Tiny Desk Tour: Carolyn Yoo

Why have one desk when you could have three?

Feb 24, 2026

Musicians give tiny desk concerts for NPR, and artists give tiny desk tours for The Museum of Small and Important Things. Today’s featured artist is Carolyn Yoo. Carolyn is an artist, writer, and notebook lover exploring what it means to live a devoted creative life. Carolyn writes about creative practice, journaling, and more in her newsletter See You.

In 2022, Carolyn made a huge shift from a decade-long career as a software engineer to a career as a freelance illustrator. Now, she shifts from desk to desk in her home studio, embracing the variety of tasks and skills it takes to be a freelance creative. I loved learning about the way her studio setup reflects the many facets of her creative process and career. I’ll let Carolyn take it from here!

Hi Tiny Desk readers, welcome to my studio. I work from my NYC apartment in a half bedroom connected to the main bedroom.

I’ve lived in this home for eight years with my husband. He kindly relinquished this half bedroom so it could serve as my office and creative space. This room has seen MANY different configurations through the years that we’ve lived here (including the never-ending pandemic era). I get the itch to switch up my studio setup every year, feeling a burst of creative energy afterward—like the high of setting up a new planner!

You’re catching me at a good time because I have just rearranged things recently and have not just one, but THREE tiny desks to show you.

First is my main desk, the digital zone where you’ll find my computer, iPad, and printer. Much of my workday is spent here, writing or editing all sorts of things—images, videos, class outlines.

Lately I’ve been working on my next seasonal companion zine, Spring Practice. I have my vision board taped up on the wall along with other inspirations of the moment. I like a bit of visual clutter on my walls, but prefer to keep my desk surface tidy.

I keep a bunch of washi tapes, sticky notes, and binder clips within reach, always ready to jot down a note, tape something down to paper or the wall, or hold a journal page down while I write and draw.

I have a separate analog desk, a small folding desk in front of the window. I journal, read, and write longhand here.

I’ve only set up this desk in late January and it’s been working wonders, both for getting sunshine while being a homebody this winter and for slowing down and entering a more reflective state for writing.

Last is my storage desk. This used to be my analog desk when I worked an office job, but now I don’t really use it much. My unruly monstera plant is shoved next to my cabinet at the moment so it can be trained upward.

The desk does work well for painting on canvas and stepping outside my office to see it from a distance. For smaller works on paper, I’ll bring out my paints from my cabinet and set up on my main desk.

Three desks in a 75 square foot room is a bit much, I know! I’ve inherited my immigrant parents’ hoarding tendencies, so I like to repurpose things I own to their fullest extent before getting rid of them. All I know is that I’m happy to bounce around from desk to desk, switching up my environment for different projects and motives.

Thanks for joining us, Carolyn! Be sure to check out Carolyn’s gorgeous shop, which is filled with zines, prints, and digital guides. Carolyn’s next Zine Lab workshop begins March 3!

And thanks for reading! I’m an independent freelance artist, writer, and illustrator. If you liked this post, one of the biggest ways you can support my work is by subscribing, sharing, or liking this post. If you’d like to check out more of my work, here’s my website and my Instagram.