Ever wondered how your favorite artist gets their work done? No, we mean, exactly how. As in, if we use the same pen Hemingway used, and the same kind of paper, and at the same time of day, maybe we’ll… nevermind. Regardless of pen type, there is something fascinating about the artist’s desk, and like anything else, everyone will draw their own far-reaching conclusions. In particular, it seems like everyone has their own opinion about what the state of someone’s workspace “means,” and we guess it has more to do with what the adage-makers own desks looked like than anything else. Whether a cluttered desk means a cluttered mind, or whether a cluttered desk just means a cluttered desk, or whether a messy desk is a sign of genius, we don’t know. But be their desks cluttered or clean, these creative people are definitely on this side of brilliant. Indulge in some harmless voyeurism and sneak a peek at the desks and workspaces of writers, artists, and thinkers. Then, it’s time to redecorate.
Susan Sontag
Ah, the literary romance of a writer with a cigarette in one hand and a pen (we imagine) in the other. Even her wall art is charmingly writing-related. And Italian.
Yves Saint Laurent
We love the classy layout and inspiration board — especially the drawing of a thin man with glasses, which seems to remind us of someone we know. Also note the dog bed and pile of toys in the corner. That’s for Moujik, whose name means “Russian peasant.” Oh, Yves.
Milton Glaser
Glaser’s desk shows off the spacial consciousness and controlled whimsy that is evident in his graphic design work. He says, “I hate change, except in the work itself. I still work at my desk in the same way as I’ve done for the last 60 years. But now, frequently I work next to a young associate who operates a computer so that we can achieve results unavailable to me previously.” [via from the desk of]
Albert Einstein
We always imagined that Einstein’s desk, pictured here on the day he died, would be a messy jumble. But check out those bookcases on either side of the chalkboard — that’s evidence of the left-brain/right-brain dichotomy if we’ve ever seen it. [via LIFE]
Tina Fey
Okay, we know this is from an American Express photo shoot, but we like to think this is a picture of her actual home office. Check out the intricate Post-It note organizational system — that screams Tina to us.
Marc Johns
Breaking the mold a bit, designer and illustrator Marc Johns‘ workspace is just his dining room table, clean and blank when he’s not at the task. Perhaps this is a reflection of his drawings, which are often baubles of dry, witty whimsy floating on a blank canvas. He says, “I also have on old piece of furniture — it’s a chest of drawers with doors — in the dining room we affectionately call Edward, and Edward houses all of my drawing and painting supplies, as well as everything I need to ship orders.” Of course he names his furniture. Of course he does. [via from the desk of]
Woody Allen
This looks like a cross between our dotty, scolding grandmother’s sitting room and a rambunctious child’s playroom. Which, actually, seems about right.
Al Gore
Gore, ever the over-stimulated modernist, has four large screens in his office, and every other surface is piled with stacks of paper. So he’s busy and important. But what is that absurd frog on the wall telling us? [via Time]
Will Self
Nevermind, Tina. Will Self takes the cake on the Post-It front. He writes, “My books begin life in notebooks, then they move on to Post-it notes, the Post-its go up on the walls of the room… I can’t throw anything away. Anything. I’m going to end up like one of those old weirdos who lives in a network of tunnels burrowed through trash – yet I do not fear this.” [via the Guardian]
Roald Dahl
This room was in a shed on Dahl’s property that was only for writing. He set everything up so he would never have to move from his easy chair — a man after our own hearts, indeed. Writing happens best when you’re cozy. According to the Guardian, “The table near to his right hand had all kinds of strange memorabilia on it, one of which was part of his own hip bone that had been removed; another was a ball of silver paper that he’d collected from bars of chocolate since he was a young man and it had gradually increased in size.” Odd. But then again, so was he.
Comments (41)
SO very very cool!
[...] google_color_link = "0000FF"; google_color_text = "999999"; google_color_url = "191919"; Computer Desks For Home [...]
Enjoyed this, thanks!
Enjoyed the post!
[...] google_color_link = "0000FF"; google_color_text = "999999"; google_color_url = "191919"; Computer Desks For [...]
[...] google_color_link = "0000FF"; google_color_text = "999999"; google_color_url = "191919"; Computer Desks With [...]
tina fey’s a babe :-)
really, Einstein’s, Marc john’s and gore’s are most telling.
the latter two are “scary”. nothing, in john’s case. although I used to sketch in a setting possibly *more* resembling ‘isolation’.
there’s no way gore can attend to all of that. maybe he lives in it, buy keeps it moving (just letting most of it pass thru)
[...] Desks of the Rich and Famous: Al Gore’s office is number nine. Yeah, a “highly creative” person. (Hat tip, Ann Althouse) [...]
Al Gore is highly creative? He is creative when it comes to inventing stories of inventing stuff …maybe.
Extremely interesting! MORE, More, More … please
Elitist! Not the mention the race and gender issues here. We should give importance to these spaces because why? Einstein works, but come on–an outdated nod to 70′s feminism….!
[...] google_color_link = "0000FF"; google_color_text = "999999"; google_color_url = "191919"; Computer Desks [...]
Some are self-promotional, and some are not. Not a good comparison.
[...] 15. The desks of the rich and famous. The one below belongs to Yves Saint Laurent. Go check out some other famous desks here: [Flavorpill] [...]
[...] 15. The desks of the rich and famous. The one below belongs to Yves Saint Laurent. Go check out some other famous desks here: [Flavorpill] [...]
Didn’t notice any (music) composers spaces. Feel free to use mine.
[...] eens een reeks foto’s van werkplekken. Waarbij vooral die van Milton Glaser hierboven me opviel. Zo klein! Of die van Woody [...]
I’m buying more post-its, immediately, and going to look around the house and see if I can find a tooth, or x-ray or something that represents the inside of me. I need to amp up my writing space!
[...] Desks and workplaces of the highly creative. View all here. [...]
I’m normal!!! Perhaps even special.
[...] what the desk that Einstein, Milton Glaser or Yves Saint Laurent worked at looked like? Fear not as Flavorwire have found out about the workspaces of some highly creative people so we don’t have to break and enter. Lucky that, I’d just got my nails [...]
Do you mean the author RONALD Dahl?
Allan Jones (do you mean the commenter ALAN Jones?), we have so many resources for looking things up nowadays!
No wonder I like Tina Fey and All Gore so much. Now I have another reason to feel bonded to them.
[...] Celá galerie – Flavorwire [en] var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; var addthis_config = { ui_delay: 500 } [...]
What’s that on the floor of Roald Dahl’s shed? A baby or a doll? Strange, either way.
Also on Dahl’s room, a paintbrush that once belonged to William Blake.
Love the post, and I hate to be a pain, but where are the photographer credits for these photos? I was surprised when Etsy’s re-posting of some of the pictures in this collection did not credit the sources, and now I don’t see credits here either. Please, honor creativity by getting permission and giving credit.
Pardon me… I don’t see credits for all the photos – some of them do say that they’re from a magazine or ad.
H.Heacock Hancock
More artists please. Interesting and I agree, let’s give credit to the photographers. they’re shuttering at this…
[...] Flavorwire » Desks of the Rich and Famous: Workspaces of Highly Creative People [...]
[...] Desks of the Rich and Famous [...]
[...] workspaces of people more creative than me. [...]
I’ve always been fascinated about people’s workspaces, so loved this series of pics. Would be good to see more desks of the movers and shakers of the world.
The Annie Liebowitz exhibition, currently in Sydney, has a more interesting pic of Susan Sontag’s workspace. It included an old Apple Mac and loads of books and papers, naturally.
[...] Exactly how I imagined it — warm, comfortable, and enclosed. According to Dahl, this room was dedicated purely for writing and so he set everything up so that he would never have to get up. Apparently, the table next to him is filled with all sorts of odds and ends including a piece of his hip bone. [Source] [...]
[...] Workspaces of Highly Creative People by Emily Temple, Flavorwire, [...]
[...] was with a feeling of relief that I read another blog titled Desks of the Rich and Famous, highlighting the messy yet productive workspaces of famous thinkers like Susan Sontag, Albert [...]
YES! This is the final proof I was looking for to prove to everyone I’m totally a Genius too! Yay! Now I gots to go get me either a chalkboard or a few thousand Post-Its or five 40-inch computer monitors and maybe someday I’ll be a Mover & Shaker too. :-)
Will there be a Part 2 to this? I’d like to put in a request to see the desks of Nikola Tesla, Bill Gates, and Pablo Picasso… Wait, would Picasso even have had a desk? Throw in some music icons too, from each major genre. Would be worth seeing.
Jevaughn Brown
Piriformis Pain Relief – More Than Just Another Piriformis Stretch
At last! The key to becoming a literary genuius: take one feature of all of these desks and meld them into a genius-hybrid model! If only Gore had become President :-(
[...] http://flavorwire.com/151458/desks-of-the-rich-and-famous-workspaces-of-highly-creative-people [...]
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