Starting from the desk: how we choose materials

A desk is a mixture of materials: wood, plastic, glass, metal, and one glowing screen. A speaker that is too bright becomes a second light source; too dark and it disappears like a brick.

We chose bead-blasted anodised aluminium for the baffle: low reflection, cool to the touch, and capable of a very clean edge. The cabinet is 15 mm MDF with a dark wood veneer, weighting the lower half to reduce vibration. The grille attaches magnetically, with a weave chosen for 0.4 mm openings that keep high-frequency loss under 0.5 dB.

Two colour directions only: charcoal with silver-grey, and deep violet with dark grey. The first reads as a tool, the second as something quieter. Either way the indicator is a single 2 mm slit that dims to 20% at night.

Materials are not chosen to photograph well. They decide whether, every day, the object looks like it is working or interrupting.

Melovia · Shanghai. Specifications refer to the final production version.