Unplggd: How to Hide those Pesky Cords

“Ideally, we’d see ourselves being able to completely unplug from our desks whenever we pleased, and our desks used as multi-functional stations that alter between work and everyday living. Our biggest problem with desks these days, however, remains the same – too many cords and cables that detract from the functionality of an actual “daily table.” It’s time to make a change to all that… time to make them invisible (or close-to, at least).

UNDER THE TABLE: A great example of this done properly is one of our favorite running examples; the “under-the-table” wiring management system. Above, Blupics demonstrates how it’s done by incorporating grommets, screws, zip-ties, and cable management systems.

A CORD BOX: Another great recent example was the DeskTop by Yummyguide studios, where they custom built a table from scratch with all of the cord management in mind. Using their logo as the grommet holes, they strung their iMac power cables under the table to a Blue Lounge cable box. There’s also a convenient docking slot below the desk to house laptops when needed.

WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY: As for the case of tech, we’re big on Bluetooth, as long as they’re utilizing rechargeable batteries and contribute to a cleaner desktop system. Having things on Bluetooth also allow it to be tucked into small drawers (if your desk/table has them), making room for other tasks in your everyday work flow.

Need more invisible cord control inspiration? Check out our complete roundup of cord control solutions. And even more wire-wrangling solutions over here.

By Anthony”

The Playlist: Illustrator Andy Pratt

By day, Andy Pratt is a Creative Director at Funny Garbage, an interactive studio in Manhattan, where he’s worked with clients like Cartoon Network, Smithsonian Institution, Crayola, and Noggin/The-N. By night, he runs Andy Pratt Design, a small design studio where he focuses on his quirky-fun line of paper goods. Between gigs, we asked him to give us the rundown on the music that makes up his day.

What do you listen to while you work? Depending on my mood, I like my music to either have a good amount of rock in it (Hot Snakes, Gun Club, or Can), have some good energy (The Go-Team!, CSS, or Cody ChessnuTT), or be mellow and relaxed (Bon Iver, Andrew Bird, or The Books). I also like to listen to This American Life and Radiolab if I am not in the mood for music. And I recently had a baby, so I’ve been slowly introducing kid-friendly artists into the mix, like They Might be Giants, Alexi Murdoch, and Kimya Dawson, so we won’t get stuck listening to traditional kids songs that will make us go mad.

How do you listen? At work, I used to listen to music with headphones through my computer, but I found that I was having to take them on and off so many times that I decided to get some good Harman Kardon speakers instead. While I am working at home, I usually listen to music through my iPod, which is hooked into a good Altec Lansing speaker dock.

Do you have any favorite music websites/providers? I’ve been listing to music on thesixtyone.com for a little while now. I also like to check out Last.fm every once in a while.

Does music influence your work? That’s a good question. I like to think it has an influence just anything else that inspires me, but I can’t point to any specific element.

Where do you find music recommendations? Who influences your musical taste? I would say most of my new music is introduced to me by my friends—they are much more on the pulse than I am! We also have our iTunes libraries shared at work so it is fun to browse the various playlists and see what I can discover.

If your work was a song or a musician, what or who would it be? I like to think my work is like The Go! Team. It has a ton of energy, is really fun, and hopefully brings a smile.

ANDY’S PLAYLIST

Can’t You Wait, Geographer

To Rachel or Sharon, Wynn Walent

Flume, Bon Iver

Girl Is On My Mind, The Black Keys

Sex Beat, The Gun Club

Mushroom, Can

Light Sweet Crude, Obits

Bottle Rocket, The Go! Team

Run [I'm A Natural Disaster], Gnarls Barkley

Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex, CSS

Junior Kickstart, The Go! Team

Look Good In Leather, Cody ChessnuTT

Images: Andy Pratt

Five Fabulous: Single Shelf Units

1. Brackets Included, $199 These simple shelves by designer Sylvain Willenz are made of candy-colored, powder-coated steel. Get it: Generate

2. Angle Shelf, $375 Created from bamboo with a zero-VOC, water-resistant finish, these left- and right-pointing shelves are an easy eco-friendly option. Get it: ALS DESIGN

3. Duo bookshelf, $160 Available in black, silver, and bright blue, this shelf creates an illusion of lightness with its creative way of holding your books. Get it: Ana Linares Design

4. Slim Shelving, $129 – $190 Brooklyn-based designer Marianne van Ooij’s clear acrylic shelves disappear into the background and let literature take the spotlight. Get it: Slim Shelving

5. Hold On Tight Shelving System, Contact vendor for pricing Keep books from constantly toppling over with the oversized wing-nut bookend that’s integrated into this smart shelf. Get it: Colleen & Eric

High Five

This week around the web:

1. The Foodinista Our very own Heather John posts on her life as a serial renvator, foodie and design savvy writer. Where to start: Check out Heather’s office update on her blog.

2. Absolutely Beautiful Things A design blog from Australian interior designer Anna Spiro. Where to start: The post on Mariska Meijers’ home.

3. Creature Comforts A recent renovation of this site offers up a lot of design news with a pretty punch. Designer Ez (pronounced Ee-zee) is an intrepid blogger with a nice eye. Where to start: She oftens covers office spaces. Check out this one for a fresh hit of yellow.

4. The Happy Home Real Living magazine’s web editor Belinda Graham puts this interiors’ blog together. And she does a lovely job. Where to start: A great post on the use of black in interiors. Black office anyone?

5. Hotel Chatter OK. I know! This has very little to do with the home office. But one of the things that I do when I take a break from writing is check out this blog and dream about all the places I could vacation. I love it’s tone, the gossipy nature of it and that it breaks news. You’ll often get inside a great hotel here before it officially opens. Where to start: From the top of course!

Inspiration: Academic Christin Fonn

Christin Fonn is immersed in the world of Norwegian design – not as a designer but as a student –  she is writing her master’s thesis on the topic and also remodelling her apartment. In her spare moments she works on her design blog Fine Ting og Sjokolade.

How long have you worked from home? And where is home? My home is in Oslo, the capital of Norway. We bought our apartment last year, and have been remodeling since. The room we are planning to use as a home office is not finished yet, so for the last six months I have been sitting at the kitchen table writing my master thesis in art history. I’m writing about the Norwegian design community, at home and abroad, in the Scandinavian Design years, around 1955.

Describe your style? How would you define your aesthetic? I try to mix new and old, and think its important that some of the things we surround ourselves with have a history. I especially love objects from the 50s and 60s, and combine them with a modern, simple interior. White walls are a good base for teak furniture, and all my old tinboxes and enamelobjects from the Norwegian producers Cathrineholm and Emalox.

How do you keep your work space organized? A lot of binders are the clue for keeping my table clean. I work with newspaper articles from the fifties, and the copies have a tendency to cover my entire work space. To keep track of my thoughts Ive hung a large piece of paper on the kitchen wall. On the paper I’ve written down the main structure of my thesis, and I constantly add new information to it. Seeing my thoughts written down like this, help me see new connections and what is really important.

You are remodeling your apartment right now will you have a space for a home office? We have just started with the last room, which will become a combined office and guest bedroom. It’s quite a puzzle deciding how to decorate it, and we still havent made any definite choices. Time will show…

Is there any piece of home office furniture you covet? I want many, many meters of bookshelves, so I can keep everything organised. The dream is to own twenty meters of Nisse Strinnings String-selves (www.string.se).

What is a desk accessory you can’t do without? Post it-notes for practical reasons, and my Moomin-mug because it makes me happy.

What would you change about your own workspace? At the moment it is of course to have the workspace somewhere else than in the kitchen, which is not very practical in the long run. Books and paper all over the place while trying to cook dinner is not a good thing..

What do you most love about your space? The large table where I can spread out all my notes, paperclippings and books. And in moments when my head feels like it’s filled with cotton, and it’s impossible to write anything at all, the view!

What inspires you? My friends, beautiful blogs, magazines, books, art-exhibitions, riding the tram and citywalks with music in my ears.

Unplggd: How Much Will You Pay?

“We were speaking with a friend last week about their recent iMac purchase. We had serious sticker shock when he revealed the price. He got a lot of bang for his buck, and had a legitimate argument for spending so much. It got us thinking though, how far are we willing to go with tech purchases?

Our friend spent over $2,000 on a new iMac. Of course it was top of the line, so the price was justified and his argument was certainly reasonable. The way he looked at the large purchase was this: if he got the absolute top of the line, each maxed out component adds extra years onto the life of the machine. There will be no reason for him to need a new computer for at least 5 or more years. There won’t be any extra little upgrades he’ll have to do here and there, because those have already been taken care of.

So, we got to thinking — do most people practice this method? Obviously having the funds available is extremely helpful in this situation, and not everyone does. Do you save your money until you are ready for the go-for-the-gusto purchase, or do you buy low and keep upgrading every few years? We know people that have kept their computers for over 10 years, but that required regular upgrades. When all of those upgrades are added up, we imagine the two different approaches equal out. So, how far are you willing to go? Are you a go big or go home, or an upgrade over time purchaser?

By Kristen Lubbe”

The Playlist: Martha McQuade of UNIFORM Natural

Clothing designer, trained architect, teacher, and writer Martha McQuade makes simple, beautiful things from her studio in Minneapolis (be sure to check them out here and here at her UNIFORM Natural online shops. Inkblot table runner below). And this week, she made us a simple, beautiful playlist (be sure to check that out below).

Do you listen to music while you work? It depends on what I’m doing. If I am working on production sewing or photo editing, I will listen to podcasts (I love The Moth) or loud music (usually punk). If I’m doing something where I need to think, it will be quieter music. When I’m creating a new clothing collection, I’ll listen to something that feels inspiring to that particular collection, although it is usually something quite minimal in sound—ethereal/ambient.

What do you listen to? I think my musical tastes are all over the place. I tend to listen to stuff I’ve had forever because I’m too busy to find new music that I like. Generally, my heart lies in punk, minimal/ethereal/ambient, dance/electronica and breathy woman vocalists. I also like it when I can hear a guitar player’s fingers on the strings.

I sort of feel like my tastes don’t change too much, although when I was in grad school in the late 90′s, a friend let me listen to a demo tape given to him from a friend who worked for a radio station. It had the song “Greenlander” by Pavement on it. At the time, it wasn’t on an album and I remember the song really haunting me. When I asked the friend about it later, he didn’t remember it and had returned the tape. I periodically thought about the song, but couldn’t find it (and that was back before the Internet was so huge).  Recently I thought of it again, looked it up on Google (it was finally released in 2002), and was disappointed that it really didn’t live up to my memory.

How do you listen? In my downstairs studio, I listen through a speaker system on my iPod, or on headphones if there are other people in the house. At my desk upstairs, I listen on my computer.

Do you have any favorite music websites/providers? I really like Last.fm because you have the ability to build a library of artists that is easy to browse and search. They also have a function that suggests other bands you might like based on bands in your library. My 9-year-old even has his own account.

Does music influence your work? Certain music definitely influences how I think about design. I’m interested in design that is simple, but has a bit of interesting detail in the construction with an emphasis on texture. My Fall 2008 collection, titled “Land,” was really inspired by images of Iceland as well as minimalist ethereal music like of the Icelandic band Sigur Rós. What I think of as a spare but beautiful tone in their work really inspired me.

Where do you find music recommendations? I get music recommendations from friends for the most part. I find I don’t have the time to search for new music these days.  And as I mentioned previously, I like how Last.fm will recommend bands based on what is in your library. As far as influence goes, either I like it or I don’t. I can usually tell right away if I like something—I can just feel it inside. I’m the same way with color. There are certain types of music that make me feel physically ill. (Bluegrass would fall into that category.) There are also certain songs that I just think of as happy songs, like “The Boat Dreams From the Hill” from Jawbreaker’s 24 Hour Revenge Therapy. Strangely enough, most of the songs on that album are happy songs for me.

If your work was a song or a musician, what or who would it be? I guess I would like it to be Sigur Rós, but it’s not there yet. It’s where I aspire my work to be.

MARTHA’S PLAYLIST:

West Bay Invitational, Jawbreaker

Secret, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark

Sweetest Decline, Beth Orton

Debaser, Pixies

When I Grow Up, Fever Ray

Why Can’t I Be You?, The Cure

Go Do, Jónsi

Downtown Train, Tom Waits

Mysterons, Portishead

Compression, Everything But the Girl

Pretty Little Girl, All

I Feel It, Lorraine

I Try, Macy Gray

The Walls Are Coming Down, Fanfarlo

Sir Duke, Stevie Wonder

Safe From Harm, Massive Attack

Three MC’s and One DJ, Beastie Boys

The Greatest, Cat Power

Billie Jean, Michael Jackson

Tribulations, LCD Soundsystem

Glósóli, Sigur Rós

Mouthful of Diamonds, Phantogram

Images: Martha McQuade and Sarah Rubens

Unplggd: Home Office in the Trees

“We love this as an office in the trees. While maybe not exactly relying on trees for its structure, this Baumraum in the clouds is exactly the kind of space that would lend itself easily to some serious business activities while giving us an inspiring view through the work day. There are actually two projects shown here. One is called “King of the Frogs” and the other, “Treehouse world of Living“, both located in Germany.

From Baumraum:

A treehouse! A promise of adventure for the kids, a retreat for the adults, a romantic hideaway close to nature. These special little dwellings installed up among the trees fire our imagination and rouse our curiosity, bringing back childhood memories, and with them the desire to climb up and enter a magic world amongst the foliage. To be spellbound again, to witness the different sights and sounds up there by day and night and throughout the seasons. To play up there, to work undisturbed, to relax, to daydream…

By Peter.”

Five Fabulous: Desk Fans

1. Otto Wooden Fan, $199.99 Made of sapele, a large tropical tree native to Africa, Otto makes your office space cooler in more ways than one. Get it: Swizz Style

2. Propello Desk/Table Fan, $140 Soft rubber blades (harmless to the touch) and a ball-bearing motor make this smart fan virtually silent. Get it: Unica Home

3. John Lewis Desk Fan, £45 Go retro with this old-school brush nickel pick from the UK. Get it: johnlewis.com

4. Retro Metal Desk Fan, $54.91 Add a vibrant breeze to a balmy summer day with this simple round metal frame available in seven colors. Get it: fantasticfans.com

5. Dyson Air Multiplier, $299.99 Yup—it really is a fan. Dyson’s latest innovation creates a smooth, powerful airflow, with no need for fast-spinning blades. Get it: Dyson

Images linked to their sources within the numbered text

Inspiration: Editor Jean Lin

How long have you worked from home? And where is home? Before [design and architecture blog] otto, and before I started writing about design, I worked as a fashion designer in the NYC fashion industry. I worked ridiculous hours in a design studio and never saw the light of day. When I decided to start my own fashion line dressed in yellow about 5 years ago, I needed to find a job that gave me flexibility. That’s when I started working from home as an editor of a design newsletter.

Today, I’m still in New York City and I work from home as editor of otto a+d, a trade blog that targets interior design professionals; I am also the US Editor for WGSN-Homebuildlife, a trend forecasting agency based in London; and of course I’m still designing for dressed in yellow.

Describe your style? How would you define your aesthetic? I love the word “style” because to me it’s a matter of self expression, fashion and design are simply tools we use to achieve this. For this reason, my style is a bit all over the map. For me, style is what happens day to day when I reconcile comfort, mood, beauty, inspiration and restraint.

How do you keep your office organized? I hate to admit it, but I am quite disorganized by nature. I have towers of papers, books, fabric and press kits on my desk, threatening to fall on me and ruin my life. With all the different jobs I have going right now, I have come to depend on my Google Calendar. It is what keeps me from missing my deadlines, double booking appointments, and forgetting to buy a father’s day gift.

When you were putting together your home office what did you keep in mind? Honestly, I just hoped everything fit. Once it was clear that my small apartment could house all my enterprises, I wanted to make sure that my sewing table, drafting table and desk were able to get good light.

Is there any piece of home office furniture you covet? Is there any that I don’t? I love design and have made a career out of looking at great design day in and day out. To me, the greatest design is when function, form and process work in harmony, and when that happens, how can I not wish that piece was in my life?

What is a desk accessory you can’t do without? Surface area. Since I’m a piler, I need the surface area to organize my papers visually!

What would you change about your own workspace? If I change something, my tower of junk might come unbalanced and fall.

What do you most love about your space? I get amazing light in here, and my windows face west looking at the Manhattan skyline. When the sun starts to set, the light has a magical golden glow that makes the entire space feel like a warm, fuzzy dream.

What inspires you? Great people who have done great things in their lives. One time I cried reading a book about the fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli. One time I cried when watching a documentary about the band the Pixies. One time I cried while watching the end of a triathlon. Other than making me cry far too much, these people inspire me to push myself harder, to work towards the best version of myself — be it designer, editor, daughter, friend, dog mom — possible.