Desk
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Contents
[hide]- 1 Early desks
- 2 Industrial era
- 3 Steel desks
- 4 Student desks
- 5 Influence of computers
- 6 See also
- 7 References
- 8 External links
Early desks
Desk-style furniture appears not to have been used in classical antiquity or in other ancient centers of civilization in the Middle East or Far East, but there is no specific proof. Medieval illustrations show the first pieces of furniture which seem to have been designed and constructed for reading and writing.
Before the invention of the movable type printing press in the 15th century, any reader was potentially a writer or publisher or both, since any book or other document had to be copied by hand. The desks were designed with slots and hooks for bookmarks and for writing implements. Since manuscript volumes were sometimes large, and heavy, desks of the period usually had massive structures.
Desks of the Renaissance and later eras had relatively slimmer structures, and more and more drawers as woodworking became more precise and cabinet-making became a distinct trade. It is often possible to find out if a table or other piece of furniture of those times was designed to be used as a desk by looking for a drawer with three small separations (one each for the ink pot, the blotter and the powder tray) and room for the pens.
The desk forms we are familiar with in this beginning of the millennium were born mostly in the 17th and 18th centuries. The ergonomic desk of the last decades is the newest addition to a long list of desk forms, but in a way it is only a refinement of the mechanically complex drawing table or drafting table of the end of the 18th century.
Industrial era
Refinements to those first desk forms were considerable through the 19th century, as steam-driven machinery made cheap wood-based paper possible in the last periods of the first phase of the industrial revolution. This produced a boom in the number of, or some might say the birth of, the white-collar worker. As these office workers grew in number, desks were mass-produced for them in large quantities, using newer, steam-driven woodworking machinery. This was the first sharp division in desk manufacturing. From then on, limited quantities of finely crafted desks have been constructed by master cabinetmakers for the homes and offices of the rich while the vast majority of desks were assembled rapidly by unskilled labor, from components turned out in batches by machine tools. Thus, age alone does not guarantee that an antique desk is a masterpiece, since this shift took place more than a hundred years ago.
An untidy desk.
More paper and more correspondence drove the need for more complex desks and more specialized desks, such as the rolltop desk which was a mass produced, slatted variant of the classical cylinder desk. It provided a relatively fast and cheap way to lock up the ever increasing flow of paper without having to file everything by the end of the day. Paper documents started leaving the desk as a "home," with the general introduction of filing cabinets. Correspondence and other documents were now too numerous to get enough attention to be rolled up or folded again, then summarized and tagged before being pigeonholed in a small compartment over or under the work surface of the desk. The famous Wooton desk and others were the last manifestations of the "pigeonhole" style. The newer desks could be transformed into many different shapes and angles and were ideal for artists.
Steel desks
A small boom in office work and desk production occurred at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th with the introduction of smaller and less expensive electrical presses and efficient carbon papers coupled with the general acceptance of the typewriter. Steel desks were introduced to take heavier loads of paper and withstand the pounding meted out on the typewriters. The L-shaped desk became popular, with the "leg" being used as an annex for the typewriter.
Another big boom occurred after the Second World War with the spread of photocopying. Paperwork drove even higher the number of desk workers, whose work surface diminished in size as office rents rose, and the paper itself was moved more and more directly to filing cabinets or sent to records management centers, or transformed into microfilm, or both. Modular desks seating several co-workers close by became common. Even executive or management desks became mass-produced, built of cheap plywood or fiberboard covered with wood finish, as the number of people managing the white collar workers became even greater.
Student desks
A student desk can be any desk form meant for use by a student. Usually the term designates a small pedestal desk or writing table constructed for use by a teenager or a pre-teen in their room at home. It often is a pedestal desk, with only one of the two pedestals and about two thirds of the desk surface. Such desks are sometimes called left-pedestal desks and right-pedestal desks, depending on the position of the single pedestal. These desks are not as tall as normal adult desks. In some cases, the desk is connected from the seat to the table.
A student desk.
The desks are usually mass-produced in steel or wood and sold on the consumer market. There is a wide variety of plans available for woodworking enthusiasts. There are many novel forms of student desks made to maximize the relatively restricted area available in a child's room. One of the most common is the bunk-bed desk, also called the loft bed.
Influence of computers
Until the late 1980s, desks remained a place for paperwork and business negotiation, though at the end of this decade, the personal computer was taking hold in large and medium sized businesses. New office suites included a "knee hole" credenza which was a place for a terminal or personal computer and keyboard tray. Soon new office designs also included "U-shape" suites which added a bridge worksurface between the back credenza and front desk. During the North American recession of the early 1990s, many manager and executive workers had to do word processing and other functions previously completed by typing pools and secretaries. This necessitated a more central placement of the computer on these "U-shape" suite desk systems.
With computers abounding, "computer paper" became an office staple. The beginning of this paper boom gave birth to the dream of the "paperless office", in which all information would appear on computer monitors. However, the ease of printing personal documents and the lack of comfort with reading text on computer monitors led to a great deal of document printing. The need for paperwork space vied with the rising desk space taken up by computer monitors, CPUs, printers, scanners, and other peripherals. As well, the need for more space led some desk companies to attach some items to the modesty panel at the back of the desk, such as multi-outlets and cabling.
A desk in an office.
Through the "tech boom" of the 1990s, office worker numbers skyrocketed along with the cost of office space rent. The cubicle desk became widely accepted in North America as an economical way of putting more desk workers in the same space without actually shrinking the size of their working surfaces. The cubicle walls have become new place for workers to affix papers and other items once left on the horizontal desktop surface. Even computer monitor frames themselves are used to attach reminder notes and business cards.
Early in the 2000s, private office workers found that their side and back computer-placing furniture made it hard to show the contents of a computer screen to guests or co-workers. Manufacturers have responded to this issue by creating "Forward Facing" desks where computer monitors are placed on the front of the "U-shape" workstation. This forward computer monitor placement promotes a clearer sight-line to greet colleagues, increases computer screen privacy and allows for common viewing of information displayed on a screen.
List of desk forms and types
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Any list of desk forms and types encountered in the modern office or home, and in antique stores, is incomplete and contradictory given the variations in the naming of desks, as a simple lookup in two or three of the reference books below will demonstrate. Each article discusses the name variations and the most general article of all, desk, makes comparisons between several forms and places them in historical context.
This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. The talk page may contain suggestions. (June 2009)
The division between "desk form" and "desk type" presented here is arbitrary, since there is no consensus as how to differentiate function, form, type and style in these matters, as the books in the reference section below show. A form here is something rather specific, while a type can be applied to any given form or all of them.
Armoire desk
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaAn armoire desk is a writing-table built within a large cabinet, usually 1.5-2.0 m (5-7 feet) high. The cabinet is closed by two to four full-height doors, to keep out dust or to give a tidy appearance to a room by hiding the cluttered working surface of the desk. This form of desk is usually placed against a wall, like its antique uncle, the secretary desk.
Small or home offices (also known as "SOHO") are the usual habitat of the modern armoire desk. Corporations and government bureaucracies typically shun the armoire desk, preferring pedestal desks and cubicles in most instances. The closest ancestor, in form, of the armoire desk, is the Moore desk.
The armoire desk is often called a "computer armoire desk", or a computer desk, since it is used in our times to house a computer and its peripherals. Holes are provided to connect the peripherals located in several nooks above or below the main work surface. Often, the work surface or surfaces, such as a writing area or a computer keyboard tray are adjustable to provide an ergonomically sound working environment.
Some armoire desks have a fixed work surface, which stays in place when the doors are closed, and moves only for ergonomic adjustments. This kind of armoire desk is a direct descendant of the antique rolltop desk which was common in corporate or government offices three or four generations ago, since it provides a fast and efficient way to store or hide current work.
Other armoire desks have an easily movable, often hinged, work surface which must be cleared of documents and other items in order to close the doors. This kind of armoire desk is a morphological descendant of the famous Wooton desk by its size and by the necessity to constantly store papers to shut it. There is also the alternative of always leaving it open, given the trouble involved. The fall front desk or "secrétaire à abattant", and the slant top desk are also related.
Unlike all of these earlier relations, however, the modern armoire desk usually does not have a lock. Armoire desks are normally very practical pieces of furniture, despite the use of rich veneers and complex exterior styling in some of the costlier models.
The sketch of an armoire desk which comes with this article shows a fairly large version with four folding doors, a writing surface which slides out, and a keyboard and mouse pad tray which, in turn, slides out from under the sliding writing surface. In the version shown here it is possible to leave a few thin piles of paper on the writing surface before sliding it back in. In other versions this is not possible. Since most armoire desk are modern forms, the writing surface here is placed at 30 inches (76 cm) from the floor. In antique desk forms it would have been 29 inches (73.5 cm) from the floor.
Bargueño desk
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia(Redirected from Bargueno desk)The Bargueño (also Vargueño) is a desk first produced in the 15th century that continues to be produced to this day. The only other style of desk which is known to have been continuously produced for so long is the trestle desk, but some authorities exclude this desk from consideration because in early times it also served as a dining table and money lender's counter.
Creating a Bargueño
A bargueño desk is a form of portable desk, resembling the top half of a fall front desk. It is basically a chest or box with one of the side panels, rather than the top panel, serving as a "lid." The side panel folds down to become a horizontal surface for writing and working. The interior of the desk is equipped with small drawers, pigeonholes, etc., for storing papers and supplies. The bargueño has also been used for sewing or as a jewel chest, rather than just for reading or business activities.
The Bargueño desk originated in Renaissance Spain. The desk was typically made of wood, with sturdy iron handles located on each side, to make transporting it relatively easy. A bargueño could be set down on any solid table, but often had a ready-made support for it: either a "taquillon," a chest of drawers in the same material and style as the bargueño; or a "pie de puente," a small trestle table. As a general rule, the interior of a bargueño is much more richly decorated than the exterior. Thus a bargueño looking very plain from the exterior will have a reasonably rich and well sculpted interior, while a bargueño with impressive exterior decorations will have a truly ornate and extremely rich interior.
Bargueños first appeared in the 15th century and were popular all through the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. After a lull in the 19th century, they became again popular as antiques in the 20th.
The only other major antique combination of a large portable desk and a frame is the more delicate desk on a frame of the 18th century, which was popular in Colonial America Carrel desk
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2009)A carrel desk is a small desk (usually) featuring high sides meant to visually isolate its user from any surroundings either partially or totally. They were a predecessor to the more recent cubicle desk.
[edit] Description
Carrel desks are most often found in the libraries of universities or college libraries. Most carrel desks are rectangular in shape. Above the main desktop area there is often a shelf for books. Sometimes the seat is integrated with the carrel desk. Unlike the cubicle desk, carrel desks usually have no file drawers or other facilities. Since the late 1990s, some carrel desk designs provide AC power and Ethernet receptacles for students using laptop computers.
Like the school desk, the carrel desk is normally produced and sold in large quantities for an institutional market. They are made to stand alone or to be grouped together, with or without common sides or walls.
The word carrel can also refer to a small isolated "study room" in public libraries and on university campuses, usually the room has a lockable door to which the user is granted the key on request. Carrels usually contain a desk (not necessarily one described as above), shelving and a lamp. Carrels are generally quite popular at universities and are therefore usually quickly occupied. This becomes especially true during mid-term examinations and finals. They have the advantage of power for a laptop (and often internet port) as well as generally being quieter than in the main library building. Carrels can also be used to store valuables such as laptops or heavy books to allow the user to travel to lectures and so on without hindrance.[original research?]
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