Tech Love
Tech Love is located approximately 8 miles (13km) south of Convivium Coworking. It sits on the historic Route 66, which runs through the entire city and is also known as Central Avenue. This street runs like a life-line through the city, and while it would not be fair to say that most of Albuquerque’s important or memorable businesses and sites are located here, one could say that many significant facets of Albuquerque’s makeup can be found along this stretch of road.
Owner Tom Carlson says that they see a lot of action from the window that looks out onto the busy street. Although Albuquerque is not a city that was designed with pedestrians in mind, if a business is hoping for some walk-ins or to catch the eyes of passersby, Central Avenue in the Nob Hill area is one of the best places to be. Nob Hill is home to many cafes, and as Carlson pointed out, those cafes were once a great place for freelancers to sit down and get some work done. Now, those cafes are too loud and too busy for most people who are looking to get serious with their laptops, and Carlson hopes that his business will provide an alternative space for them.
Tech Love is an outgrowth of Carlson’s other business, New Mexico PC, M.D., which is a full-service tech support and repair shop located in the same building complex as the coworking space. Carlson described Tech Love as a natural outgrowth of the repair shop, and while the combination of coworking and community space is still young, the repair shop helps keep it going.
Tech Love can definitely be called an alternative coworking space. Carlson showed off his “Mac Museum” that he set up along two walls in the main coworking space. He has a collection of Macs there, the oldest of which dates back to 1985, and he is proud to say that most of them still run. There are also many artworks framed and hung along the walls in the space, giving it a bit of a funky-coffee-shop aesthetic. Carlson has also hosted family movie nights, dances, art shows, and continues to host a monthly healing arts fair. In addition, he has a small lending library available, and welcomes groups from meetup.com.
Newton’s Cradle
About four blocks down from Tech Love, and also right on Central Avenue, is Newton’s Cradle. Daniela Tausan said about the name that, “a Newton’s cradle displays the idea [of] colliding together to create new energy, and to us, this symbolizes exactly what coworking is about.” Tausan is the Marketing and Event Sales Manager at a pub next door, O’Neill’s, and she also does marketing for Newton’s Cradle. Owner of the pub, Robert O’Neill, along with Robert Munro opened Newton’s Cradle in September 2012, “after a trip to Seattle where they were introduced to an awesome space called Office Nomads. They knew this was something they had to bring to Albuquerque” said Tausan.
With its great location, floor to ceiling windows that let the New Mexican sun come pouring in, and a professional atmosphere, Newton’s Cradle has a lot going for it. They also make a point of being able to offer their members a feeling of exclusivity. “Unlike other spaces in town, we do not rent the boardroom out to the public or let local meet-up groups convene here. We think it's important to let our members feel that this is their space.”
Tausan said that after opening doors in the fall, it quickly became apparent that, “the job at hand wasn't so much selling the space, [as] it was teaching people about coworking. We had a beautiful space, but no members. So we used the first few months to focus on selling the ‘coworking concept’ rather than just selling Newton's Cradle.
Overall, the locals are really excited about this new, innovative way of working. Although for many it is such a new concept that it's still a process to make them feel comfortable [with] the idea of the ‘open’ work setting.” Tausan is confident that, “in time Albuquerque will become a major coworking city on the map.”
