Richard Hart, the managing director of Disturbance an upbeat advertising company here in Durban, approached me to come up with a concept for a new reception desk. The company was based in an old Victorian/colonial double-storey house that had been left untouched on the outside but transformed inside into a modern open plan space with bridges linking mezzanine working areas, and furnished in a slick, minimalist style.
My first thought was to do an old fashioned reception desk to blend with the oustide of the building – to look as if it were the only piece of furniture Disturbance had kept from the original house. However, this initial concept evolved into a desk that referenced the modern notion of interactivity in flat screens and advertising but incorporating a 19th century mechanical style with gears/handles. In my mind, I wanted to overall look to be the kind of piano that Frank Lloyd Wright might have designed. To allow Hart and his team of graphic designers to play a part, I also had them execute three different designs to suit the three “faces” of the desk. It was a perfect job for me, allowing me to collaborate with designers from different disciplines.
See the piece in action by watching the below YouTube video: