Every year on the first of August, a six-person studio in Valencia turns off its email, locks the door and leaves. Nobody covers. Nobody checks in. Four weeks later they come back and pick up where they stopped.
Planned from January
The break only works because it is never a surprise. The August closure goes into every proposal, every contract and every kickoff deck. Clients see it before they sign, so deadlines are set around it from the start.
The founder, Elena Ruiz, says only two clients have ever pushed back. Both stayed once they saw the work arrive on time in July.
Fewer projects, finished properly
Closing for a month means the studio cannot take everything. They run four or five projects a year, and each one gets the whole team for a stretch. Handover documents are written in July, not in a rush the week before.
What comes back in September
The team says September is their best month. People return with ideas they had nowhere to put during the year, and the first week is spent on internal work: type tests, a new proposal template, a fix to their own site.
If you want to try it
Start with a week, not a month. Tell clients early, write it into the contract, and close at the same time as everyone else so nobody is left answering for the team.
