Product design

The port, the underside grid and the eight things that plug into them. One interface drawn once and held at every size.

Specification / as recorded

Status: Designed, priced and part cut. Paused 2026
Role: Solo. CAD, brand, costing and storefront
The interface: Three-port top at 45 by 22 inches, underside grid at 6 inch pitch
Drawn: 3 desk sizes, 3 leg variants, 8 accessory modules
What exists in wood: One medium top with all three ports cut
What is missing: Legs, any module, and an assembled desk

Sheet 02 of 03/The interface

The port is the product

I drew the interface first and drew it precisely. On the medium top, 45 by 22 inches, three identical ports sit in a row along the back edge. Each one is a stepped rebate: a wider shallow pocket over a smaller through-cut, with radiused corners so a router or CNC can actually cut it, and a lip for a module to sit flush against. Underneath, a grid of mounting holes at six-inch spacing gives anything that hangs below the surface somewhere to bolt to.

Small top gets two ports, medium three, large four. Same pocket, same radii, same lip at every size, because a module bought for one has to fit all of them.

Animation of three module inserts rising out of a desk top and settling back into their ports — Three modules lift out of the top and drop back in, so the desk changes without being replaced.

Dimensioned engineering drawing of the medium desk top showing three port cut-outs with radii and step depths — A stepped rebate with radiused corners so a router can cut it, on a top 45 by 22 inches. This drawing is the actual product.

Dimensioned drawing of the desk underside showing a regular grid of mounting holes — Which is where anything that hangs below the surface bolts on.

CAD view of the small desk top with two rectangular ports — Two ports.

CAD view of the large desk top with four rectangular ports in a row — Same pocket, same lip, same promise at every size.

Sheet 03 of 03/The modules

What plugs in

With the interface fixed, everything else is module design: a work lamp, a wireless charger, a tray, a two-tier shelf, single and dual monitor arms. All modeled in SolidWorks. For the monitor arm I pulled in the vendor's own CAD and fit-checked against it, rather than trusting my own guess at clearance.

Three desk sizes, each configurable by top finish, leg style and leg colour.

CAD view of a two-tier shelf module that sits into a desk port

CAD view of a tall rectangular work lamp mounted on a port insert

CAD view of a dual monitor arm mounted to a desk port insert — Fit-checked against real vendor CAD rather than my own guess at clearance.