The Icons of the Home Office

Five years ago, the working week changed forever. Suddenly, our desks were mere steps from our living rooms, and the office just a short stroll from the kitchen. The world of WFH was born, and with it came new demands: spaces that accommodate both professional needs and the comforts of home.

Before this shift, office furniture often felt clinical and sanitised. Today, it has evolved into an expressive element of any design enthusiast’s space. That’s why we’ve curated a list of WFH heroes, pieces that make answering emails and enjoying your environment equally stylish and aesthetic.

Eames, a name that surfaces time and again when discussing the upper echelons of interior design. In these lists alone, we’ve celebrated their work for its style, its timelessness, and now, its functionality. The Soft Pad Office Chair collection is the pinnacle of working interiors, appearing everywhere from TV screens (just pick any episode of Suits) to today’s home offices. Charles Eames once said, “Recognizing the need is the primary condition of design." A philosophy embodied perfectly in this Vitra classic.

Over 125 years of metal-working history are behind the design story at USM. So to say they've seen the world and its ways evolve is a bit of an understatement. If anyone can conceive of a new working reality and accommodate for it, then the Swiss storage giants can. Their flagship Haller collection is the optimal home office space saving solution, partially for its stylish and sleek nature, but most definitely for the level of customisation it offers to suit your every need.

To quote an old adage: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Sometimes, it really is as simple as taking one of the most beloved seating solutions in Scandinavian design history and giving it a fresh set of wheels. Arne Jacobsen’s mid-century masterpiece is now under the celebrated stewardship of Fritz Hansen, and it continues to go from strength to strength. The Series 7 swivel chair edition is perfectly poised to be a careful collaboration of comfort and practicality.

The right lighting is, for our money, the most underrated element of an optimal working space. Numerous studies highlight its ability to boost productivity, improve both mental and physical health, and of course elevate aesthetics. With so many benefits hinging on getting the glow just right, we recommend the Tab task light by Barber & Osgerby. A firm favourite of desk dwellers since its debut nearly 15 years ago, it’s one of those rare lamps that delivers a focused beam of light without ever overwhelming the space around it.

A piece of mid-century majesty, Greta Grossman is a name long cherished in Scandinavian furniture design. Her 62 Desk, now produced by Gubi, follows the fundamental principles of peak Danish design to the letter: a strong wooden presence, clean lines balanced with rounded forms, and above all, a minimalism that allows it to blend seamlessly with a variety of styles. For a piece that needs to harmonize with the rest of your home’s aesthetic, it’s Gubi's an ideal option.

What’s the one thing you want to be when stepping into your working world? (Other than first in line at the coffee machine.) Dynamic. Shaping your office interiors to match that mentality is a key part of staying productive — you want your space to be as sharp and on-the-ball as you are. The Cavour Desk by Zanotta captures that energy with debonair lines and stylish angles, creating a “no Zoom call too long, no Slack message too confusing” kind of atmosphere.

A feat of engineering that just happens to be an Italian style icon. If our last entry brings dynamism to your workspace, this one brings balance, literally. An intricate system of counterweights positions the Tizio Table Lamp exactly as you need it, with perfect precision. It has been doing so for nearly 50 years and remains the instantly recognizable hallmark of Artemide’s luxury lighting collection.

It wouldn't be an interior design top 10 without mentioning the master of Bauhaus: Marcel Breuer. The S 285 Desk is another of his free-flowing tubular steel creations, pieces that inspired generations of designers and even a few filmmakers (a starring influence behind recently-released semi-biopic 'The Brutalist.') It was one of the first examples of how furniture could be exciting beyond needless intricate detail and set the standard for the post-modern movement for decades to come.

A seating solution that wouldn't look out of place in the most brutalist of Bond Villain lairs, the aptly named DS-2100 Skeleton Chair by de Sede is the spine of your WFH space, if you will. It is designed to fit the form of any that sit in it while also fitting the setting of any room it is placed in. Upholstered in some of the most luxurious leather available and supported by a 5-star base, it is the symbol of strength needed to make those tough decisions throughout the day such as whether this meeting could just be an email.

Revolutionary for its time, the Air Collection by Gallotti & Radice lives up to its name by bringing an effortless lightness to contemporary workspace across multiple disciplines. Defined by clean lines, transparent forms, and a sense of visual weightlessness, each piece feels as though it’s floating within the space. It’s Italian craftsmanship distilled into pure elegance — refined, modern, and quietly transformative.