A pile of primary school wooden desk lids discovered on a skip were the inspiration behind the Making Your Mark Desk by designer Alice Naylor. Drawing on the time-honoured British tradition of functional design, this limited-edition desk incorporates these rescued desk lids into a modern, adult bureau.

Sixteen different desk lids = sixteen different desks. Inscribed with felicitations of good luck, grumbles about maths and heart shapes intertwined with the initials of a loved one evoking memories of your school days: there’s the odd profanity too if you look closely. As a counterpoint to the humble, work-worn lid, the rest of the desk is sleek and simple.

The desk isn’t so much new as re-formed; it’s simple and functional with its own DNA. By re-imagining a traditional desk, loaded with the narrative of someone’s school life, it provides a place not just for working but dreaming and spinning your own stories - the original owners made their mark, now it’s your turn.

The Making Your Mark Blog served an important function at Designers Block.  On a daily basis, visitors wrote on the inside and outside of the Making Your Mark desk lid and on the lids that were displayed at the show.  These images were posted on the blog at the end of each day so anyone who made a mark, a drawing, a love heart or scary monster, your images are up there.  Take a look