The Red DWG Library may be just three months old, but it already has a tremendous sense of self.
While at its core, the Library is a Pawtucket–based coworking space, founder and CCO David Gomez says it’s so much more.
“How can I do this better? How can I do this differently?”
Take the name, for example. Red symbolizes power, and passion; the most-used color in business, Gomez tells me. “People just attract themselves to the color red.”
The DWG bit is an acronym: “Developing Wisdom with Guidance.” It’s pronounced “dog” (fitting, as the space’s logo is Gomez’s pit bull mix, Scrabbles) and speaks to the space’s additional offerings beyond being just place to work.
“A lot of these entrepreneurs, etc., need assistance with developing their brand,” he says. “We’re here to assist them … all on top of standard services we provide.”
Then, of course, there’s the “Library” bit, and Gomez has reasoning behind that, too. “I was actually bullied as a kid,” he says. “My getaway was to run and hide in the library." As a result, “libraries became very special to me.” They eventual turned into a place he would utilize as a professional, a quiet area to focus and get projects done. Working with “purpose and commitment” — the company's slogan — is not just the type of work he found himself able to complete in the library, but also the attitude he wants all members to have when using the DWG space.
This vision for the Red DWG Library materialized around three or four years ago, while the architect-by-trade began doing branding work in New York City. “Being in that branding industry, I started seeing coworking spaces come into play,” Gomez says. He began asking himself, “How can I do this better? How can I do this differently?”
He knew he wanted to fuse the chic aesthetic of places like the SoHo Club with a warm, hospitable feel, and then turn the result into a coworking space — one that allowed folks to focus and work like they were at a library. While Gomez originally looked to establish the space in the outer boroughs of NYC, competition and pricing quickly changed his mind.
Then, Gomez and his family moved to Rhode Island, where he says he was able open a coworking spot that was better than his original plans. “It turned out so much nicer,” he tells me. “Mainly because of the space that we found.”
The location in question is an old mill in Pawtucket, built in 1900. “Details in here are absolutely spectacular, and the space is laid out almost perfectly to the needs a coworking space would have,” Gomez says. The Red DWG Library takes up 8500 square feet of the mill, making it the largest coworking spot in the state, he adds.
The look of the Library is carefully curated. “I combined an old traditional space with the artsy, technology kind of an atmosphere – you feel like you’re back in the 1920s [but with] state-of-the-art tech,” Gomez says. “People are saying that we are less expensive [than we look].”
But it’s not just the Red DWG Library’s looks that are of value to Gomez — it’s also its heart. The Library contributes to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Pawtucket, the Rhode Island SPACA, and the Operation Restored Warrior group — of particular import to Gomez, an Army Ranger veteran. “We give back to the community and the kids as much as we can,” he says.
Their work is turning heads within that very community. “We’re pretty excited for the attention that we’re getting,” Gomez continues. Since their opening in April, membership has grown, fast, and it encompasses professionals from a wide variety of backgrounds: “coders, developers, a lawyer, an intimate apparel designer, a publishing consultant,” he says. The group's myriad networking events, such as a women’s entrepreneurial week, keep buzz steady, too.
Clients aren’t coming to use the space just because it’s close; clients are coming because they truly enjoy it. “I think it's because we’re doing things differently. It’s kind of the ‘old meets new,” old tech into a new, hip space,” Gomez says. “Members love that quality of environment, and are loving to work here because it’s so comfortable. … Members just keep telling everyone, ‘you have to have this space.’”
five years. “The faster we fill the space up, then we look at the next best location,” he says. “We’re not sure where that is. It might be in Newport, it might be close to Boston, downtown Providence ... I’m not sure.”
There’s plenty enough to keep Gomez busy, especially since a decidedly new vibe in Rhode Island. Gomez, who grew up partly in South Providence, says he could “see the change, could feel the change with Rhode Island getting out of the economic rut it’s been in here for years” when he moved back with his family last September. “There’s new development, more startups, more techy jobs available in Rhode Island.”
And Gomez and the Red DWG Library will be here for all that. Why? “I think we have the most creative and inspirational space for a coworking space in all of New England,” he says.
