No one knows the actual year when the first office for business was created.

However, moving cottage industries to a centralised location was an important transition in history and was the basis for a new work environment, business communication and specialised office furniture items along with employee interaction came into its own.

Interestingly, working from home has made a comeback again because of huge technological advancements in communication which means that people can now work just as effectively from remote areas.

Basics – The Office Desk

The office desk has always been at the core of office furniture.  An office desk becomes our home from home and is normally the place in which we spend most of our working day. The office desk is the core frame to our working day.  The office desk or computer desk is often home to our phone, files and paperwork and often everything we need to operate within our office environment.

Going back before Victorian times, to the days before electricity and the days before ballpoint pens and advanced office desk designs, the feather quill was the most popular form of office equipment and essential writing material.

Common to all office desks in earlier times was a spot normally found in the corner of the office desk (but within easy reachable distance for your arm to lean), for an ink well.  This ink pen meant that on a regular basis the writer would have to dip his/her quill into the ink well hundreds of times a day. 

Imagine how long it would take to produce an article such as this one today if it had to be written with a feather quill?!!  It doesn’t bare thinking about