Synopsis: This desk blends practical utility with elegant details such as its slender base with turned legs and curved side profiles. Construction is broken into two parts—top and base. The  joinery for the top section is uncomplicated mortise and tenons. The two-part desktop is part solid wood and part plywood, which is covered with leather to make a blotter. The base, with its turned legs, is a straightforward frame secured by bridle joints.

I designed the first incarnation of this desk for a close friend who needed a simple, elegant station for sketching and designing in his small apartment. Over the past six years, I’ve built the desk a number of times for others and the design has evolved. Its original chunky, square base was replaced with a slender version with turned legs; and the sides, or end caps, of the desk case are now shaped to flowing curves…