02 · Furniture · Concept · 2000
Ocean desk
A desk developed at the request of Guialmi, built around a curved panel beneath the top and a glass surface that slides out to one side.
- Discipline
- Furniture
- Status
- Concept
- Year
- 2000
- Materials
Plywood top and panelConfirmed
Tempered laminated bronze glassConfirmed
Turned wood legsUnder consideration
Dark inset working surfaceUnder consideration
The idea
A working surface that can grow sideways.
The desk is organised around two elements: a curved plywood panel hanging below the top, which gives the object its weight and screens the legs, and a bronze glass surface intended to slide out along one edge when more room is needed.
The top carries a softly cut inset where the hands rest, and the plywood laminations are left visible at the edge so the construction stays readable rather than being covered by a band.
The materials
Plywood, and glass with a colour.
Plywood does two jobs here: it takes the curve of the under-panel without a frame behind it, and its layered edge becomes the drawing on the object. Nothing needs to be added to explain how the desk is made.
The side surface is tempered laminated bronze glass. Tempered and laminated because it is a working surface at the edge of a desk; bronze because clear glass would read as an accessory, while the tint gives the extension a tone of its own next to the wood.
How it is drawn
- Curved panel
- A formed plywood panel under the top, screening the legs and stiffening the structure.
- Sliding glass
- A bronze glass extension drawn out to one side rather than folded away — an intention, not a resolved mechanism.
- Inset surface
- A darker recessed area in the top, sitting where the hands work.
- Legs
- Turned wood legs meeting the top through a visible junction.
- Cabling
- Ringed openings in the top, position still under study.
Thinking
A surface can offer more of itself without changing shape.
Studies and details
Closing note
Developed at Guialmi's request and taken to concept. No prototype was made, so the sliding surface remains an intention rather than a tested mechanism.