It’s a desk that beautifully combines form and function, in a deceptive design that is both simple and complex.
It’s the creation of Giuseppe Merlino from near Milan,
Before he came to the Chippendale school, he was a post-doctoral researcher in microbiology.
His writing desk is linear and elegant, and takes inspiration from the Bauhaus movement.
Most clearly, the top is glass, allowing every detail of the structure, with its combination of sinuous curves and straight edges, to be easily seen.
The desk is made entirely in European oak. The curved corners are obtained from 3 mm thick strips, steam bent and then laminated together on a mould.
All the joints are half-lapped with two pegs of fumed oak running through.
On the right-hand side of the desk, a cabinet with three drawers completes the structure, with double runners and pegs in fumed oak.
The contrast between the rich colour of the natural oak with the fumed details highlights elements that most designers would have deliberately hidden.
It therefore celebrates every aspect of the design and construction process, a Bauhaus touch, in a design where everything is on display.
It’s a far cry from Giuseppe’s former employment, as a researcher in environmental microbiology.
But it was while he was working in research that he took up woodworking as a hobby – and a new passion was born.
