Gizmodo: office furniture

Reflect Noise-Sensitive Table Calls Out Conversation Hogs

Jack Loftus — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 22:00:00 EDT

Every office has one. The loud-mouthed, conversation-hogging know-it-all who interrupts meetings with long-winded diatribes, and then holds them hostage until the sweet release of 5 o' clock. The Reflect table tries to tackle this problem, and help quieter meeting attendees, perhaps, with a series of LED bulbs and microphones that track the flow of conversation. There's one little problem with this table, however. While great in theory, real-world applications might prove this table is more distracting than the one-sided meetings they're meant to relieve. [Reflect via MAKE]

Stealth Figher Design Cues In The Kinzo Air Office Desk

Kit Eaton — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 10:15:00 EDT

The Kinzo Air from Kinzo Architecture might make working in a proper office bearable. Although with its Stealth-fighter design cues, a guy wearing a HUD helmet with oxygen might be more at home behind it than an accountant. It looks like its perched on the ground momentarily, ready to speed off— in fact I'm sure it's radar-invisible, although it would be the worst desk to carelessly bump into ever. It does have integrated drawer, cable-concealer, bin and similarly-sleek filing cabinet, and it's modular with single and double versions. [Yanko design]

Planet 3 Studios Crams an Entire Office Workstation Into a Box

Sean Fallon — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:20:00 EDT

It appears that the design team at Mubai-based Planet 3 Studios have done for the office what the Casulo did for small apartments. That is to say, they have found a way to cram a rooms worth of furniture into a box. At a glance, it appears that their "Out-of-Box" workstation incorporates 2 desks, a decent amount of desktop real estate and a ton of storage space into a fairly compact design that can easily be wheeled from one room to another. The design is still very much a work in progress, but the $2350 build price suggests that they will become commercially available. A video of the workstation in action is available after the break.

[Planet 3 Studios via The Design Blog]

Google's Zurich HQ: Office Fun For Everyone... Who Works There, Anyway

Kit Eaton — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 18:15:44 EDT

Ever looked around your office and thought "surely there's a better way than this soulless cubicle hell?" Well, there probably isn't. Unless you happen to work for Google in their Swiss HQ, that is. Because, frankly, their new office is awe-inspiringly amazing: it's an exercise in lateral-thinking, creativity-run-wild interior design. Slides to the canteen, cable-car meeting rooms, beanbags, fake snow, a multitude of colors. Check it out... you'll be as filled with envy as an envious person with a degree in enviousness.

See what I mean? Presumably it makes for a happy, fun-filled workforce. How they ever get time to do any work I don't know. Still, I work from my couch, so I could always put a slide in somewhere, and stick a bunch of beanbags about the place. It wouldn't quite have the same effect, though. [Swissmiss]

Globus Mobile Is Office in a Bubble

Kit Eaton — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 07:19:21 EST

The Globus Mobile is a complete office workstation and chair hidden in a large ball. The concept by designer Michiel van der Kley can be moved to any place using its hidden wheels. When you want to work, you just swivel it open and bingo: you can slot in a laptop, perch on the padded chair and think up as many chicken-and-egg or ping-pong ball jokes as you like. [Michiel van der Kley via Yanko design]

Ahrend 750 Office Furniture Electronically Adjusts For the Freakishly Short

Sean Fallon — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 19:30:44 EDT

Tall or short, the Ahrend 750 Office Furniture System will give you the fit you need thanks to a built-in electronic height adjustment feature. Users can raise or lower the desk with a simple push of a button. Plus, an LCD display makes re-adjusting the desk to your preferred height a snap. It's kind of like the office version of the "sleep number bed." Co-workers would exchange their numbers during casual conversation and the short and small-torsoed would undoubtedly be singled out and ridiculed. [Ahrend via Designboom via OhGizmo]

Mini Cooper Desk Going Nowhere Fast

Charlie White — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 11:07:04 EST

Hard-driving executives who just can't stop thinking about cars can now sit in the car all day. Well, at the car, because this desk by Mini Statement looks just like a Mini Cooper. At $4,422, it's probably cheaper than the finest mahogany, but you might be able to do better by going to a junkyard and salvaging your own choice of vehicles.

Nothing wrong with the Mini, mind you, but wouldn't you look much more imposing to your co-workers behind the expansive hood of a '71 Buick Riviera?

$4,422 Mini Statement Car Desk [Born Rich]