A Folding Desk

This is my PhDesk. I designed and built it in 1981. This original has a 12mm thick Baltic Birch plywood top, trimmed by 2" wide solid maple sides. The bottom panel is 1/4" thick hardboard. The front and back trim is rounded over to compliment the maple base details. It has a center pencil drawer that can be locked shut when the desk is folded up to carry.  The asymmetric X base folds up easily. The desk is 4" thick when folded flat.

PhDesk with Side Drawer

4" Thick when Folded

It was designed and built when I was a college student and moved several times. I wanted it to fold up so it would be easy to carry and would take up minimum space in the back of my small car. It won 1st place in the case goods category of the 1982 IWF Design Emphasis student furniture design competition. 

Several copies of this design were built for family and friends. My Furniture Design professor liked it enough to make his own copy of it while I was in the workshop making one.  Most have survived including my original prototype.  It was picked up by a furniture manufacturer who thought they could sell it to a line of kitchen accessory stores. They showed me a factory sample made from oak, but never succeeded in selling any. My original has survived 8 moves so far.  It spent several years as the office desk for a local ophthalmologist. I retrieved it when that office closed.  

It is 24" deep, 29" tall, and 42" wide.  

In Use. TI994A workstation.

One flaw in the original design is that if the front of the desk is lifted the desk may collapse. This "feature" is a source of surprise and consternation for the unsuspecting. Curious spectators are tempted to lift up the front.  That challenge was solved with a strap that attached to the center of the top stretcher and connected to a slot in the underside of the desktop.  The strap is strategically designed to also let the desk fold up. 

My award winning success with the PhDesk, Fit Lounge, and an unfolding Z chair design caught the attention of the university and led to them hiring me to teach the furniture design courses. 

Comments are encouraged!

4D