When you’re relaxing in the evening, you don’t want to see loose cables or piles of paperwork.
But for a lot of Londoners who work from home there is little space to create separation between their work and living spaces.
Bou London’s founder, architect Seb Kouyoumjian, 38, faced these challenges when working from home in his one bed apartment in Archway, North London.
He said: “For three years, I was working from my kitchen table carrying the computer monitor, papers and all the other paraphernalia into another room when guests visited. Aside from the nuisance, being surrounded by reminders of work after office hours was not conducive to a contented or healthy existence.
“Lockdown exacerbated the need for a healthy physical separation between work and living so I designed FOLD, a range of hideaway desks to solve the problem myself.”
Seb spent four years designing the FOLD range of hideaway desks, prototyping and scrutinising each component, alongside co-directing an architectural studio. The cost of building five prototypes, gaining copyright, custom parts and maker’s marks plus business costs like market research, a branding guide, graphic design and more has added up to an investment of £50,000.
Seb said: “On reflection I’ve done it all on a budget. Sales so far have been prototypes sold at a loss but this is a passion project I believe in.
“With a FOLD desk, there is no need to sacrifice floor area for a large workspace. These beautiful pieces of contemporary furniture create a generous, calming workspace when open, offering space to hold a full-size monitor (or two) and all your work equipment.”
“The desks then neatly fold away at the end of the day, projecting from a wall little more than a console table. All that is left is an elegant, discrete cabinet. The physical action of folding away at the end of the day is, for me, unparalleled; the equivalent of shutting up shop. The most important things are usually the simplest.”
FOLD desks come in two sizes, FOLD Maxi and FOLD Mini, with an array of colour compositions.
Bespoke colours and finishes are also available on enquiry. Architect spent £50,000 on creating the perfect space saving desk to work from home Bou London’s hideaway desks are made by hand in micro batches in the UK.
Their master cabinet makers work slowly, prioritising care and quality well above speed or output. This, along with their popularity, might explain the six-month waiting list.
Producing in micro batches means each piece is inspected by Seb himself before it is delivered and assembled for its owner.
Seb added: “We only use high-quality cabinetry-grade components, and if we need a component that isn’t on the market, we design, test, and make it ourselves. And we keep our production local to ensure excellent working conditions and a small carbon footprint.”
With a hideaway desk your home is truly yours when the work day ends.
You can see the full range here.
