Oh Joy studio

After eight years of running her business from home, Joy Cho decided it was about time to have separate space for the Oh Joy studio. When envisioning how she would use the space, Joy wanted each area of the studio to be multifunctional – so the dining area is used for meetings as well as crafting projects and the giant bulletin board doubles as an empty white wall for photo and video shoots.  From start-to-finish, the project took about three months. The first month was primarily spent on painting and building out the space while the last two months were devoted to furnish the studio and making it feel like an Oh Joy! space. To that end, Joy partnered with designer Emily Henderson. Joy and Emily had worked together previously  (initially to design Joy’s living room for Emily’s show and then to baby-proof it after Joy’s daughter Ruby started walking).  The pair is a perfect design match. With her graphic design background, Joy is pretty confident (and anyone who knows Oh Joy! knows “confident” is an understatement!) with choice of color and patterns. Emily seems to intuitively understand Joy’s love of color and pattern and then is able to bring that exuberance into a three-dimensional space and make it cohesive. The result is one happy, happy workspace! -Amy

Studio designed and styled by Emily Henderson
Sr. Designer/project manager: Samantha Gluck
Photography: Zeke Ruelas
Image above: I have so many talented friends and acquaintances that I’ve come to know over the years and wanted to fill a wall with art of people whose work I love and respect. I asked a few friends to commission their photography for custom prints and filled in the rest with a mix of paintings and prints.

Image above: We need a lot of storage in the studio, so we got these giant pax units from Ikea and customized the handles with gold ones and the toe kick with a mix of gold contact paper and masking tape.





See more of Joy’s new studio after the jump!


Image above: After working from home for so many years, it feels great to have a desk that’s separate from home. I can leave things out on my desk and not worry about my daughter playing with them or a cat jumping on it!

Image above: We painted the whole floor in a striped pattern of grey and white. The back area, however, is solid grey. It helps to divide the space and also bring interest to the floor. You should have seen it before, the floor was a series of three different colors, red carpet, so dark and cold!

Image above: We created a kitchen area by adding in this Ikea cabinet (customized like the other storage unit with new handles and a fun toe kick). In the mornings, I make myself a cup of tea and a snack and off to work I go.


Image above: The dining room/meeting area also has a fully stocked set of prop shelves for when we’re shooting things for the blog. My collection of cups, vases, and napkins finally have a place to go.


Image above: This giant inspiration wall makes me so happy. It was initially created for a backdrop for photo shoots, but we decided to turn one side into a giant cork wall. The ribbon installation in the corners was made by Emily and her team. It’s such a fun way to draw interest to the space.

Image above: Emily gave me this vase for my birthday this year. It’s so perfectly fitting of both our styles…hers, because it’s vintage, and me because I love quirky vases and vessels. Its one of my favorite gifts I’ve ever received.