Steph Stilwell on making the doodle desk of your dreams

Steph Stilwell doesn't need to daydream this scenario. A pun-loving illustrator based in Brooklyn, Steph recently illustrated a colourable desktop for Chassie, a furniture studio based in the Bronx, NYC.

"Chassie gave me complete creative freedom. I started to think about what could make a workspace inspiring and immediately thought of my sketchbook, which I often flip through its doodle-filled pages when I'm suffering from artists' block."

"I took that thought and came up with doodles that would suit a desk: little drawings of things like plants and coffee, bits of motivation, and some that are purely just for fun. I hope that the person working at the desk might be feeling stuck in that artists' block that we have all felt before, and they'll be able to look at their desk or doodle alongside my drawings and find a spark of inspiration."

Once she came up with the initial design, Steph sent it along to Chassie, who originally printed two prototypes: one of the doodles on raw wood, and the other with the doodles on a white background.

"While we were testing the prototypes," the artist explains, "We realised that the coating on the desktop allowed for it to be drawn on with dry-erase markers, so the doodle-ability of the desk was a happy accident along the way."

"Once the desktop was sorted out, I got to choose the edge and leg colours for the limited edition desk, which really brought the whole thing together! The last step in the process was naming the desk, which was the hardest part. I ended up landing on the Daydream Desk, an ode to the inspiration I hope it brings to those sitting at it."

Follow Steph's future daydreams on Instagram.