Just off the back of the 14.1 release we thought we’d share PaperCut’s other big news item - the relocation of our Melbourne operation from the sleepy suburb of Mount Waverley to inner city Hawthorn.
As many know, the PaperCut company has humble beginnings… we technically began in Chris Dance’s basement, a space where he and Matt Doran first started smashing out code. But as the company started to gain more and more customer-driven momentum they found a small, cosy office in Mount Waverley.
That office was one of four in the complex. It was hidden away above the street and the team worked hard at their keyboards powered by the rich dark coffee regularly supplied by the local baristas.
Day by day the team continued to grow, prompting the guys to rip down the wall between their office and the one next door. (With the landlord’s permission, of course.) Then as time went by, the company spread out to the floor above until PaperCut’s reach covered the entire office complex.
The drive of the PaperCut team continued to draw more highly-skilled people until the brick walls of the Mt Waverley office couldn’t contain the dynamic team.
Finally, after a long search we found a place that was not only surrounded by beautiful parks and endless cafes (a very important prerequisite) but a place that had the potential to be called the future home of the PaperCut family.
Our New Home : PaperCut Hawthorn
Sit back and grab a coffee and we’ll walk you through the new PaperCut office with a complete photo tour.
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The Space
Our new building is nestled deep in the centre of Hawthorn just behind the historic town hall and minutes away from small laneway cafes and tiny bookstores. When searching for our new office space we needed to make sure that it was perfect, with adequate space for our dev team and our expanding admin & sales teams. We needed something special, the Hawthorn area delivered with everything we could have wanted including a sign from above ..
‘Shelling out’ all interiors of the office space.
The construction process was a little stressful for Dean, so he simply started doing yoga in the morning.
We’re still unsure if he actually knows yoga.
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The Build
As seen in the photos of the office we started with a shell of a building and quickly moulded it into the future PaperCut HQ. We had grand plans from the very start. We needed a collaborative open plan space where we could chat and brainstorm together, we needed a place to get away from others and we needed a developer-centric environment where the team can be innovating, developing and testing continuously.
(Please Note: when I say continuously, there is currently a rumour circulating that Kelby hasn’t left the dev studio since we moved in.)
The London & Portland meeting rooms getting their first interior treatment.
The boys laying the artificial grass for the Melbourne room. Sometimes you need to ‘feel’ the grass between your toes as you code.
Putting up a couple of interior walls to keep the roof up.
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The Reveal
We invited the extended PaperCut family to a sneak-peek of the office before it opened to the public to celebrate our success and growth. Usually we focus more on results and less on ceremony so it’s not often we feel the need to throw ourselves a big party. We made the most of it.
The office was decked out with bright green balloons, cupcakes and two refrigerators full of top quality Melbourne craft beer… it’s a hard life.
Party kicking off in /dev/coffee cafe.
When we say ‘PaperCut family’ we really mean family.
Chris and Matt presenting keys to the new office.
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The Cafe
When planning the new PaperCut HQ we knew that we’d have to make space for employees but there was one thing on the list of priorities above seats and workstations. It was simply coffee.
We love the stuff here at PaperCut and there was no way we were going to design a new office without our very own cafe. Aptly named /dev/coffee the cafe is our base of operations. We love to spend time brainstorming over a coffee - and that friends, family, copier dealers and channel partners stop by for a chat.
The new PaperCut Cafe “/dev/coffee”
The PaperCut Melbourne room. We asked our interior designer about ‘coffee chic’… Apparently it isn’t a thing, but we did find stools in the shape of latte glasses.
Our new meeting rooms are named after the locations of our global offices. This is our ‘Portland’ room.
‘Ello Guvna. (London room)
We’re known as PaperCut although we do reduce the toner usage also.
The ‘grown up’ room (global conference room all furnished and fancy)
Today, the PaperCut family resides at 1 Oxley Road.
This place is the future home of innovation and a close-knit team that share the core values that created the company so long ago.
