Office desk

Karakter – Bodil Kjær, 1959

Admired by modernist architects Marcel Breuer, José Luis Sert and Paul Rudolph, the Office desk designed by Danish architect Bodil Kjær in 1959 has been dubbed "the most beautiful desk in the world". 

This spacious wooden worktable rests on slender steel legs that give it the appearance of floating. The Office Unit series was part of Bodil Kjær's overall Elements of Architecture concept, a range of functional furniture for open, flexible workspaces developed in the 50s and 60s. 

Over the years, its timeless sophistication has placed it at the center of BBC election night broadcasts, as well as in three early James Bond films.

Bodil Kjær is an influential Danish designer and teacher. She has designed a large number of pieces of furniture, or rather "architectural elements" as she likes to call them.

Bodil Kjær has traveled all over the world, providing her with much inspiration. Not only were her creations innovative, but she also played an active role in spreading the principles of modern Danish design. Her aim was to create functional furniture systems that could function in both private and working environments. Her work is also influenced by the encounter between design and architecture.

Throughout her career, she has continued to travel. She studied architecture in London and learned to create designs alongside renowned designers such as Finn Juhl and Jørgen Ditzel. After a year in the USA, she set up her own studio in Copenhagen in 1960. Then, after winning a scholarship to further her studies at the Royal College of Art and the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, she remained in the English capital until 1979. There, she worked as a senior architect and later set up a studio that developed a large number of projects, including solar-cooled residential houses in tropical Africa.

She has also taught at prestigious universities such as Harvard, the Pratt Institute and the Royal Academy of Architecture in Copenhagen.