Everything in BLACK · Guide
The All-Black Home Office: 5 Objects That Actually Do the Work
An all-black desk setup is the easiest look to attempt and the easiest to botch, because black hides bad form. Cheap plastic and machined aluminum look surprisingly similar in a product photo, and completely different in person.
The test I use: does the object still look good with the lights off and the screen dark? These five do.
The edit
Type 75 Desk Lamp · Anglepoise
The Type 75 in matte black reads as sculpture when it's off and as a tool when it's on. The exposed spring mechanism is the whole point, so black frames it rather than hiding it.
$210 — Buy on Amazon →Marlin Hand-Wound · Timex
A hand-wound Timex Marlin is the rare mechanical watch under $300 that doesn't apologize for the price. On a desk it's the one object with moving parts you can see.
$249 — Buy on Amazon →Barrel Fountain Pen · Kaweco
Kaweco's cast-resin barrel costs $88 and feels like more. It's the pen I'd hand someone who says they don't care about pens.
$88 — Buy on Amazon →City Sling 2 · Aer
Aer's Cordura sling is the bag equivalent of the desk: black, structured, no logo doing any shouting.
$68 — Buy on Amazon →About A Chair AAC 12 · HAY
HAY's About A Chair in black powder-coat loses the friendliness the color versions have and picks up a quiet severity that suits a room where you're supposed to concentrate.
$245 — Buy on Amazon →Buy the lamp first. It changes the room more than anything else on this list, and everything else can be added slowly.
The rest of the black edit is always growing.
Browse the full black collection →
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