Home Work
Design Anthology / Lane Crawford
The modern workplace is constantly changing and expanding to incorporate increasingly vast and unexplored areas. All one needs is a laptop, tablet or even just a smartphone to be connected. In the home, the need for a workstation is paramount, enabling us to work, but also to make the most of the new multimedia universe. To meet these requirements, Molteni&C presents two new purpose-designed objects this year: Ink designed by Jasper Morrison and Secretello designed by Michele de Lucchi. Two great designers interpret the theme in their own inimitable style.
'The formal appearance of an object should not just be the result of hours spent analysing the problem or producing a large number of drawings. In many cases it is the visual consequence of an idea, of a process, of a function or simply of an intuition,' writes Jasper Morrison in A Book of Things (Lars Müller Publishers, 2015).
With these convictions, Jasper Morrison designed Ink, a desk where the form is a consequence of the purpose. A desk is more a place than an object. It is where ideas take shape and are turned into writings or projects. Concentration is the main requisite. Ink is made of American walnut, is trapezoidal in shape and is accessed by opening a door which is tilted to become a work top. Inside the compartment, three drawers, LED lighting and another compartment fitted with sockets for connecting all kinds of electronic devices. The name Ink recalls traditional handwriting done with pen, ink and paper, but above all, with ideas.
'Desks are very special, personal places, at once intimate and public. A space, in fact, an area in which you set out all your implements, your working tools, a keepsake or two, objects you are fond of, a couple of books, a document you need, a few others that you don’t need right now, but … you never know. A place that reflects its owner’s character and, as you know, your character is the most precious thing that you have. Good characters are worth putting on show, displaying and enhancing because good working teams are made of different characters and a good working team can also be recognised by the place it works in. So if a desk is a showcase in an empty office, when everyone has gone home, the exhibition of good people’s things can begin,' says Michele De Lucchi.
Secretello is a desk designed like a modern workstation, functional and self-sufficient. It reinterprets the theme of the secrétaire associated with that of a glass display cabinet in a contemporary key. Designed for use in a home environment too, this desk, protected by glass walls, features elegant construction solutions along with quality materials and finishes. Made entirely of wood and safety glass, Secretello consists of a solid natural oak frame which, in the transparent parts, includes a pane of extra clear glass.
