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Photo: Michael Lundgren<br />
ARBR Photo<br />
Photo: Michael Lundgren<br />
“We built a really beautiful space. It was right at that moment that<br />
these same guys were like, ‘Man, you should really think about making a<br />
business around furniture and architecture.’ So I gathered a motley crew<br />
of individuals that I’ve been working with for the last 10 years on art<br />
installations, and we created Urban Plow and Urban Plow Furniture.”<br />
Part of this project involved the construction of a number of sit/stand desks,<br />
one of the hotter trends in ergonomics today, which have become popular<br />
as people are more conscious of the deleterious heath impacts of sitting for<br />
prolonged periods. “If there’s one thing you can quote me on, it’s that most sit/<br />
stand desks are ugly,” Moore said as he showed me some of the more ghastly<br />
models on the market. “There’s one paradigm: two legs and then you switch<br />
out the top. It doesn’t matter if it’s a plastic laminate top or a live-edge wood<br />
thing. It’s got those two legs and that’s it.”<br />
With the combined artistic, design and building experience of its team, UP<br />
Furniture brainstormed options until they developed a proprietary design,<br />
which they are currently in the process of patenting. Its seemingly simple<br />
appearance belies the sophisticated design. With the push of a button, the<br />
desk elevates itself in near silence. Cords and plugs are routed through<br />
accessible yet concealed compartments, which means the desk can be raised<br />
and lowered with ease.<br />
“This adjustable-height idea really checked a lot of boxes in terms of health<br />
and well-being that hadn’t been solved yet,” Moore said. “We created these<br />
legless sit/stand units.” Inventing a better desk was only half of the problem.<br />
“We’re a year and a half deep right now and still just figuring out how we<br />
can scale this,” Moore said. “We don’t want to be an expensive boutique<br />
shop that is not accessible, so we’re working to make it competitive and<br />
talking with wholesalers who can bring it to market.”<br />
With so many workers nervously eyeing a future that may or may not have<br />
a place for them, startups like UP Furniture are one part of the answer.<br />
This is something Moore is quite cognizant of. “How do you give people<br />
meaningful jobs and salaries and build a generational business, much like<br />
farming? You have to really think outside the box and figure out how<br />
you’re going to scale this,” said Moore. “This company wasn’t started to do<br />
custom one-off furniture, because with that model, you’re operating more<br />
like an artist.”<br />
“As a farmer, I’m always thinking, ‘What does the soil want?’ What can I do<br />
so that when my kids are grown, it will still be cultivated? The same goes for<br />
building a business. Knowing that the office is a place where people spend<br />
half their lives, if you can have an impact through beauty and design –<br />
much like art, but in the office arena – then you’re winning,” said Moore.<br />
While office layout and desk design may not be the sexiest topics, until Jeff<br />
Bezos or some equally creepy tech billionaire replaces us all with robots, we’ll<br />
continue slogging for 8.56 hours a day, five days a week. In terms of daily impact,<br />
perhaps a better mousetrap can make for a less oppressive rat race.<br />
JAVA<br />
MAGAZINE<br />
37