Workspace
·
2023
Cairn
A desk organiser that grows with the clutter.
Materials
Cork · Aluminium · Modular system
Role
Research, industrial design, CAD, prototyping
01
The problem, the user and what I learned
Desk organisers are bought once and outgrown within months. People keep adding pots and trays until the desk looks worse than before.
A survey of thirty desks catalogued what people actually keep: cables, pens, a notebook, chargers. Depths varied far more than widths.
02
On site Approval
Sketches tested nesting boxes, a rail system and a stack. The stack won because each tray can have its own depth while the footprint stays fixed.
Cork was chosen for its warmth and because it protects screens and lenses. Aluminium trays alternate to add rigidity and a visual rhythm.
04
Issue at site
Trays locate on a 4 mm lip and alternate between pressed cork and extruded aluminium. Three depths cover cables, pens and a notebook.
The aluminium is a single extrusion profile cut to length with pressed ends, keeping tooling to one die. Cork trays are compression moulded.
05
Reshuffled weekly
06
Where the project stands
Cairn was my final‑year project and the first where I ran a full cost and tooling exercise with a supplier.
It remains a concept with a validated stack geometry and a costed BOM.