Base floating shelf

We weren’t the ones who invented this kind of shelving system. We found one in an old, frayed catalogue for office furniture and thought it so convincing that we got to work on production. So, what did we need to make one? Firstly, some trays (like our ivory trays), a stand with a table clamp (courtesy of the laboratory equipment supplier) and a metal goods manufacturer who could make precise brackets for our trays. It took a few prototypes, but the solution we came up with is entirely presentable.

The sequence of up to five archive trays ranging from "top" (urgent – pay this bill immediately!) to "bottom" (this can wait) represents an hierarchical prioritization of varying levels of urgency. The individual lengthwise or crosswise suspended archive trays can be pulled out easily by hand and worked on elsewhere. They can also be turned 360°, which for the procrastinator has the wonderful effect that the offending pending unpleasantness can be pushed out of the way with one hand. This by no means banishes them: after a rotation of 360° they reappear again in all their sobering reality. Above all the trays don’t take away space. They flank or even float above the desk. It keeps the desktop unencumbered.

The shelving system consists of four components:
1. The base clamped to the table, a support rod and three brackets.
2. Document trays which hook into the brackets.
3. An optionally deployable, inclinable, and thanks to the laboratory fitting, a height adjustable document holder made of sheet steel.
4. If in place of the document holders the two additional mounting brackets are used the shelving becomes five stories high.

Size can be key, especially with writing desks. When a computer monitor and keypad, a pen or pencil, the usual newspaper and magazine articles, files to be worked on, tax documents and the current work order vye for space on the desk, things can get nasty. For most of us the limits of the ideal writing desk are the horizon (or at least the wall of the office). However, like many utopias, the proportions don’t play along. The office space is limited, never mind the space on the desk. The only remaining frontier is in the third dimension. Floating.

Working at a desk is not static, and thinking is certainly not. Good organization can be conducive to such dynamism, and what could be better suited to this than an equally dynamic filing system? We didn't invent this type of filing system. We discovered it in an old, stained office furniture catalog and immediately thought it made sense. What do you need if you want to implement something similar today? You need filing boxes like our ivory boxes, a stand with a table clamp (supplied by Laborbedarf) and a metal goods manufacturer who can make custom-fit holders for our filing boxes.

The arrangement of the filing cabinets allows a hierarchical prioritization of different levels of urgency, from "top" (deadlines) to "bottom" (things that need to be done). The individual archive boxes, which can be hung lengthways or crossways, can also be removed with a simple movement to be processed elsewhere. They can also be rotated through 360°. Above all, they do not take up space on top of the desk, but above or even next to it, leaving the desk surface itself free.

The filing system consists of three components (supplied without contents):

• Base consisting of a desk clamp, a stand rod and three height-adjustable holders

• Document trays that are hooked into these holders

• Optional tiltable and height-adjustable concept holder made of sheet steel thanks to laboratory sleeve