Nifemi Marcus-Bello's Tebur table is carried like a suitcase
Nigerian designer Nifemi Marcus-Bello has designed a flat-pack desk that can store its own legs for easy transport.
Named after the Hausa word for table, the Tebur has legs that screw into the desk for ease of disassembly, and fabric loops to hold the legs flat against the surface during transport.
A handle carved into the tabletop allows it to be easily carried to different places.
The furniture is aimed at offices, particularly workers in Lagos who spend extended amounts of time in small spaces. The handle doubles as space for cable storage.
"Until now, work tables were typically heavy, awkward to transport long distances and challenging to assemble," said the designer. "These issues were considered in view of readily available transport options and conditions in crowded cities such as Lagos."
Marcus-Bello has also designed a set of lightweight furniture for children, that supports good posture and is similarly easy to carry and store.
The designer created the Tebur table to be lightweight so it can be lifted with one hand. The legs, which are made from reclaimed wood, screw into the tabletop, allowing for quick and intuitive disassembly.
"The Tebur design is minimalistic, stable and lends the workplace an aura of quiet efficiency," added Marcus-Bello.
The changing nature of the workplace has prompted several designers to create solutions for nomadic workers, from a roll-upportable office divider to a modular furniture system that adapts as offices grow larger or smaller.
German designer Konstantin Grcic has also designed an adaptable flat-pack office system, which features desks that can be lowered to become sofas.