Designing executive desks for busy American executives, must take the needs of the executive, and the latest materials that are available to build a state-of-the-art desk, into consideration. This informational publication from the engineering department at jazzyexpo.com will be issued in three parts: Design Techniques for Superior Appearance of Executive Desks, Design Techniques for Superior Functionality of Executive Desks, and Design Techniques for Superior Durability of Executive Desks.

Design Techniques for Superior Appearance of Executive Desks - Part 1

Designing an aesthetically appealing executive desk must take the color, wood veneer, and relative size of the components of the desk into consideration.

Modern executive desks are made with a veneer over a wood pulp core material. These veneers range from low cost plastic laminates to very expensive and ultra exotic woods. To achieve the richest and most elegant looking executive desk, an exotic real wood veneer is used. Exotic woods include hardwoods like cherry wood, walnut, maple, ash, and oak. Very exotic woods can be used to achieve an even more unique look, such as sapeli pommele wood from Africa, or birds-eye maple from Canada or Mongolia. However the ultra exotic woods can double the cost of manufacturing the product. Wood veneer desks are many times more beautiful than solid wood desks because of the way the wood veneers are harvested or cut from the tree, and the butterfly patterns that result in using them on the desk. Generally speaking, most people and some experts are unable to distinguish a well manufactured veneer desk from a solid wood desk, and the veneer desk is so much more attractive.

The wood veneers must have several treatments of paint finishing, to draw out the beauty of the wood. Several coats of primer or base are used to treat and seal the veneer so that the stains that are applied will hold firmly to the desk. Then several applications of stain or very thin oil paint are applied to color the desk. Each application must be warmed in a dry room until the paint has properly dried and set, before the next coat can be applied.

Finally the top coat treatments are applied. Top coats can be classified as either an open or closed finish. The open finish leaves the appearance of being able to see the pores in the wood and the luster of the wood, and have a softer look to them. The closed finish provides a very brilliant and dramatically iridescent look to the wood. Depending on the colors and types of top coat, the closed top coat can draw out more luster from the wood if properly applied than in an open finish. Although the open finish is soaked up by the pores in the woods, it and the closed finish can be made to be impervious to moisture from glass beverages that are placed on the desk. Woods such as ash, oak and walnut have larger pores that make them easier to achieve the open finish. Woods such as cherry wood, maple, and the exotic woods of Sapeli Pommele and Birds-eye maple all have smaller pores that make them better for closed finishes. Very expensive top coats may be applied that will often help resist scratches caused by metal objects.

The size of the desk helps to achieve the presence that an executive desk must have. It is commonly thought that a 6 foot wide desk is a large desk. This is not so for executive desks. A 6 foot desk is a relatively small desk for an executive office. An average size for an executive desk is 8 to 9 feet with the sizes ranging up to 10 ½ feet or more. The larger the desk, the more presence the desk has, and the broader an image it projects. Desks this size should be at least 40 inches deep, and may contain a side credenza that could increase the overall depth of the desk to 9 feet or more. The larger desks also give the executive the space that he needs to spread his documents over the desktop without feeling crammed in, and without limiting his ability to think and produce because he cannot see the whole picture of all the documents that he needs to refer to. Furthermore, the depth of the desk also lends to the presence and boldness that a desk has. Executives are often disappointed when they choose a desk that is less than they can easily install in their offices. It is strongly recommended that the executive choose the largest desk that will fit in his office.

Our next article will feature functionality of executive desks and we'll discuss such topics as shape, storage space, and accessibility.