Winner
Interior Innovation Award 2014
The desk by Felix Schwake, awarded the Interior Innovation Award 2014, exemplifies a design approach that fully integrates technical functionality into a calm architectural order.
The starting point of the design was the question of how concentrated work can be enabled within an increasingly technologically saturated working environment without allowing technology to permanently dominate the space. The solution did not consist in making technology more visible, but in its conscious spatial integration.
Beneath the extendable work surface are integrated storage areas, cable channels, and power and multimedia connections. Mobile phones, charging devices, cables, pens, and work materials therefore remain fully organized and immediately accessible without being visibly present on the tabletop itself.
The clear geometric order of the desk remains intact even during use. It was precisely this combination of high technical functionality and visual calmness that convinced the jury of the Interior Innovation Award.
The design deliberately avoids an expressive formal language. Reduction instead serves concentration. Open surfaces, clear proportions, and calm materiality create conditions for focused work while reducing visual overload in everyday life.
The technical infrastructure is not used as a visual design motif, but disappears entirely within the object itself. Function remains present without demanding attention. In this way, architecture and furniture are understood as a background for thinking and working.
The extendable work surface plays a central role within this concept. It allows direct access to technical infrastructure and work materials without permanently sacrificing the spatial clarity of the tabletop. Order therefore emerges not through the rejection of technology, but through its precise integration.
The Interior Innovation Award 2014 particularly recognized this connection between minimalist design, functional precision, and enduring spatial quality.
The work of Felix Schwake consciously positions itself between architecture, interior design, and functional art. Design is understood not as a short-term visual effect, but as a lasting spatial experience within everyday life.