#OfficeEnvy: BIOMODEX makes its home in Quincy’s life sciences corridor

08-4-2020
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For BIOMODEX, a startup that makes 3D-printed, life-like organs for medical training and pre-operative planning and surgery rehearsals, Quincy is the place to be. It’s close enough to Boston to attract the city’s talent pool, but far enough away to be accessible to employees living outside the city—and it’s affordable for the five-year old company.

Founded in 2015 in Paris, BIOMODEX made the jump to the U.S. with its first Boston office in the form of a coworking space several years ago, then moved to its own space in Quincy in the fall of 2018.

“We were launching our manufacturing in the U.S., so we needed to find a facility that would support our 3D-printing operations and also our sales, marketing, etc.—the day-to-day business,” said Carolyn DeVasto, global VP of commercialization at BIOMODEX. “We’re a digital health company. We wanted to be in an innovative area operating within a startup budget.”

The BIOMODEX team wanted to keep an open look and feel in its office and manufacturing space, but still have privacy for individuals. They installed glass walls for the startup’s conference room and manufacturing room, and they kept private offices in place rather than tearing them down.

That turned out to be a boon for BIOMODEX when Covid-19 hit. The startup employs both essential and nonessential workers, and while it’s allowed nonessential employees to work remotely, the glass partitions have enabled relatively easy social distancing for anyone who does go to the office.

“Pre-Covid, everyone was like, ‘Let’s have this open space and no offices,'” DeVasto said. “Having those separations, we have enough space most of the time to have nobody in the same area.”

All told, 10 people work in the BIOMODEX office in Quincy; the startup employs about 35 globally.

In designing the office, BIOMODEX also looked to combine a clean, modern look with warm, comfortable elements. Modern flooring, white walls and gray floors all keep the space looking sleek, while red accent chairs and plenty of natural light allow for a little liveliness. DeVasto calls it “good mojo”—if you’re going to be somewhere for eight hours every weekday, you want it to be comfortable, she said.

“My office in particular, I get so much sun in there in the afternoon that sometimes I’ll have my sunglasses on while I’m working,” DeVasto said. “And I don’t complain, because it’s nice.”

Click or swipe through the gallery below to check out the space.

SOURCE: BostInno