If you are looking for a stylish and high-quality electric desk for your home or workplace, The ART Desk is a viable option.
Ergonomics in the workplace has been a long-standing topic of discussion, gaining increasing attention with each passing year. In the realm of office work, this involves selecting everyday furniture like desks and chairs that are conducive to employee comfort and productivity.
The recent surge in remote working has highlighted the growing need for effective home workspaces. Despite decades of consistent living space per individual, the dynamics have shifted, requiring a division of space to accommodate both living and work. For those unwilling to compromise on ergonomics, this has translated to the incorporation of office furniture into their homes.
Forward-thinking employers have recognized the value of investing in remote working arrangements, providing employees with the essential equipment and furniture needed for their home offices. The past few years have witnessed a transformation in the aesthetics of office furniture. Previously, office furniture primarily resembled items designed exclusively for professional spaces rather than homes. This shift in the remote work landscape has driven demand for office furniture that seamlessly blends with the comfort and aesthetics of home environments.
A stylish electric desk for working at home
From this starting point, I myself started looking for a large enough electric desk for my home studio (I use this name for my work environment at home). My most important requirements were a sufficient size and a stylish appearance that would fit into the interior of my home. After all, in the approximately six-square-meter working space reserved for my use, I also had the beautiful Kolho Lounge chair from the Finnish design furniture brand Made by Choice, which I had previously purchased, which is in regular use by the family.
Suosittelemme
This leads to an important insight that should be taken into account when building a space at home suitable for remote work. If you don’t have your own office, it’s worth getting the furniture with the view that they will be used at home outside of work. In my case, this ultimately meant that I got a lockable drawer and other storage space for the things used at work. This way, my family members can see the end of the working day when the electrical desk is cleaned and the laptop is closed.
Searching for a suitable electric desk took time, as there were desks with black, white or steel-colored T-model steel legs with white or wood-colored table tops in a few different size categories, just like an office. The desks were basically good, but too office-like for my eyes and my home. I finally brought it up on social media, and an old friend of mine contacted me and told me that he is working with a company that makes electric desks called The ART Desk. And as you could guess from the name, it is not a generic electric table.
The ART Desk comes to the house
My first reaction when I saw the first pictures of the electric desk of the company operating in Estonia, The ART Desk, was enthusiastic, to say the least. The table was anything but clinical – or white. The design of the table was expressive and sculptural, especially the table legs were something different – I would say spider-like. The color combination of black and wood worked well for me, and the pictures conveyed a high level of finish.
The spirit of nature is actually strongly in the background of the table, as the main designer Eero Jürgenson says that he got his inspiration from nature, nature paintings and Nordic cultural history, of which the Roe Deer sculpture cast in bronze by his compatriot, Estonian sculptor Jaan Koort in 1929 is a significant inspiration.
At this point, we decided to cooperate in return for me to use a table and give feedback on it at a low threshold, and as the experiences accumulate, I will write a story (which is this one) with pictures. Feedback was asked along the way, from the smoothness of delivery to packaging and assembly.
The courier brought three packages a little over a month later. It took me about an hour to assemble the table while I was sipping espresso, when I wasn’t in a hurry. The assembly was quite logical when you followed the digital instructions that came with the table. In addition, I received advice via Messenger when my finger went a little in my mouth in a couple of places.
The ART Desk has a cleverly sawn slot at the back for the cables at a slight angle and a round opening on the right edge, through which the cables and the stands to be attached to the table can be brought to the right side of the table. The cuts and their finishing beautifully bring out the cross-section of the 32-millimeter-thick tabletop, which consists of striped wood layers of natural plywood, as well as the linoleum that serves as the table’s covering. The combination of wood and black works and the pleasant-feeling linoleum surface is easy to clean. This way, style and practicality go hand in hand. The same combination of wood and black color is repeated in The Art Desk’s legs, which are made of plywood and steel.
The ART Desk electric table in practice
The dimensions of The ART Desk (80 x 180 cm) are suitable for my own use, because the table fits exactly in the space reserved for it, and in addition, it can hold the most important tools from my point of view – laptop, cameras, lights and softboxes, photography props, and podcast equipment. Microphone stand is attached to the table in the reserved cut slot that runs along the length of the board and it is easy to replace a camera, light or even a microphone with quick connectors as needed.
The hdmi cable of the flat-screen TV is brought to the computer through the cable slot in the table, which I connect to the computer via a multiport repeater with a memory card reader, a network connector, and a lot of USB ports. I have also brought a black extension cord to the table, which has a couple of USB charging ports in addition to the power cord slots. This is how I have minimized the cable mess on the table, although I have thought about screwing the extension cord to the underside of the table top.
I have bundled the electrical table’s cord and the other cords below the electrical table with cable clips that can be taped and velcro strips, so that the wires are not annoying even aesthetically, regardless of the height of the table. I was thinking of improving the wiring with the metal conduit included in the table, as well as with a drawer to be installed under the table cover, as long as I find a suitable solution for that. I thought of integrating the device used in streaming with its cables into this box.
The ART Desk comes with a switch that makes it easy to adjust the height of the desk. The lower surface of the tabletop has pilot holes in both corners, so the switch can be easily screwed in, depending on which side you want to put it on. However, the subtlety of the switch lies in its Bluetooth function, which can be used to adjust the height of the table with the application. In personal use, however, the most important function has become the pre-adjustments for the sitting and standing positions made with the application, between which the table can be moved by pressing the physical switch up or down.
To accompany the table, I bought a black pull-out drawer unit on wheels, on top of which I have placed the control unit for the flat-screen TV, as well as the unit that controls the smart lights. This way, all the extra stuff is off the table and neatly fits under the black-talking table. At the same time, it hides the socket in the corner and the small-scale cord chaos that lies nearby. However, the end result is stylish and neat.
The ART Desk has filled its place excellently. It has served as a stylish piece of furniture in the home when I haven’t been working. And when I look back, I’ve done almost all the different jobs at home using the table. And so it must be concluded that when the table is so-called real stuff, not any chipboard, it can withstand hard use and you can easily screw a drawer into it, as long as I find one that suits my needs.
Price and availability
The ART Desk is a high-quality handicraft and its price is 2499 euros, which includes VAT and delivery by courier within the EU. The tables are normally made to order and their delivery time is 2-6 weeks. Since a new version of the table is coming out next spring, the existing stock of about ten pieces will be sold off with fast delivery for 1999 euros.
The table is delivered in three packages and you should set aside a couple of hours to assemble it, and there is no harm in having a friend to assemble it.
Check out: the-art-desk.com
An improved version is coming – The ART Desk 2.0
The ART Desk is getting a revamped version thanks to the Indiegogo campaign, with improvements important to some users. The first of these is the space machined into the inner edge of the table legs for the cord. Another small, but visually smart improvement is changing the cord of the electric table to a spiral cord, so it does not need to be attached to the table top with clips or tape. In this connection, a three-plug extension cord to be attached to the tabletop will also be included.
In the future, the round-cut end of the cable slot made in the table top will have a wireless charging base, the necessity of which I thought a little about, because at the same time it eats up the table’s design visibility, which is created by the layered plywood and the black linoleum surface. But there is no compulsion to put it there. 🙂
The last addition, but not the least, is a partition sold as an add-on, which can be attached to the edge of the table top at the desired height. The partition wall can accommodate one horizontally and two vertically, so this gives you the opportunity to build your own peaceful working space.
As if to top off the i, there are wine glasses designed by the Estonian glass artisan Kai Koppel, which fit into the round recess of the table I mentioned earlier, instead of the wireless charging platform.
You can pre-order The ART Desk 2.0 electric desk here.
