Unsurprisingly, the popularity of standing desks skyrocketed during the past year as people were forced to convert living spaces into home offices. While the selection of standing desks available is numerous, the category suffers from a selection of indistinguishable utilitarian designs – perfectly serviceable forms when set in a dedicated home office, but not always harmonious when placed within a dining room or living room. San Francisco-based Otelier’s debut collection aims to modernize adaptable work surfaces with a decidedly modernist perspective designed to blend into the home environment.

Founded in 2020 by multi-disciplinary designer Yvonne Hung – a graduate of Harvard Graduate School of Design and the Royal College of Art – Otelier’s selection of height-adjustable tables presents the antithesis of tech-forward standing desks, offering work surfaces characterized by its founder as “ergonomic, but also appropriate for the home.”

– Otelier founder Yvonne Hung

With only a single cord emerging from an otherwise uncluttered underside, Otelier’s height-adjustable design is unencumbered by the tendril of cords, cables and motor hardware traditionally found underneath most standing desks. Instead, Hung’s collection emphasizes minimalist silhouettes complemented with details such as gently rounded edges, built-in cable management, tabletop tray organizer, and handsomely finished soft-close drawers – in sum its smoothly finished design mirroring the seamless transition between work and dine duties.

Hung notes Otelier was founded to operate according to the ideals of sustainability and ethical practices. This means each piece is crafted in the Bay Area with sustainable wood in partnership with a local Bay Area manufacturer using FSC wood and Greenguard certified finishes. Additionally, each flat-packed table is designed to be easily assembled or disassembled within approximately 15 minutes, with a minimum height of 28-inches up to 46-inches at full height extension with a brawny 300-lbs maximum load capacity.