More, More, More

With papers, books, computers, and coffee cups cluttering most office desks, the amount of actual working surface is often small. So Steffen Kaz and Catharina Lorenz asked themselves, How can we design something that creates more tabletop space? The answer they devised is the Più desk system, which consists of portable containers that attach to table edges and a space-saving trestle table base. The collection was put into production by Italian manufacturer Zoltan (www.zoltan.it) after the company’s owner saw the prototype at the 2003 Cologne Furniture Fair. We spoke to Kaz and Lorenz about the finer points of Più.

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Typical architectural and design offices need to be quite flexible, so it’s a simple adaptable system. There’s no fixed area to place the containers around the table’s edge; you can put them wherever you like.

The file holder is slightly angled from the horizontal tabletop to keep things from falling out. That way stuff also slips in more easily.

We came up with these trestles that allow you to basically gain another two places for sitting around a table. Usually you have an upside-down V trestle, which takes up a lot of space. With ours you don’t have to fight with something underneath, as with a traditional wooden trestle leg. You can stretch your feet through it.

The biggest challenge was adapting to different desktop thicknesses. In the end we made all of the containers available in three sizes. Then we added foam spacers to eliminate air between the table surface and the container.

The name Più means “more” in Italian: you can add more pieces to the desk, which makes it much more functional.

Each of these steel containers has a handle. For offices, it works as storage. You arrive in the morning and take your container to the desk. If you want to go to a colleague’s desk, you can bring your stuff with you.

All the modules in the collection, including the glass or wood surfaces and the metal trestles, are available separately.