Thus began the joyous activity of naming these rooms. Don’t forget, these are rooms of war. Disputes are settled, contracts signed and deals celebrated with a glass of bubbly. You can always opt for dividing the conference rooms in a simple one and two. Easy and modest. But if you want to stand out: That’s not an option.
First of all, let me tell you something about our meeting places. One is in our office area. It used to be the make-up room, therefore people will simply say: “Let’s have a chat in the old make-up room.” But it no longer resembles the place it was before. Gone are the mirrors and bright lights. Now its chesterfields and soft lighting. A cozy place painted beige with a red ribbon as a bow hugging the room’s interior. Its Christmas meets the “golden arches”. Colleagues started to refer to it as the McDonalds room.
Secondly, there is a conference room in our new studio. Where the other feels like the inside of a Happy Meal, this one has more grandeur. More of a board room then a cozy meeting place. This is the actual war room. Painted entirely red. Every nook and cranny the same bloody colour. The real deals are made here. And the red colour paints a picture of certainty and correctness.
When the room was done, one of my colleagues walked in with one finger bend saying: “Redrum, Redrum”. He was referring to the famous “Tony” character from Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. Now every time I walk into the new studio and see the conference room, I hear the trumpet playing its easy hum. And the soft scarlet glow emanating from the room, makes me think of the elevator scene. Ominous, but in a weird way soothing and calming. Like an epicenter of the studio with a heartbeat. For me, it’s now simply known as: “The Red Room”. Sometimes in the voice of Tony. Some other times in my own voice. Always with a certain undertone of mystery. The perfect name for a room of war.
