The Coolest Desk!

I attended the 3rd Annual Phoenix Contemporary Design Fair the other week. (And, yes - this blog posting is not of the most timely nature - I'm sure I've been 'scooped'!). Anyway, this year, the furniture design competition included what might be the coolest desk I've seen yet!

Seems that every desk I see seems to be the expression of "bigger is better". Yet, the bigger the desk I have, the more crap gets spread out over it! Plus, what's the point these days of a desk? Where in the past, you needed buttloads of room for your typewriter, your big-ole stack of paper-based projects, and a photo of your significant other - now, it's a place for your keyboard, monitor, and mouse. Oh...and you still need to keep your significant other happy by having room for their photo as well.

Well, of everything I saw at the design fair, the coolest idea was the the example of minimialism. Or, in other words, what would Steve Jobs make if he made a desk? The answer is the OneLessDesk. A local firm by the name of Heckler Design (www.hecklerdesign.com) has build a stainless steel desk - basically a hoop for your monitor to rest on, an out of sight rear-facing shelf that lets you hide our wires, power strip, and external hard drives, as well as USB hubs and small speaker. The shelf is ventilated to keep everything cool. A smaller "hoop" slides out, giving you a place for your keyboard and mouse.

What I like most - is when you slide the keyboard "lower desk" is slid under the "upper desk" - it only sticks out from the wall 12". That's right - one foot! Why the hell didn't this exist when I was in college - this would have been a hell of a lot better than a couple of cinder blocks and a slab of plywood!

And, it's not wimpy, either. It's made of stainless steel - and with it's industrial-clean look, it's not something you need to hide in your home office!

Here's a photo of what it looks like:

So, if you are looking for something that is clean, simple, functional - someplace where you could park your iMac and feel proud to have it sitting there - I'd say this is the best there is!