5 Desk Organizers With Very Different Designs

I’ve written about many notable desk organizers over on the Core77 website; if you’re an office supply fan, you can go see my posts from May 2014, October 2015 and July 2016. But because so many of us could use a desk organizer, and we all have somewhat different needs and aesthetic preferences, more interesting product keep coming along. One of these is Gather, from Ugmonk, currently available via Kickstarter.



The basic product has a pencil holder, a phone holder, a sticky-note holder, and two sizes of trays — all of which can be arranged on the base however you wish. You can also add on a headphone stand and a coaster. It seems to be a lovely, compact piece. (via Uncrate)




The Niu desk organizer from Ubikubi, designed by Dragos Motica, is made with cork and painted aluminum. It has a lot of pieces: a sticky-note holder, a business card holder, a tape dispenser, a phone/tablet support (that item in the middle), a pen/pencil holder, a cup for paper clips or any other such item, a pencil sharpener (the item in the front, off the tray) and the paper tray itself. This lets you keep the items together or move them around your desk — whichever you prefer. But it also includes specific tools you may not need. (via Design Milk)




If you just need a small desk organizer for notepads, pens and your smartphone, the Bau organizer from Most Modest would work. You have your choice of five colors for that bottom stripe.




If you’d like to keep some things hidden away but still right at hand, you might like the Estuche desk organizer from Oitenta.



That enclosed area is quite a versatile storage space, holding things such as charging cords, sticky notes, a box of paper clips, etc. But there’s no external storage spot for a notepad or sticky notes, which will be a problem for some folks.




If you have a desktop computer (or a laptop used with an external monitor, keyboard and mouse) you might like the desk organizer from GardenX. That space for your smartphone doesn’t look large enough for the larger models now being sold, though; you’d probably want to contact the seller for dimensions. But then again, that space could be used for things other than a smartphone, as at least one purchaser has done.

In Honor of My Mom: Organizing in Blue for 2017

My poor blog! It’s been neglected as I focused my writing energies on Core77 (through last year) and Unclutterer (ongoing). But it’s time to resume posting, and this seemed like a good way to start. Ten years ago today, my mom died of pancreatic cancer. Her favorite color was blue, so this is my annual tribute to her. (Sadly, I missed last year due to my hip surgery.)

Let’s start with this bright blue basket from L'Atelier de NaNa H — good for holding all sorts of small items.




This catchall from A & B Design Studio is another lovely shade of blue.




And here's a different sort of catchall from feltplanet.




This earring stand comes from Allison Glick Ceramics.




Finally, this is the Lexon flip alarm clock. Mom would have liked this not just because it's blue, but because it has a big, easily legible display. And it’s super-simple to use; you just flip the clock over to turn the alarm off and on. (The display changes its orientation when you do that.)