The story begins a year ago, we were in the middle of a lot of changes...personal, professional, and global. We were starting to get used to a new way of living, a new way of interacting, and overall a new way of creating. Among all this chaos an idea was born. We started developing an idea for a unique desk that would merge our professional and personal life together. However, no matter how much we searched something was missing...it took us little to realize that what was missing was YOU.
We asked you to help us design this new piece, to bring this idea to life. We wanted to know what really mattered to you, what you needed at home, and what you would feel as yours. We showed you four possible designs, four concepts and then we asked your opinion.
The result is ALADA.
What is ALADA floating folding desk?
Alada is a unique floating folding desk that seamlessly transforms to a decorative shelf in seconds. It’s uniqueness shows in its design, functionality, and crafting.
Alada’s structure consists of three simple wooden panels that are anchored to the wall to give you all the versatility you need. Our floating folding desk is not designed to be just a desk, all its parts are carefully crafted for it to transform into part of your decor.
Small details are key to us, the edge of Alada floating folding desk is crafted in an angular way that takes away the visual weight of the piece, making it look smaller, and simpler. Its minimal stopper, designed to be as unobtrusive and practical as possible, helps you keep Alada in place when closed.
To make Alada even more minimal, we hid its metal base, so you won’t see it at a regular vision level. This way, to see it, you would have to bend down or stand sideways.
The result is a unique piece perfect for small spaces in the city or to save space in big houses, adapting to your needs and lifestyle. Alada will quickly become your perfect companion for home office, and a one of a kind decorative element for your home.
Why a folding desk of all things?
With home office becoming the new normal, we took our love for functionality and mixed it with the idea to create something that would exactly fulfill your needs.
A desk, a piece that is essential and practical, but that most of the time takes too much space, and that most of us don’t have a separate room to use only as an office and place it.
So we thought, what if we create a desk that would be minimal, and would have a double function so that you wouldn’t need to have a separate room for it. A floating folding desk that would transform into something more, and that can be used as something more.
What we got is a piece that is as functional as possible, and that not only works as a desk, but also as a shelf. A piece that can be placed in small spaces or big spaces and works for both of them. Ultimately, a piece that goes hand in hand with what you need, at the moment that you need it.
What does ALADA mean?
At the beginning there was no Alada...there was Ménsula. If you were part of the design process, you would likely remember this greek word that at the moment made a lot of sense.
Ménsula was the name ancient Greeks gave to a structural support that stuck out and was often placed on high parts of the walls. However, these parts are static and, even though they are decorative, they are not very functional. This was when we realized we needed a name that meant something more.
As you know, all of our products are inspired by nature and this gives them a lot of their personality. So, why would this floating folding desk be the exception? After a lot of research we found ALADA.
Alada refers to the movements that birds make when they move their wings up and down while crossing the sky. A name that is the perfect combination of our inspiration, and the functionality of this piece.
Behind Alada's design
Building a piece as minimal as Alada is not an easy task. Many were the parts, and details that were later deleted and long was the search for a minimalistic design that had personality at the same time.
This is one of Alada’s main characteristics, it integrates into your space and your decor to a point where you don’t see it, but at the same time it is a piece that stands out and gives character to your room.
Through the concept development process we tried many things. Like a small rabbet, so that when the piece is on shelf form you could lean an object on it without it sliding off. We tried to add a back storage that was closed, and that would work as kind of small drawers.
For the break, we tried different things...a small side button, a side stopper, a bigger stopper until we finally found the perfect option in the small center piece. This stopper works really well to keep the desk closed and is actually very minimal and small, so that you wouldn't notice it when you don't need it.
Overall, as with every product design it was a lot of trial and error before finally getting to the perfect design.
What about the materials?
The quality of our materials is also key to us. All of our woods come from sustainable forests, and are carefully crafted to have the most quality.
For Alada, we use Oak and Ash plywood which is very robust and strong, necessary for a product that is coming out of the wall and carrying a certain weight.
However, with plywood in the Oak finish you can see the lines where the different wood parts meet, and we didn’t want this to happen. At the end of the crafting, a sturdy Oak wood finish is added to the edge of the whole piece giving it a clean and beautiful finish. As we mentioned, details do make a difference.
Additionally, all our products are carefully crafted in Tierra de Pinares, Spain. In this way we reduce our carbon footprint, ensuring that our products are crafted in the best way by local artisans.
Finally, we collaborate with One Tree Planted, planting a tree for every piece you buy.
We take care of the environment and we like that with every purchase you are as part of this initiative as we are.
How ALADA integrates into the Woodendot collection?
To us the Woodendot collection is not only about pieces of furniture and accessories, it is more. We want Woodendot to be your companion in all the things home, and to be present in all the special moments in your life.
Therefore, one of our main goals is to be able to have a collection that covers all the different spaces of your life and home, giving you in the end the perfect Woodendot experience.
When the design process of Alada started, we didn’t have many pieces that worked in the world of home office. We released GEO desk accessories earlier last year, but we wanted to create something that could be used not only in the working hours. We didn't want to create just a desk, we wanted to create a product that had versatility and could be adapted to any area of your home.
This is how ALADA was born, our unique floating folding desk that easily transforms into a decorative shelf.
