What’s on Your Desk: Rashad Baniabbasi

With so many different creative minds under one roof, we all organize our work in a different way. I spoke with Rashad Baniabbasi, one of PAYETTE’s designers about his work space. In addition to his work on PAYETTE projects, Rashad is also responsible for the beautiful portrait photography in our leadership section of the website as well as many of the projects around the office, like the conference room graphics. At PAYETTE we have an open plan office with similar table / desk setups for each staff member to facilitate collaboration. We have the ability to make our workstations mobile – moving to a new station should be seamless with rolling filing cabinets (many equipped with cushion tops to make a quick stool) and the same resources available at each station.

Since Rashad joined PAYETTE in 2012, he’s moved from his original seat assignment to the desk adjacent to that. One of the benefits of his location in the studio is his ability to get a quick glimpse of everything that is happening around him. This came in handy when he was taking photos of the leadership team, allowing him to survey those around him and snap several photos “in the moment.”

Rashad has worked on a number of different projects, currently he’s occupied with the Construction Documents phase of a project at Cornell University. One of his specialties he brings to his project work is a photo-merging technique he developed that visually combines photography and 3D modeling to provide a raw, unfinished look. This technique hints at possibilities, allowing the discussion to remain open-ended. Rashad keeps an eclectic collection of artifacts on his desk for inspiration; from reminders of home to remnants of models he’s helped build, his desk tells his story. He keeps a small replica of a watercolor he painted next to figurines and a camera miniature. Some of his favorite things to work on are renderings, building models and working out details of a project. When he needs to focus Rashad dons his headphones and plugs in to some of the opera classics, like Puccini.

What’s on your desk? Where do you find inspiration in the workplace?