Modular work desk

Most desks we were asked to make were either heavy welded frames that could not fit through a stairwell, or flat-pack desks that wobbled within months.

The brief we set ourselves: a desk that could be carried up four flights by one person per part, assembled in under thirty minutes, and stay rigid for years.

We looked at shelving systems and machine frames rather than other desks. Both get rigidity from folded sheet steel rather than heavy sections.

The first concept used a single folded beam running under the top, with legs bolted to its ends.

The first prototype racked side to side under load. Adding a second beam fixed that but doubled the steel cost.

The third version moved the beam lower and turned it into a footrest. The triangle between beam, leg and top gives the stiffness, and the part count dropped by four.

• Legs are folded from 1.5 mm steel into a closed C-section, stiff enough without welding.
• All holes are laser cut with the parts, so alignment does not depend on drilling by hand.
• Threaded inserts in the top mean it can be assembled and taken apart many times without wear.

18 mm walnut veneer plywood for the top, finished with hardwax oil. Steel is powder coated. Fasteners are M6 stainless button heads, all the same size, so one hex key does everything.

The production desk ships in three boxes, assembles in about twenty minutes and has passed a 100 kg distributed load test with no measurable racking.