The Black Desk by Sigurd Larsen
Architecture and minimalism combine forces in a sleek piece
By Ikechukwu Onyewuenyi
The sleekly minimal Black Desk is the latest offering from Berlin-based Danish architect Sigurd Larsen. The pared-down aesthetic of the Black Desk is a far cry from Larsen’s multifarious labyrinth of the Shrine. However, what the Black Desk lacks in complexity is offset by a responsiveness to the limitations of space in urban cities. Larsen addresses this struggle by delivering a desk that balances organization with refinement.
The double layered desktop consists of a spacious, upper working area, and a lower cavernous chamber below that can house books, papers, knickknacks, and the like. An added appendage that juts out from the lower desk also makes for convenient placement of working reference which ensures that documents are within reaching distance and not an impedance to one’s workflow. All these functional tidbits are purposefully rounded off with a muted palette of black that offers the desk a feasibility and splendor within interior spaces.
Simple as the Black Desk may seem, the design represents a thoughtful approach to what Larsen wanted to be a less prominent piece. “I like to think there’s a kind of hierarchy in a room, that not all furniture will command the same amount of attention,” he says. “So by making it black, it seamlessly fits into rooms with say wooden floors where there’ll be a play on contrast. At the same time, I also think the choice of black is quite authoritative, maybe even slightly masculine in a way.”
As an architect, Larsen addresses the creative venture in constructing a piece of furniture as opposed to a larger structure. “With furniture,” he says, “it’s a little bit more like working as an artist in a way because you can afford your own prototypes that you don’t necessarily always get with houses or buildings. With furniture I set up the framework, the budget and everything else myself so I’m in a way I’m both the client, the architect and the designer at the same time. For me, making furniture is something I do next to making buildings so that I have a creative outlet that gives me a lot of freedom which is also exciting for me.
At the same time, his architectural training translates onto a smaller scale as he applies the same principles of not wasting any space and creating versatile designs that are at once simple but that may be interpreted in many different ways by the inhabitant or user. For more information on the Black Desk visit Larsen’s website.
Images courtesy of Sigurd Larsen
