Modern office furniture guide: desks
Author: homefan / Category: Home, Home Design, Home ImprovmentA quick look at the trends and practicality of modern office desk design.
Television and magazines might be obsessing over Mad Men’s 1960s style, but office furniture has come a long way since Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce moved buildings. Whilst the basics remain the same, innovations in technology and material have expanded the choice somewhat to encompass the changing shape of the modern workplace.
This means that the once-humble office desk is now the central hub for many companies – as open-plan, shared table offices become the norm for creative and media agencies – and the reception desk is also a key focus point for public-facing corporations or offices which welcome outside visitors and clients.
Geometry is a major design note for 2012, as slimline desks with sharp corners overtake bulkier curve or soft-edge designs. The advent of paperless filing and communication by email now means that most modern office desks will be high, thin and with plenty of leg room for a hard-drive and/or printer underneath.

The Ryman’s Manhattan Walnut office desk (pictured) is an excellent example of contemporary design principles – working around the basis of a computer-led, paperless office – paired with classic natural materials that would not look out of place in Victorian or turn of the century antiques. A wooden desk is ideal for executive of chairperson suites.
For small offices looking to create a ‘study’ or library, homey feel rather than a clear plexiglass ‘office’ look, wooden finishes and antique-look natural materials are the perfect choice: publishers, independent businesses and vintage retailers can liberate themselves from the need to buy in bulk and buy cheap. Small companies can use neat, usable, homey design to create a desirable working atmosphere.
Architects and interior designers with a passion for balancing building design with interior layouts can also visit one of the interior design fairs that are beginning to crop up with monthly frequency around Europe. Interiors UK, whilst focused primarily on homes, brings together design minds from all areas and disciplines, and will be extremely useful in providing ideas for waiting-area furnishings as well as cool contemporary office designs.


