Office Envy: NAIL Communications' Desks Have Feet. Seriously.

Photo Credit: NAIL Communications

By Courtney Gabrielson

September 08, 2017, 03:50pm EDT

For advertising agency NAIL Communications, the space echoes their vibe: irreverent, daring and open. And that's the point.

NAIL has existed since 1998, when NAIL Creative Director Brian Gross and Chuck Carmone first established the business in Providence. Gross broke down their mission when we recently spoke over the phone. “We are a creative, disruptive agency,” he said. “We don’t specialize in one particular medium; we’re servants to coming up with a great idea. Whatever form it takes is great with us … we don’t force it into a particular kind of space.”

For Gross and the NAIL team, it was important that each spot that they’ve inhabited — including their first space back in the early days of the business — facilitate the way they wanted to do things while inspiring wonderful ideas. “We’re completely open to trying new things. Some things work, some things don’t work,” he said. “It’s been an organic evolution.”

For example: their first office was all about open concept, so much so that “the only walls were for the bathroom,” Gross said, adding that it wasn’t necessarily the best move. “We would have these meetings in a conference room and it would feel like everyone was staring at you.” When the company moved to their current spot at 63 Eddy St. in 2008, they used experiences from their previous space to help influence the new digs. “We were able to design it based on what we liked and what we wanted to do,” he said. [It’s] interesting and creative and funky … a space you can come and brainstorm, and not feel like you had to leave and go to a Starbucks.”

This was important to Gross, as his previous gigs had him headquartered in “cubicle land,” a place he found decidedly uninspiring, and that he would often leave to concept ideas elsewhere.

Different textures and visuals also keep the NAIL’s office interesting. “We have a lot of galvanized aluminum, wood, carpet, and glass,” he said. “There’s a very tactile feel to the space.”

That includes a wall filled up with nails, the agency's namesake. New clients add one of their own when they work with the company, and its look is ever-changing. There’s graffiti art around the office, too. “It’s not random, but we’re as creative with our space as we are with our work,” Gross added.

That even extends to NAIL’s tank desks, a staple the company has embraced since day one. “When it was just three of us, we had to fill up the space deceptively with no money,” Gross said. “We found this warehouse down in southern Massachusetts, like the scene from ‘Raiders of the Last Ark’ at the end, filled floor-to-ceiling with tank desks for $25.” The team bought a bunch and painted them silver. “It’s become part of our brand, part of who we are — for better for worse.” These desks, rigged to raise, have puppet-fabricator-designed “feet” — aliens, chickens, robots, etc. — that cover the lifting elements and add a decidedly quirky edge.

Gross emphasized that a good space makes for happy employees with great ideas. It’s part of their core values, after all. “You want to go to [work] and don’t dread it, and want to do the best work you can,” he said.

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