Thoughts on my desk

[Bari Zaki] My life revolves around my desk. It’s the first place I go in the morning, and the first place I go when I get home. The desk itself  connects me to what I believe is most important, in a word: writing – whether it’s my list for the day, a letter to a friend, or a jot, a scribble, a reminder.

My desk is our former dining room table. It measures 39″ x 62″ x 29″ tall, and my husband bought it in South Africa in 1975. It had been a teacher’s desk in its original life and has JM121 {for Johannesburg Municipal 121} stamped in the wood at the top of one of the legs.

We went to London this past June and before leaving Chicago I purchased an iPhone. The absolute best part of having it on the trip was the ease with which I could snap a picture!  We had our digital camera, but there is something about the view-finder on the iPhone that I prefer. I take more pictures than I would with my camera. The whole technology thing was a novelty for me – it’s like candy. And the little camera sound on the iPhone is charming.

I shipped home many Eurokraft envelopes, tea from Harrod’s, my new orange pencil sharpener, and lots of printed matter. This is not to say that I didn’t carry a great deal of paper onto the plane with me.

When I we returned home, my desk became piled high with ephemera and lots of papery things. What with jet-lag and a cold, it took me some time to sort through everything that I had shlepped back. {Yes, I carried it all onto the plane.} I loved how it all looked when I first unpacked it onto my desk, so I photographed it.

There are a number of items that are permanent fixtures on the desk: my calendar, pencil cups, business cards, stacked books, address books, correspondence from friends, and our Italian wedding photo. I didn’t move any of these things – I arranged the Newly Collected around them. I prop my recent mail between my tiny Buddha and a letterbox I covered in Japanese paper.

I didn’t have enough room to leave everything there, but found I was enjoying meditating on mess and order. I’m known for being super-organized in my work; I generally want everything in its respective place – but I didn’t want to rearrange this mess. Taking pictures on a regular basis allowed me to watch the evolution of the mess, to really document my desk as I left my “trip head-space” and resumed my groove.

Now, the orange pencil sharpener is the only thing from the trip that continues to dwell on the desk. Everything else has a new home – it’s all been integrated. In iPhoto I have an album named ‘my desk’ which I continually add to and visit.

Photography: Bari Zaki

Bari Zaki is the proprietress of Ardour Bookbinding. As soon as she recovers from her Annual Studio Sale, she will segue to Felt & Wire Shop. Anticipate readymade and custom accessories for organizing your desk, your photos, and your collections.