I spend a substantial amount of my day on my desk, typing away to glory. Most of the time I also end up eating my meals on it! And binge-watching on some Netflix as well. And I’m sure that’s the case with most of us, since work from home became the new norm, and our home offices became our new hang-out spots. But having a great desk is really important! Simply a ‘good’ desk won’t do either. A great desk helps us work comfortably and effectively. It puts us in the right mindset, helping us achieve our daily productivity goals and checkmark all the tasks on our to-do list! Not only should our desks be clean, but they should also sport an ergonomic and functional design! And good looks are an added bonus. And finding a desk that does all of the above can be a Herculean task. But worry not! We’ve curated a collection of innovative, highly functional, and aesthetically pleasing desk designs, that will end your hunt for a great desk once and for all! From a multifunctional desk that features entertainment and work modules to a desk with a roof garden – there’s a perfect desk in here for everyone.
Aptly named, Bars is a modern desk that finds multiple uses through an overlapping system of wooden bars. Designed to help organize our work and off days, the system of bars provides clever, integrated storage options to keep our writing utensils and smartphones in designated areas and keep our working space free of clutter. Carved along each one of the wooden beams, Teixeira incorporated narrow, sunken storage bins that are just the right size to keep our erasers, pens, and stationery.
Propped up on top of four sawhorse legs, the Note Desk keeps a minimal profile, trading a loud personality for a durable and quality build. Entirely constructed from wood, the Note Desk has a traditional shape, with a spacious flat top surface that merges with a back panel for added functional elements. The back panel is outfitted with short shelves and a felt tack board ideal for calendar reminders and Post-It notes, making it a suitable choice for office workers and artists alike. Conceptualized in an array of different colors, the Note Desk’s wooden build is envisioned as stained ebony, deep chocolate brown, as well as a natural wooden look.
Meet Blis, a minimalistic office desk centered on the friendly, warm, and homely element – keeping in mind that it’s going to adorn your living space. The cool desk design keeps the wire clutter to a minimum for a clean look, hiding them from plain sight in the funneled legs. While it gives the impression of a very simple desk, there are inclusions that enhance the tidiness aspect further. There’s a sleek groove on the back section to store anything from files, papers, or pens to folders or charging cables. This section has an embedded board on top to pin all your important tasks, reminders or calendar events, or photos of loved ones to be always in a blissful frame of mind.
The Generative Desk is rather simple to look at. All you really see is a glass surface, 8 wooden columns, and four metal fixtures that bring the desk together. However, behind that simplicity is a fair bit of computational design that gives the desk its minimalist-yet-unique character, as well as its strength. The metal fixtures used to connect the wooden columns and support the glass panel were created using a process called generative design. Built by algorithms, the metal element’s organic design was arrived at by simply feeding inputs and information into the CAD software, and allowing it to create a form that was strong enough to take on high loads, while using as little material as possible. If the metallic fixtures look even remotely organic (like bones), it isn’t an accident… generative design relies on the same principles that guide natural evolution, by building something that is purely designed to be functional and durable.
Created from a combination of wood, plastic, and metal, Sipario is a compact furniture piece that can transform into a workstation that not only offers privacy but reduces noise as well. It was created to provide a more flexible means of working, and it does exactly that! It comprises of wooden strips that are in fact bendable! When kept open, Sipario functions as an open wall-mounted work desk, that occupies minimum space, while providing you with a comfortable nook to work in. However, when the strips are bent, Sipario transforms into a more personal and private workspace. In fact, the gaps in between the bendable wooden strips contain a layer of sound-absorbing fabric, that reduces noise and creates a peaceful and quiet environment that is conducive to your daily productivity. It allows users to pick and choose between an open and a more private home office, without making the process too complex or complicated.
Sustainable furniture design studio Ori adds a WFH apparatus called the Cloud Bed to the mix, merging an office and desk setup with a cantilevered lofted bed that descends to the floor to really hone in the mutability of working from home. In its initial form, the Cloud Bed features a working desk and table beneath a lofted bed. Built for hospitality interiors and personal spaces, this space-saving work from home solution was designed to cover a small footprint inside the home. UL certified to ensure the bed remains lofted and close to the ceiling during working hours, the desk area folds into itself, merging with the floor as the bed descends from its raised position. While it might be tempting to hop up to the top of the bunk bed and sleep from such a high height, the Cloud Bed, Table Edition comes equipped with an internal mechanism that lowers the bed to the floor once the workday is done. With the push of a button, the mattress and wooden bed frame lower down from its elevated post in time with the desk folding inwards toward the floor.
The Layout desk is a multifunctional workspace that comes with various entertainment and work modules to blur the line between WFH and play. Inspired by the blurring of work and play in WFH spaces, Juwon Kim, Jiwon Song, and Eunsang Lee framed Layout with a translucent, corrugated exterior finish that immediately catches the eye. Wrapped in sea green, the Layout desk is modular by design to incorporate a plethora of different work and entertainment features. The Layout desk is topped off with an upper cover that’s designed to conceal the workspace after the workday’s done.
The Piano desk gives that traditional design a nod by incorporating it into your familiar wooden desk with some additional inspiration from the Standard chair by Jean Prouvé that elevates the minimal piece. The Piano desk was created so the designer could experiment with a hybrid material selection and play with interesting visual contrasts. On the one hand, we have metal which is a cold material that is beautifully balanced by the warmer wood. On the other hand, the same metal which allows for a slimmer silhouette is given the sturdiness with the addition of wood. The key factor in the briefing was to design a product with a democratic approach. That is how the minimal desk without any complex production processes was born while still featuring a small design element that other minimal desks didn’t have – the dipped shelf!
Characterized by sleek fly-lines and smooth curves, Porsche is known for embedding their automobiles with the same sense of luxury that laps their front doors and grille. Enhancing the desk’s luxe design, Enchev integrated a capacitive sensor touch screen into the desk to control the main Dell computer desktop, functioning as both a keyboard and control panel. The Dell computer spans almost a quarter of the desk, jutting from its mainframe to lengthen the desktop’s screen width. Then additional control systems punctuate this desk from the future, including a touch mouse pad and what appears as an upright landline telephone in stainless steel.
The OnPlayOff is a conference table that lets you brainstorm/ work during the day and becomes your playground for some post office hours fun. Meet the feature that allows it all – a height-adjustable net that rotates into the table using a crank on one side. The table showcases a very Japandi-inspired, aesthetically pleasing wooden table for the work ambiance. Around four people can work on the table with their laptops without any issues at any given time.
