Desk Jockey

Maurice Calka's sculptural 1969 worktable feels as futuristic now as it did then

- HANNAH MARTIN

When the furniture manufacturer Leleu-Deshays called on the Polish-born French sculptor Maurice Calka to design a desk in 1969, Calka deeply considered the assignment, asking himself, "What is a desk these days?" At the time, he concluded, it was too often covered with unsightly new gadgets and long, tangled cords. His solution? A fiberglass-and-polyester (a.k.a. plastic) design that would "hide all that" mess with a swooping shape and builtin electronic circuitry for telephone, intercom, and a television monitor. In the same way he might begin a sculpture, he realized the positive out o