This playful desk reimagines the cubicle for our new era of work

As return-to-office mandates tighten, many workers are reckoning what life in a cubicle looks like. If it’s up to the Swiss furniture and design firm Vitra, your next cubicle might not look much like a cubicle at all.

Vitra partnered with German industrial designer Konstantin Grcic to create Scout, a family of minimalist office furniture built to adapt to the flexible ways people work today. Launched on March 19, Scout is comprised of five pieces that range in sizes, offering stationary and mobile workspaces with customizable options for workplaces and schools.

The tables feature trapezoidal desks that have metal tubular frames. Attachments that hang from the tubes can turn the desks into a cubicle-like set-up or connect multiple desks to create a shared workspace.

“The aim is not to replace what already exists,” Grcic told Vitra Magazine. “Rather, the system is an extension or complementary offering that responds to different levels and styles of work.”

The collection offers various desk options. Scout Work allows for manually adjustable heights and tilts that don’t require electricity. A frame encases the desk and can be used for privacy screens or to hang accessories. Scout Work Mobile offers the same features but on wheels, allowing for mobility around spaces. Another product on wheels is Scout Sprint, a small table made in both a seating or standing height, with nesting bases and foldable tabletops.

The collection also offers products for meeting configurations. Take Scout Summit, a trapezoidal table which can be nested together for easy storage, and Scout Meet, a long rectangular table offered in two heights which seats up to eight people.

“As with tableware or cutlery, where a fork and knife belong to the same family yet serve different purposes,” Grcic said. “Each piece is defined by its own form and proportion, depending on its intended use.”

The collection is the latest in Grcic and Vitra’s examination of what workspaces can look like. In 2016, they collaborated on Scout’s predecessor, Hack, which turned utilitarian wooden boards into adjustable workspaces. Scout is more mobile and more industrial than Grcic’s previous design for Vitra, but both are a playful alternative to what can otherwise be a pretty staid office furniture landscape.

“All the pieces are straightforward and highly adaptable,” he said. “People will inevitably invent their own way of using them.”

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