Erik Organic Custom Studio Desk Design for This Week in Startups Described as "Killer"

Online, March 20, 2011 (Newswire.com) - The challenge, to design a desk a la Jon Stewart, was eagerly taken up by Erik Organic designers and craftsman, who ultimately delivered a piece of furniture that Mark Jeffrey, CEO and Co-Founder of web TV network ThisWeekIn, said took the show to a whole new level - one closer to the feel of Stewart's Daily Show.

Designers began with a concept - a curved studio desk seating up to four along the outside and the host on the inner curve, with room for a flatscreen on the front that was visible from studio cameras.

The first mockup, based on the Turin design, had to be revised. The second, which featured an octagonal shape like the company's Camden dining table, was much more successful.

The desktop, like all of Erik Organic's usable surfaces (table tops, desk tops, etc.) was fashioned from seven individual hardwood pieces, all 1.5-inch thick. Using two different colors of wood - natural maple on top, and a darker maple for the base - craftsmen also added a full skirt panel and modified pedestal feet.

In the next iteration, the feet gave way to structural skirt panels, which supported the top of the desk, inset about a foot to give guests leg-and-foot room. These panels were beveled, to allow the wood to expand and contract with every change in temperature and humidity. The finishing touch was baby-crib hardware, so that the desktop would be easy to remove.

Base trim on the inside and outside, and removable shelves on the inside, added the final grace notes in terms of stability. And the finished product is so classically elegant that the studio desk is now one of Erik Organic's standard offerings.