BeFunky's Portland Headquarters Is a Gorgeous Minimalist Oasis

Inside BeFunky’s whiskey lounge
Image: NASHCO PHOTO
Photo editing software BeFunky has more than 25 million active users worldwide, so you might be surprised by the modesty of the firm’s Portland headquarters. The 3,000-square-foot space has a library-like hush to it, in part because the team is only 12 people strong (not including dogs).
Cofounded by former ad professional Tekin Tatar in Istanbul in 2007, BeFunky moved to San Francisco in 2012 and then—with just three staffers—to Portland in 2014, after Tatar’s wife fell in love with the city on a road trip with a friend. Tatar hired Fieldwork Design & Architecture—the same firm behind Scando-chic Upper Left Roasters and Day Wines’ Dundee tasting room—to design the Portland headquarters, located in an old bow truss warehouse called the Bindery Annex. (The building also houses Culmination Brewery. A while back, they traded office furniture for office kegs.) Fieldwork designer Tonia Hein created a warm but clean space, with a signature blue carpet and lots of stained white oak. Fourteen custom-designed employee workstations include white oak desks wide enough to accommodate up to six monitors each. At Tatar’s request, Hein also included a midcentury-modern whiskey lounge complete with shag carpet, pendant lamps, a hi-fi stereo/vinyl collection, and plenty of booze.

Image: NASHCO PHOTO
The perks of working for BeFunky extend beyond aesthetics and whiskey, though. One bonus is the neighborhood—the up-and-coming (yet still quiet) triangle between NE Sandy and I-84 slowly filling with ad firms and tech companies is within walking distance of upscale grocer Providore and buzzy food court the Zipper. BeFunky’s staff usually isn’t grabbing lunch at the Zipper on Thursdays, though, when the company hosts a catered meal.
“It’s not a staff meeting,” says product manager Derric Hoffman of the weekly lunches. “It’s just a chance to hang out and get to know one another.”

Image: NASHCO PHOTO