Iona is a small island in Northwest Scotland, off the coast of the larger Island of Mull. It is home to a monastery and abbey founded in the 6th century that later played an important role as a center of communication, learning and trade within the Kingdom of the Isles in the 10th century due to its central location within trade routes in the kingdom. Today, it is a calm place for spiritual retreats.
Iona Work Spaces founder, Mike McCollum, happened to travel to Iona during college while researching his family name, when he found out his name comes from the monk (Columba) who established the abbey. Visiting the island, he felt grounded, but also like he was at the edge of the world and on the precipice of new horizons.
The special place left a lasting impression, and now it gives inspiration for Iona Work Spaces . . . a peaceful place for meeting, learning, and collaborating within the flow of cross-border trade right here in Southern California.
For our logo, we also borrowed from the Trinity Knot or Triquetra, which is featured in the Iona Abbey's stained glass windows. The Triquetra is known to embody several "trio" meanings, including: mind, body and soul; past, present, future; thought, feeling, emotion; creation, preservation, destruction; and life, death, rebirth. These too are important elements in our work space philosophy.
Akin to our small brick building next to an open park, the abbey is a modest stone structure surrounded by greenery . . . looking out to the sea as if it were a blank slate.
