Compact Home Office

or how to work pleasantly at home when you have little space

Artek introduces a playful new tool for creating functional and beautiful home offices, helping users to find the perfect solution for their home-working needs, however small their space.

Today, as new approaches to work become ever more common, many of us are spending increasing amounts of time working from home. As companies across diverse sectors embrace remote or hybrid models, and associated technology improves, this shift may well prove to be a permanent one.

Creating a home office that is both functional and attractive can be a significant challenge, particularly given the limited size of city-centre apartments. Combining very different lives within one restricted space, which may well already serve multiple purposes, is rarely conducive to relaxation, focus, or charm.

Alvar and Aino Aalto grappled with these issues in the 1920s and 30s, developing compact, open-plan apartments for expanding urban workforces, while also building their own home and studio in Helsinki. Motivated by these experiences, and by major architectural commissions such as the Vyborg City Library and the Paimio Sanatorium, they began to design the lightweight wooden furniture that remains at the heart of the Artek range today. The results include the stackable Stool 60, the elegant Wall Shelf 112, and the multifunctional L-leg tables, all of which have been furnishing schools, homes and public buildings in Finland ever since.

This modernist fusion of comfort, durability, visual appeal and compactness is evident across Artek’s collection, from Ilmari Tapiovaara’s versatile Domus Chair, designed in the 1940s for student housing in Helsinki, through to the recent Atelier Chair by TAF Studio for the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm and the Kaari collection by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec. In both function and aesthetics, such products adapt to a variety of tasks and settings, making them ideal for the modern home office.

The Artek Compact Home Office tool helps with these challenges: through a series of simple questions, an office tailored to available space and specific needs is created. A customised drawing illustrates the recommended layout, complete with a curated selection of Artek furniture, lighting and complements matched to the workspace. Even remote meetings are provided for – subtly patterned textiles by the Bouroullec brothers and Alvar Aalto, or the latter’s fluid Screen 100, act as room dividers, offering calm, privacy and alluring backdrops for video calls.

With the assistance of the Compact Home Office tool, a workplace can be created within any home – one that strengthens productivity, protects work-life balance, and enhances the entire living space through a combination of beauty and utility.