• DESKS & TABLES
  • Main Page
  • InterActive Desks
  • InterActive Packages
  • Height Adjustable Desks
  • Small Computer Desks
• STORAGE & BOOKCASES
  • Main Page
  • InterActive File Cabinets
  • Metal File Cabinets
  • Wall Mounted Shelves
  • Metal Bookcases
• OFFICE CHAIRS
  • Main Page
  • Architect Chairs
  • Tuxedo Chairs
  • Rogue Chairs
  • Manhattan Chairs
  • Metro Chairs
  • ProTask Chairs
  • Medium Task Chair
  • Luna Chair
• DESK ACCESSORIES
  • Main Page
  • Ergonomic Accessories
  • Wire Management
• NEW PRODUCTS
• ON SALE
• COMMERCIAL OFFICE
  • Main Page
  • Commercial Products
  • Commercial Space Planning
  • Commercial Services
  • Commercial Clients

Design Themes That Evolved

1. Synthesize The Beautiful With The Computer World

a. Our grandfathers bought roll top desks as a piece of equipment; they departed from the stand up writing desk of Jefferson because they had lots of little pieces of paper and things to store, so the roll top desk had many cubby holes, movable bread boards, many little drawers of different sizes, and a lockable sliding roll top. This desk is now considered an heirloom antique, in its time it was essential equipment. We need a new "roll top".

b. Why should the cold technological world of computers prevent us from working in a sensual, aesthetic setting? Why do we buy throw away, garage sale, "stuff"? Thus I began a long thought about need to merge craftsmanship with cutting edge ergonomic layout of the work envelope. In the past I have only seen either fine furniture done in a conventional design or ergonomic furniture made in cold, impersonal particleboard and laminates. The two were never adequately synthesized, and never in an integrated wrap around articulating design.

c. Build something that lasts. Internationalizing of the economy means dozens of high growth economies in Asia and Latin America that all want our raw materials to feed their factories and expanding economies. Trees will become a scarce commodity in the future. We should begin now moving away from the "build it to last 3 years and then dump it in a garage sale" mentality. We need to make quality objects that last generations. There is actually a quote from a lobbyist for the conventional furniture industry complaining that furniture needs to be more fashionable (i.e. more disposable) so that people have to go shopping for furniture more often thus increasing profits. Incredible!

2. Place The Worker In The Center Of A Work Envelope

a. The conventional wisdom of the furniture industry is the 30 x 60 rectangle, or maybe add a little return. Sometimes a cheap little computer keyboard shelf on slides is added, and if they really get carried away its a VDT corner top with everything else pushed far away beyond reach. Often you see awful desks with hardware hanging where your legs want to rest. Knee knocking panel legs exactly where you want to swing your legs left and right.

b. In reviewing the early sketches I had started my focus on the keyboard area and developed a multitude of designs (some a little funky) trying to grant the worker maximum freedom of movement and convenience. Because of the shape of keyboards and mouse pads and the way they relate to each other and the user, many visually interesting designs were not ergonomic and were discarded. Functional use over style won out, unlike fashionable magizine articles that need exciting, eye catching articles to boost readership.

3. Integrate Diverse New Manufacturing Techniques

Free Form Shaping The Edges Ergonomically To Match The Work Envelope Theme

a. Conventional furniture factories are ridged places with little tolerance for innovative ideas ("we have always done it this way"). The typical technology is of unpredictable quality (edges and surfaces de-laminate, joints that don't mate, edge work is rough, finishing splotchy, cheap core materials allow warp and sag, machines are chosen that can spew out cheaply made (and quick to wear out) rectangles efficiently, with sharp edges). Workmanship is unpredictable (low pay, high turnover, loss of journeyman craftsmanship attitudes); they are not the furniture factories of our grandfathers. So the design had to escape these limitations.

b. If you start with superb materials (dense, engineered pine fiber core board and select cherry veneer) you lay a solid foundation for not having to cover up the edges later. Then you laminate these in such a way as to give balanced construction (no warp or sag). Now you place this raw cherry/fiber core blank on a state of the art computerized machining center and free form cut it using computer programs matching the designer's CAD drawings. The result is a completely error free piece that is ergonomically shaped to the work envelope, with gentle edges, graceful wings, and is exactly the same part after part, and it's done in a fraction of the time of conventional factories. The unpredictability of low skilled labor is removed. Now you use the latest sanding and spray technology together with infrared curing to apply a thick, tough, uniform lustrous coating over the entire part. In this way it is finished as a whole at once (not broken down into disjointed steps). The result is a uniform finish, seamless across the surface and down around the ergonomic edges; creating the desired unity of design.

c. I relearned an old woodworker's rule: If you want strength and stability in your furniture it cannot be made out of popcorn board, it must have some mass to it. Mass prevents top-heaviness, shakiness, and a general feeling of low quality. On the other hand how do you keep it light enough for small persons to handle it during assembly and move it after its all put together? The solution was modularity (which also allows us to ship it via UPS) combined with our dense fiber core. Each part could be relatively light, but when all put together it had weight and stability. When you moved, you separated it into modules which could easily be lifted. And if you use the unique caster (low profile casters with 100 lb. rating each x 6 each = a 600 lb. load capacity), then with the flick of your wrist you can move the entire workstation, even if loaded up with hardware. So now when you walk up and try to shake the desk it feels solid and stable, but it moves easily!

4. Integrate The Critical Repetitive Tasks

Repetitive computer tasking mandates a much different arrangement of the desk to permit individual "interaction" with hardware equipment.

a. The totality of a workstation has many interacting parts that must all be balanced like a fine symphony orchestra (in this way a desk cannot be like jazz).

b. The symphony instruments are composed of keyboard comfort, mouse pad access, monitor adjustment (for focal adjustment, light glare control, neck angle), rapid access to project folders, grabbing reference books, removing computer hardware from the work area, providing side areas to layout reference materials, providing a clean conference area to meet people, opening up the knee well for extending legs and swiveling comfort, etc.

c. If you overemphasize one of these instruments the whole effort gets out of tune. If you place the keyboard wrongly, storage materials are inaccessible. If you over emphasize storage you remove critical work areas for reference materials, etc.

d. Another problem was how to attach the legs securely and what shape should the legs be. Metal, all wood posts, panels and posts, square, chamfered, etc. Of course the evolving design dictates its own conclusion. It wanted to follow old woodworker rules of strength - be well braced, minimal material, and allow lots of open space. The original all-wood desk had panel legs on the ends and a post leg in the rear and firmly locked modesty panels between. The second generation cylinder legged desk had heavy duty, rigid steel cylinder legs. Then you want the rear of the desk to be as attractive as the front since it may sit out in the middle of the room, and if you have got lots of computer wires allow openings so that they can quickly get into the wire management U-channel from any point along the desk top. The result is a desk that a 190 lb. person can stand on top of (where the keyboard attaches) and there is no sag!)

5. Bring The Latest Thinking In Ergonomics Into It

a. I have often wondered why office furniture had keyboards that tilted toward you (causing your wrist to bend upward). Recently I found out I was right to question this old design. Two years ago two important ergonomic research studies were released (one at Cornell University and one from Australia) both indicating strong correlation between being able to articulate the keyboard negatively (tilt the back of the keyboard down) with relief from stress on the wrist (repetitive stress injury, RSI). This is why the InterActive Desk has a fully articulating keyboard you can set in a negative attitude (or any attitude) to relieve your wrist stress.

b. We know from surveys that lighting glare and eye focal length adjustment are the two most mentioned irritants by workers. That is why we offer monitor arms so you can horizontally maneuver the screen frequently throughout the day to adjust for glare, re-focusing text vs. graphics, etc. Note: if you are a short person this may raise your screen too much.

c. Our genetic heritage 50,000 years ago was as a hunting/gathering society. Not much static setting at computers back then. So after 6 hours setting in the same posture on a flimsy, non-adjustable chair, its not much wonder that the 40-something body is aching. I had looked for years for an adjustable chair with arm rests that could be positioned in all manner of ways to satisfy my need to move around in my chair as the day progressed, but which was economical. Finally a chair arm was developed a friends of mine, with a patented movable mechanism to meet this need. It was also very attractive, and moderately priced. So now we offer ergonomic seating; you cannot have a workstation without a great chair!

d. Furniture today usually has sharp edges and leg bruising corners because that is the cheapest way to make and dump truck load quantities of "stuff" onto the market. The InterActive Desk wanted gentle edges and chamfered back corners for a couple of reasons. First, because professional ergonomists are trying to convince corporate America to stop buying horrible sharp edged furniture since its dangerous to the body, and secondly, because the wing shape of the desk needed complimentary shaping of the corners. So now when your child runs into the gently sloping corner of the InterActive Desk they won't get a black eye!

6. Matching Upper Shelf Storage

The upper shelf storage area was especially difficult to develop. I did not want the cheap, bulky, rectangular box style riser so prevalent in laminate furniture. Also I did not want the shelves to take up a lot of work area on the desk top, and it was imperative that the design allow for the monitor to move around in the back corner of the desk top.

a. Metal legs were strong and took up minimal desk top space, and they were 5% of the cost of solid wood!

b. The number and spacing of the shelves was problematic in that tallbinders had to be allowed for and yet not overpower the open visual space above the desk top. So a single stair step profile was incorporated, with spacing to accept lots of binders and personal objects in a gracefully visual manner.

c. The shelves had to be secure and strong and yet graceful to the eye. The angled shelf and 2" tube leg system combined with all threaded metal connectors permitted the shelves to be well supported and the legs anchored to the desk top preventing movement. The 45° angle at the end opened the rear of the shelf up for the monitor.

d. How do you make a shelf that looks custom crafted at a moderate price point? Again, you go to the computerized machining center interpreting CAD drawings with all of its repeatable accuracy and quickness.

7. Lower Storage

a. The other guys make it look cheap, its bulky, fixed, in your way,leg knockers and if you need to adjust your body and work envelope, no options. So we offer two methods, a double jointed cantilevered shelf (sort of the latest in the old roll top bread board) with gentle ergonomic edges that can move your fax, telephone, note pad or light weight printer in/out and around and back in out of view.

b. Also we integrated sturdy metal lateral files with wood trim. The castered pedestals allow you move them in close to access files or push them out of the way when not required.

8. Peninsula Conference Area

The problems were these: Modular in case you do not have room ample sizing so you are not in the face of your client; joined to the wing so that there is a smooth transition as you rotate from the monitor work to the conference area; gentle edges so that when you and your client lean your forearms on the conference edge it does not cut into your skin. Should look like a nice writing area conducive to your creative, non-computer thinking and writing.

9. Modular Work surface For Second Computers

Our market studies indicates that successful home office business people have an average of 2 to 3 computers and a dedicated room in their house (here we are not discussing the family computer). So we designed the Corner Table again with a fitting for the monitor arm so that a second monitor is immediately adjacent to the wing table. You simply swivel in your chair, pull the monitor out to you and your viewing separate work from the main InterActive Desk.

10. Method Of Shipment To The Customer

In the past I had a company called Elements, which made a line of commercial office furniture that was shipped by freight trucks. The problem was that it was difficult to ship by truck to certian addresses or to ship components separately. The solution was to develop the product so you could ship it by UPS. But how do you ship a nice piece of furniture via UPS? You develop a modular system that breaks down into parts, design durable metal fittings, custom boxes with lots of special shock absorbing foam compartments and the highest quality cardboard materials, seal each part in a soft foam wrap to keep abrasive dust and wear away, and make sure it all fits the UPS size and weight standards. It took many failures with UPS to finally figure out what would make it through their system but we did it.

11. Affordability

Finally, we found out that there were customers for a deluxe all-wood desk, but not too many. Also, we all have many priorities for our disposable income other than just beautiful furniture. So the InterActive Desk had to be reasonably priced or most people would not buy it no matter how much they admired it. It was a real challenge to give quality materials, sturdy construction, and pleasing aesthetics, plus an affordable price. The solution was to drop all the expensive cherry wood legs and modesty panels which added tremendously to the desk manufacturing cost. Instead we used powder coated steel cylinder legs as one of our main choices. These could be made for less than finishing fine wood. It's also environmentally better because steel isn't scarce like cherry trees, and powder coated painting has fewer emissions than lacquer finishes (even though we use high solids, low emission commercial wood finishes). This all dropped the price of the basic desk considerably. Now lots of folks can have a fine, ergonomically correct workstation. That is a nice feeling.