Danish designs big on function
Hidden storage, adjustable surfaces among top features
Jay McIntosh -- Furniture Today, June 28, 2004
Copenhagen — A Danish desk can't just sit there looking pretty.
"We call it our 'action secretary,'" said Bill Pedersen, a Marietta, Ga.-based sales executive for Langeskov International, one of several manufacturers showing at the Scandinavian Furniture Fair here in May that offered home office products.
More formally, the desk in question was the Model 105, versions of which have been in Langeskov's line for more than 20 years. This year's entry offers a new cubbyhole configuration for laptop computer use.
What makes it action-oriented is the rolltop cover that automatically slides up as the writing surface is pulled out like a drawer. It's just a little neater than the standard fold-down secretary.
At the Best Marketing Group booth nearby was the 315 Secretary Desk from manufacturer Dema, represented by Best. Its most noteworthy feature is a chair that slides into the kneehole and disappears from view. The piece also has halogen lighting with a dimmer and plenty of storage space, including some room inside the boxlike chair.
In the show's contract area, a common feature was one-touch height adjustment with an electric-powered piston and telescoping legs. At least one desktop also folded vertically for storage.
A company called Space International had an adaptable system including movable shelves for keyboards and a metal arm holding a flat-screen monitor, which could collapse against a wall when not in use — handy in a cramped environment, like a hospital nursing station.
To promote innovation, the fair invited creative types to design foldable furniture for a "Furniture for Nomads" exhibit. A prototype called Checkpoint, by designer Peter Moller Jensen and manufacturer Fritz Hansen, was a pony-sized computer armoire — chest high when closed, usable standing or sitting, and full of electronics and storage spaces, like a Swiss Army desk.
