra, a cool print, other than the eternal stripes and parsley prints in all colours – something we were not able to find, regardless of how many clothes have “passed through our hands”. A few years ago, I decided with my best friend, Carmen, that it would be time to put the foundations of a business that would bring a different kind of bathing suit to the market. One that looks great on the body, that benefits you, one that you can take to a beach party in Ibiza and somewhere in the club, a piece that’s actually more than a swimsuit, a versatile item which you can keep in your wardrobe and your heart for a long time.

The start was difficult. Like any other beginning in a business. First of all, because we didn’t have a great amount of money to invest – we each came with 5,000 euros from home, put them in a bank account and then moved to the HUB in Cluj , a creative place that has been in fact the office and headquarter for a few months until we’ve been able to launch. I still remember how I packed with Carmen just 40 parcels a day just to get ahead of our orders. But they always did get ahead of us. And it was good. Then someone else joined the INFSD team – Teo. Theo who will soon return from maternity leave. We’ve gone through so many together, we’ve had many challenges to face – like any younger brand. Finally, it was about time to find our place and we moved to a real office, a smaller creative hub where we now live in Cluj with Ingrid Teodosiu.

You know, it’s where we’ve been hosting our Blog Sale, where we wait for you whenever you need it (you always have to bring some coffee). Although it took us about a year to refurbish and decorate the space, we are happy to say: WE DID IT. And we did it our way.

Today I want to make you a small tour of our blog + INFSD blog office, where all the things about our creative work now happen and tell you something about each item. It may also help you at a time when you’ll need some of the things we have in our office. Let’s start, press play, we’re changing the mood:

The showroom’s statement piece is the marble desk from Linia Furniture – we’ve been waiting for it for a very long time because they just moved with their design studio from one side to another, but it was so worth it. It’s the central piece that gives the mood of the entire office, it’s certainly my favourite design object in the whole room. We clearly wanted a premium product to be made custom-made for our office. The legs have also been restored twice because the guys over at Linia Furniture are super-perfectionists. However, the pictures speak for themselves, this piece is a work of art.

This was the first attempt:

The second attempt, we had a very nice desk, made of wood from Irene’s Furniture. Particularly beautiful in terms of design, but small for how many people we were.

The final one came after a couple of months – quite difficult to carry / fit, but again – so worth it, this is the current INFSD office by Linia Furniture. (Thanks boys for the help)

My office chair (which Pufi keeps on stealing from me) is actually the chair that I had at home in my former dressing room – a chair that I ordered from ourdesign.ro  – it can of course be done on other type of materials / colours, it’s super comfortable and at least at our home,  in the dressing  room, it used to give a more feminine note. Here in the office however, it’s all about rose, so it’s not the case, but it’s very nice to sit on it, which is why everyone is stealing it. Either Teo, Pufi, Luci. We currently have in our office in Cluj some simple white chairs, six of which we are planning to replace with some of the pink velvet, strictly because we want something more comfortable and pleasant. If we have to spend so much time in the office, we might as well do it in a comfortable way, right?

The sofa, another huge thing – this time delivered by Ikea, was a quick and simple choice. I needed a sofa like YESTERDAY if it could be a big pink one, even better – and don;t get me wrong I love it but we have a lot of work – we have to wash the covers at least once a month because they get dirty quite quickly . Again, worth it, you want, you can find it here at Ikea. I still haven’t moved it because I don’t really have a good place for it –  the shooting studio might be ruined, but I have the impression that I would like to see it for a month at the other side of the room. Is this a girls thing? I hear more and more women moving furniture through the house – and not just to sweep the dust. Jajaja.

When it comes to the coffee table, we have a 3-in-1 from Irene’s Furniture, where we can find many variations of rose gold items as metal accents. Here are some photos you’ve probably seen over time on Instagram. I like the combination of powdery rose, rose-gold and glossy black, and this table fits perfectly into the landscape, where you also think it’s modular.

Also from Irene’s Furniture we have other details of rose gold through chandeliers – three in number, alongside with the desk table and a foot lamp that stands by the sofa and is very useful at night. Yes, we often stay at the office during the night, when video editing is too long, or we have a shooting to prepare. 

The cherry stool is a piece I found online on Meli Melo Deco – where I invite you to have a look, they occasionally bring some gorgeous velvet products – and now they have some emerald green stools that also integrate well with pink or burgundy pink shades, as appropriate, and decor.

Soon we will also get the bathroom furniture that I will be again made by order from a contact received from  Daniel @ Irene’s World. And speaking of Irene’s, keep an eye on their Instagram profile, it was just the other Thursday when I attended an event, the first one from many to come, about design – if you’re interested in the domain, follow them for an invite.

This is the packing area for our INFSD packages – we chose a white drawer from Ikea. I recently ordered another one waiting to be mounted. Both serve as a storage and packing front for parcels that go daily to our #InfusedGirls.

I was walking though Iulius Mall the other day and I noticed there’s neon everywhere and then I thought – this is what it really means to do a quality forecasting trend, a few years in advance – to guess what’s next in terms of trends – because we launched the INFSD NEONS collection in the fall of 2018 and now we see – at the mass market, neon, everywhere. It’s a good integration anyway. Let’s see what the next colour and texture  will bring in the next season.

Sport Couture Just Cavalli Heartbreaker T-shirts / Sport Couture Zadig & Voltaire Trousers / Zara Sandals

The white light below is from Diana Buga – I just changed it so I will come back soon with an update picture, because it was the entrance piece where we still need to update the area. So far we have a coffee maker, a mini-fridge (you can find it here), a wall full of paintings / magazine pages and a mirror waiting for a custom made frame. That’s what our first creative space, our first INFSD office, looks like, we hope for as many as we can and who knows, maybe at some point we’ll open an office in Miami or Bali, Thailand – never say never and always dream big

Hope you’ve enjoyed the virtual tour.