Recliner Desk Offers a New Working Angle
Has using laptops instead of desktop computers made us lazier, so we can’t even sit up straight while we’re working? It’s definitely true that many of us, given a choice, would choose to work in a recliner instead of at a conventional desk. ‘The Desk’ by Minna Magnusson accommodates this trend in a practical way while also making a comment on it.
The desk features a gently angled top that’s meant for lounging rather than using as a work surface for your computer. Unlike a regular recliner, it’s got storage underneath in the form of shelves and drawers.
This unusual design not only reflects how changing technology has altered the way we work and even the way we sit, but also diminishes a bit of the power structure that the image of a person working at a desk can convey. Says the designer, “What responsibility does a designer have, when creating objects that are inevitably placed within power structures such as race, gender and class?”
“Spaces and objects carry history; descended directions that generate patterns, layers of inclusions and exclusions. Bodies in and around those ‘trail behind;’ perform alike, execute habitual acts. THE DESK carries out an action of resistance to these habituations; against the direction in which bodies have trailed behind, in opposition to the desk as a place for the ‘thinking, white man.'”
“I am very passionate about solving or rephrasing problems through widening the perspective of understanding human behaviors, feelings and thoughts. I want to understand the world at large and is often inspired by sources beyond the design business and industry such as art, culture and technology that can contribute with new perspectives. I am interested in the intersection between identity and user centered design – with accessibility and equality as a lens.”
