Working from the Drum Café at LUMA Arles: a Monday with Minuit d’Orsay

Hi everyone! I needed to make some headway on a few projects for Minuit d’Orsay and thought it was the perfect excuse to return to LUMA Arles. Greg and I had lunch at the Drum Café during our first day at LUMA and I’d found it such an easy place to spend time. I like working somewhere different every now and then, especially when I know I’ll be staring at a website layout for hours, so I went back on my own one Monday with my laptop.

A Monday afternoon at the Drum Café

I arrived at around 2pm and, before unpacking half my life onto the table, asked whether they minded me working there with a coffee and an apple juice. They said I was welcome to stay, so I settled at a table near the entrance and got on with my projects. The café had enough life to stop it feeling like a library, but never so much that I couldn’t concentrate. I had room, a proper table and nobody hovering nearby to suggest I order something every twenty minutes.

Working somewhere you actually want to stay

I was working on a website layout and had several hours ahead of me. The Drum Café suited the task rather well, with its large wooden tables, concrete, green banquettes and shelves full of books. Inevitably, whenever I looked up from my screen and spotted an interesting cover or layout, I went over for a closer look. I flicked through a few books during my breaks, then returned to my laptop. None of this is essential to getting work done, of course, but I find an afternoon far more enjoyable when there are things around me to notice.

That day, I was moving between page structure, type choices and the smaller details of the design. It is exactly the sort of project I create with Minuit d’Orsay for brands, hotels, restaurants and independent places. If you need a new website, or want to rethink the one you already have, you can tell me about your project here.

A trip to the bookshop before heading home

Once I’d finished what I needed to do, I went to the bookshop to see what had arrived since my last visit. I thought I’d have a quick browse, but between the photography, fashion, design, architecture and independent magazines, I stayed for quite a while. I do try to choose books I’ll genuinely open again, because beautiful books can become very expensive, very quickly. Still, I somehow left with four: Design Stories, Sofia Coppola Archive, Marc by Sofia and Novembre Magazine.

I wrote more about that little haul in my post on the books I bought at the LUMA Arles bookshop. I had already spent far too long in the Tate Modern shop in London, so this part of the afternoon was fairly predictable.

Would I work here again?

Yes, especially on an afternoon when I need to get out of the house and make progress without being disturbed. I don’t need a formal coworking space: a comfortable table, a bit of life around me and the freedom to stay for a few hours are enough. The team left me to work in peace, I finished what I had planned and went home with four extra books. A productive day, even if my bag was considerably heavier on the way back.