When faced with the impossible the designers at Bare Design called on our experience to develop and produce furniture for the private offices of Dr Ravi Pillai, the Bahrain-based business tycoon who presides over a multi-million dollar business empire, employing 50,000 people in the industrial contracting and oil refining sector.
The order was made up of three bespoke pieces; low table, curved sofa and the desk which was the most challenging single item of furniture we have undertaken in all our 20 plus years. The main body of the desk is CNC shaped layers of MDF stacked to make a large dumb-bell shape. Internally it has various voids for weight saving, structure, electrics and 4 drawers. The MDF core is then wrapped in pewter, dressed and polished into a seamless organic form all toped of with a 15mm toughened glass top. The desk itself is bolted to precast concrete pad stones laid into the floor.
Logistically the desk was difficult to deliver and fit weighing in at 300kg. Maneuvering the piece half way around the world, into the building, up to the 27th floor was difficult enough but due to its size it had to be threaded into the lift and held at an angle of 60 degrees, all of which proved hard work but successful.
