“Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest and eight hours for what you will.”
The length of the working day and the working week has transformed radically since the 10-16 hour days and six-day-weeks of the Industrial Revolution, but whichever way you look at it, if your job requires you to be at a desk then you’ll spend as much time there most days as you do in bed. If you’re going to spend so half of your waking hours every work day in one place, then it’s a place worthy of some consideration. After all if it’s where you work, then it’s where your best work will happen.
The History of The Desk
Desks have a far shorter history than many other items of furniture that are essential in our modern lives; tables specifically for reading and writing appeared first in the middle ages but only really developed in the 17th and 18th centuries as industrialization made paper production easier and then also reduced the size of the manual labour workforce, in turn creating more desk jobs. Now, in many developed economies where there is a large service sector, a huge number of adults will spend their days at desks. Many people have no say over the work surface where they ply their trade, but if you’re one of those fortunate few who can pick your own desk or you’re fitting out a work space or home office, then you shouldn’t take lightly the decision that you get to make; you’ll be spending a lot of time at that desk.
Sitting vs. Standing
You may not have a choice in whether you sit or stand at your desk. Simply put, being in any one position for a full working day isn’t particularly great for you however if you can then research suggests that standing is better for your health and wellbeing than being seated for long periods. We have traditional seated desks in our range, but have also produced standing desks (both adjustable height and rolling) for commercial clients. The main consideration if you are working at a computer is that your desk allows you to maintain good posture, meaning that the desk (and therefore the keyboard) is about the height of your elbows when working. Ideally your screen will also be at eye level so if you work at a laptop then consider getting a remote keyboard and mouse and raising your laptop off the desk.
What Do You Need From a Desk?
“If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, then what are we to think of an empty desk?”
We believe that your desk needs to be solid and spacious. Whether you religiously clear your desk at the end of each working day or you like to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Albert Einstein and Steve Jobs and cover your desk in chaos and clutter, having space to spread out whilst working is hugely important. Having a solid desk that you can lean on and rely on is also a big consideration. Have you ever had to work at a wobbly or unstable desk? If so, I’ll bet you were keen to never have to do it again. And you don’t have to; you just need to commission a Cord desk.
E-mail or call if you’d like to talk about our full range of desk options; as well as the Hairpin Leg, Nola and Modsys desks listed we can also make custom versions of any of these desks to your exact specifications, or create something totally unique for you. We’ll also happily build desks for and fit out office spaces. Whatever it is that you’re after, we’re on hand to help guide you towards a desk that you’re happy spending eight hours of every day at.