This Custom Reception Desk was designed specifically for the Hunter Wolff Art Gallery, a local gallery in Old Colorado City.
When designing the desk, the gallery’s owner had a few objectives she wanted to accomplish in the design.
1. The materials needed for daily use for store operations needed to be easily accessible, so I built a few dividers to sort the different-sized shopping bags and a strategically placed receipt printer and cash drawer for ease of operation.
2. A place to store packing paper to wrap the fragile art in so it can safely make it to its new home. To accomplish this, I designed a hidden drawer. The drawer pulls directly out from under the countertop so the art can safely and efficiently be wrapped and bagged without juggling it on the countertop.
3. No wasted space. The overall shape of the desk is L-shaped, so much like in a kitchen, the corner of the L presented a cumbersome challenge. We discussed the possibility of incorporating a lazy Suzan or a weirdly shaped cabinet, but these were not elegant or useful solutions. Instead, we turned it around, opened it up towards the retail space, and made it into a display to feature art front and center. I lit it with an LED strip to be sure the art would stand out.
4. It had to be unique, with some WOW factor but not too much wow to distract from the art. Old Colorado City has a diverse scene when it comes to its architecture, but there are a few beautiful craftsman-style houses that stand out as you drive through the neighborhood. I took my inspiration from the craftsman style architecture and created the divide lite frosted glass panels on the upper portion of the desk. Then, I combined it with my love of Japanese architecture and added a slight taper to the legs that frame the whole piece.
The top and side that faces the customers are made from solid cherry assembled with mortise and tenon joinery. The cabinets on the employee side are made from plywood with a cherry veneer.
Desks
