As the coronavirus pandemic makes more of us work from home, our Where I Work mini series is taking a look at a different person’s home office setup each weekday.
Today we’re (virtually) meeting Jasmine Barnes, who’s launching a new candle brand called Find on 1 June.
Jasmine, 26, usually works as a graphic designer, but in lockdown has been making her range of vegan, natural aromatherapy candles from the kitchen of her home in Brighton, which she shares with her partner Josh and their cat, Basil.
We chatted to her about what it’s like to launch a new business in the midst of a pandemic.
Hey, Jasmine. Has coronavirus changed the way you work much?
Luckily I make candles in my kitchen at home so I can still keep making them without any limitations.
I do have more time now to focus on Find with being home so much, which is a really good position to be in having just launched the brand.
Talk us through your working space
I work in my kitchen, it’s a clutter-free space with dried flowers and plants.
I invested in an industrial size bain-marie for my wax, this allows me to keep the soy wax at the perfect temperature throughout the day, it also gives me another surface to work on which is really handy.
What’s a working day in lockdown like?
Every day I wake up at 6am, have a coffee and check my emails, then I get ready for a day of candles.
I have different stations dotted around my flat for different stages of production. While my wax is melting in my bain-marie, I have time to package up orders, stick wicks in jars, and put labels on other jars too.
A walk to the post office at lunchtime, and then it’s 6 o’clock before I know it.
Have you come up against any challenges working from home?
Working from home has been great! I think the only challenge I have faced is the lack of space.
I dream of having my own studio to work in later down the line.
How are doing mentally in lockdown?
I am doing better than I thought I would. Some days are good and some days are not so good, which I am sure everyone is experiencing.
I am using our Find Your Calm candle nearly every day which I feel may help – essential oils do have healing powers! I need to stop using all of the stock though…
How do you separate work from rest when your home is your office?
This is still a learning curve for me. As Find is still so new, I’m always eager to work all hours of the day.
As I do work from home, I always make sure I have cleaned and packed up my equipment, that way I can really switch off – tidy space, tidy mind and all.
What advice do you have for people newly working from home?
I have found that routine is one of the most important things, setting your alarm, having a dedicated space where you work from, away from where you rest if you can, and getting out of the house once a day is really important.
Get up and ready for the day ahead straight away. It’s easy when working from home to fall in the trap of wearing your pyjamas all day, but I find this makes me unproductive so its a big no-no for me.
Do you have an unconventional working-from-home setup?
To get involved in Where I Work, email Ellen.Scott@Metro.co.uk.
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source https://metro.co.uk/2020/05/08/where-work-jasmine-making-candles-kitchen-lockdown-12672690/
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