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An executive desk usually has a front and a back. Noah has two fronts. Towards the visitor, i4Mariani places open shelves for books and doors clad in saddle leather or leather; towards the person who works at it, four drawers and a small cupboard for files and a laptop. Among our classic desks for directors it is a piece to stand free in the room and be walked round, not pushed against a wall.
Both faces rest on two fixed cabinets of different widths, their sides always clad in leather. The narrower cabinet carries a leather door on the guest side and a veneered door on the working side; the wider one holds the shelving on one face and the drawers on the other, with handles in solid ash or Canaletto walnut. Above them runs a veneered top of 220 × 105 cm (86⅝ × 41⅜ in) with a leather writing pad, an asymmetric leather edge, two solid-wood pen trays sunk into its thickness and a Qi wireless charger. A luxury desk in leather, candid about what it shows and what it keeps.
The drawing dates from 2021 and carries Umberto Asnago's name; the maker is i4Mariani, the Mariano Comense workshop of the Mariani brothers. One size, four versions: ash or walnut, each also with crossed grain, plus a matching desk tidy and an optional cable flap in the top. On the plan, La Mercanti walks round the desk with you, the visitor's face first and then yours, before any finish is settled.
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In the top itself. Under the writing pad, i4Mariani sinks two pen trays in solid wood into the thickness of the top, so pens, a stamp or a USB stick stay within reach without anything left lying on the surface. Papers can then spread across the full 220 cm (86⅝ in) of the top, and the drawers below keep the files rather than the clutter.
Umberto Asnago signed the design in 2021, so it is a recent piece in the maker's office collection. For anyone furnishing a room in stages the family is easy to read: one desk in four versions, a matching desk tidy and an optional cable flap, all drawn by the same hand.
Four decisions close it. The wood, graphite-stained ash or Canaletto walnut. The grain, straight or crossed. The covering for pad, edge, doors and sides, in saddle leather or leather, with its range and colour. Then the extras: the desk tidy and the cable flap, which is optional. The size never needs discussing, since there is only one, 220 × 105 cm (86⅝ × 41⅜ in). La Mercanti goes through those four answers with you before anything is ordered.
In saddle leather the ranges are Vegetale, Privilege and Harmonie, and only saddle leather carries visible stitching. In leather, Atelier, Luxe, Harmonie and Privilege, with printed hides in Luxe, such as Wine, Trees or Patagonia. The maker notes that the size of the saddle leather pieces can vary noticeably with the category chosen, so seams fall in different places from one hide category to another.
Wood, and solid: the handles on the drawers and on the small door are in solid ash or solid walnut, Canaletto. The drawers themselves are veneered plywood in graphite ash, so they open onto the same dark tone as a graphite top. On a walnut desk, the walnut handles keep the hand on the same timber the eye sees across the top.
Noah comes in a single size and has drawers and doors on two sides. Five steps to set it in the room before ordering: the footprint, the clearances, the walkway, the socket and the furniture already there.
Noah measures 220 × 105 cm (86⅝ × 41⅜ in) and stands 78 cm (30¾ in) high, and there is no other size. Mark the outline on the floor with masking tape before ordering: it shows at once how much of the room the desk will take and where people will pass.
On the working side there are four drawers and a small door for documents and a PC, all opening towards the person seated. Leave enough depth behind the chair for the drawers to come fully out while someone is sitting there, and for the chair to slide back.
The top is not a plain rectangle: one short side is straight, the opposite long side is angled. When the desk stands in the middle of a room, the angled side changes the passage beside it, so check on the tape outline which side people will walk past most often.
A Qi wireless charger is built into the top, and an optional cable flap can be added to carry computer and lamp leads below. Decide the desk's position before the order is placed, so that the flap sits on the same side as the nearest socket.
The maker describes the desk as a small piece of architecture that creates a real workplace while respecting the furniture already in the room. Measure the distance to the bookcase, the sofa or the armchairs, and fit the desk to them rather than moving everything else.
