FINE’s New Office: Come Along For the Ride.

As you well know, for the last several years FINE has strategically arranged its offices in a scalene triangle connecting San Francisco, Portland, and Michigan.

This arrangement has worked well for us. Poised thusly, we’ve served clients from Tanzania to New York. So even when the best evidence began suggesting we need more room, we were very reluctant to reconfigure into some sort of highly skewed parallelogram by adding a 4th location.

It forced us to ask questions like: Do we really need offices at all? Because Internet?

At the same time, we also began closely following macro trends that heavily influenced our thinking:

• Food trucks.
• Remote working.
• Mobile things.
• Hipster camping.
• High-maintenance mustaches.
• The tiny house movement.
• Other things that are said to have small “footprints” but that are neither feet nor footwear.
• Reality shows where people are forced into unpleasant confined environments and yet seem disappointed when voted out for failing to complete inane challenges in a timely fashion.
• That guy who keeps saying the rent is too damn high.
• The aforementioned Internet.
• Things made of aluminum with all kinds of clever little miniature space-savings details inside that we always really, really wanted since we was kids especially the little loft bed cubby.
• Tesla.
• Wanderlust and Chautauquas.

Throwing all those variables into our brewing thought cauldron could lead us to only one solution: our new office must be an Airstream.

We call it, FINE Force One.

[caption id="attachment_16564" align="aligncenter" width="790"] We're ready for take-off.[/caption]

Cut to last week, when the final outfittings of our custom-pimped ‘stream were completed. We’re talking a sound system that woofs AND tweets, lightning fast satellite-enabled Internets, multiple convertible workstations for laptop-based hoteling, full-ish kitchen, a bathroom (with no plumbing limitations, but perhaps a couple strategic policy restrictions), a pull-out shaded patio, a horn that plays random samples from Sufjan Stevens songs when you tap it mildly annoyed and Skrillex when you’re truly ticked and lean on it. Plus, a wandering spirit, sense of adventure, and a full tank of gas.

[caption id="attachment_16565" align="aligncenter" width="790"] The humble interior of FFO. Cozy yet classy.[/caption]

Best of all, the shape of our empire changes wherever it rolls. We can’t be pinned down. No limits. Our new three rules of real estate: location, location, locomotion.

We might perch in the desert for a week and draw inspiration from certain cacti. We might roll into Austin for the next SXSW. We might draft behind the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile for 1,000 miles, Skrillexing incessantly. Whatever the wandering heart desires.

One thing’s for sure. Wherever we go in this or any other new office, we intend to follow our credo of “Bring Friends”. It’s a wild and woolly world of technology and change and new possibilities. And now we can literally bring you along for the ride.

Gotcha! Happy April Fool's Day!