Port’s Desk Essentials
Take your workspace to the next level with our pick of the top luxury office equipment
Perfecting your desk set-up can be either an essential part of organising your work – maximising productivity and making work more enjoyable – or a fantastic excuse to procrastinate. Even if it’s the latter, the allure of new stationary – the renewed creative energies it promises to engender; the optimism of starting a fresh notebook – could be just the inspiration you need.
Whether you cover your office in post-it notes like Will Self, need an orderly desk in a room of one’s own, like Virginia Woolf, or are content with a notebook and pencil, as John Steinbeck was, there are some essentials that cannot be done without. Here Port runs you through our selection of the best office equipment to make your work better, your desk more attractive, and your colleagues envious.
Train Stationary
At the heart of good organisation is good time management, and setting a beating clock on your desk, as opposed to giving yourself another reason to check your phone, can be a great, distraction-free way to keep on task. This elegant Mondaine model, minimising Hans Hilfiker’s iconic 1944 Swiss railway clock design (the red second-hand takes its shape from the baton used by guards to dispatch the trains), is a perfectly sized addition to any desk.
The Belle Of Ballpoints
Although it shares technology with the humble Bic biro, this ballpoint pen, crafted from resin, rather than plastic, is writing as it should be – smooth and effortless. Montblanc has been synonymous with luxury writing instruments for over a hundred years, working with designers such as Marc Newson to create contemporary takes on pen design, as well as classic, understated models such as this, bringing a sense of moment to even the most prosaic note taking.
Take Note
A notebook is an essential, universal tool and, even in the age of Cloud-synced digital note apps, nothing can beat the instinctive need to jot something down (nor, for that matter, the joy of running a line through a completed task). This Chelsea notebook from luxury stationers Smythson – 144 leaves of gilt-edged, Featherweight paper, bound in cross-grained lambskin – is a fitting repository for thoughts, meeting notes and doodles.
Desk Job
Hungarian-British author Arthur Koestler wrote that there are two kinds of writers, those whose desks offer a view from the window, and those who like to face the wall. Regardless where you sit, a good desk is essential and this sleek interpretation of traditional rolling shutter office furniture allows you to hide away your essential desk-related ephemera for a calm and concentrated work environment.
Cut And Paste
In an ever-more digital world, scissors are becoming less of an essential tool for the workplace. Yet something as beautiful as these, designed by Lex Pott, are as much a sculptural object as a functional tool, and will always have a place on Port’s desk.
March 14 2019 by Camilla Hunt
