Space to Create: An L.A. Designer’s Ever-Evolving Home Office

Name: Mason Watson

Location: Los Angeles, CA

Occupation: Founder and Designer

Room size: 14 m² (150 ft²)

Cost of setup: ~$4K (MBP, desks, accessories, chair, etc.)

Social media: Instagram, Twitter

Hello! Tell us a bit about yourself

Hey there — I’m Mason, a founder and designer based in Los Angeles.

I consider myself a multi-disciplinary designer having worked in automotive design before starting my own product design studio.

I love working across hardware and software design, as well as early-stage brand building.

I studied automotive design at the ArtCenter College of Design and got experience at various automotive studios throughout Southern California.

I was always entrepreneurial-minded.

I wanted to be my own boss.

To broaden my skill set, I started picking up freelance projects across brand and product design while still working full-time.

Once the demand for my freelance work outweighed my full-time job, I started setting up a more official, one-man studio and transitioned to full-time freelance in 2021.

I’ve been working independently for over two years now through my creative studio, Arcade Labs.

My studio is set up to be part services and part incubator, where I launch and build my own ideas and products.

Our first venture is a platform for documenting your creative process called Viewport, which is planning to launch early next year.

I share a bit of my process and behind-the-scenes content over on Twitter/X and also curate a free weekly newsletter for creatives called HI-FIVE.

Take us through your setup

After a recent move, my new studio is still in the process of finalisation.

For my setup, I have a heavy focus on a large desktop workspace.