The Best Desktop Accessories You Can Buy Right Now

There isn’t really any other word to describe the way we think about the New York City of the 1930s than romanticized. It was a city still recovering from the collective hangover of the Roaring Twenties, only just starting to embrace the automobile, and a Hudson River lined with longshoremen instead of coffee shops. The Tribeca Reade Table Lamp captures that aesthetic and puts it on your desk. Its uncovered bulb throws the shadows noir novels insist existed in the 30s and its brass stem recalls streets lined with tall, curled lamps. There are a lot of memories in this simple lamp.

Pen and paper remain the simplest, easiest way to record ideas, pitches, rough drafts, and to-do lists and keep yourself organized in the office. The First Draft Co. Notebook was designed with that simple function in mind, as well as adding a little style to your desk. It’s small enough that it won’t be a hassle when you’re traveling and won’t take up a ton of space when you’re not. If you’re in the business of creating, this is definitely a notebook you should keep with you.

Pens, pencils, scissors, and whatever else is drifting aimlessly all over your desk probably isn’t the most efficient use of your workspace. The Bent Metal Desk Organizer solves that problem while adding some minimalist charm to your cubicle/office/folding table. There’s plenty of space in the organizer, so feel free to get rulers and mechanical pencils and wooden pencils and pens of every color. It comes in four colors too, so if you have a certain aesthetic going, you’ll be able to pick one that fits.

Wood on your desk is like good scotch in your cabinet. There’s something distinguished and sophisticated about its presence. This Walnut iPhone Dock shows yes, you’re dependent on electricity, but you’re not desperate for it. It comes to you on your terms. And your terms demand fine arboreal design. The dock is compatible with the iPhone 5, 6, and 6 plus. It also has the added benefits of helping with wire management and making your iPhone a little more accessible.

This one comes from our own shop, so you already know we’re sold. It’s a wooden desk caddy that comes in three sizes—Medium, Large, and Epic—depending on how much stuff you need to store. There’s plenty of space for pens, pencils, paintbrushes, rulers, knives, tools of any kind really. It also has a bit of history to it, since they’re all made from reclaimed wood from 19th century Philadelphian housing. It’s a great piece for any workspace, adding character to your office, garage, or studio.

The Zyp-Zyp is confusing at first, but once you see it in action, we totally get why the Germans invented it. It’s a simple, great looking way to make sure you never lose the end of a roll of clear tape. The tape fits through the slit and reattaches to itself. Whenever you need a piece of tape, you rock the Zyp-Zyp backward, unsticking the tape, pull as much as you need, and use the teeth to tear it off. It’s a stylish reduction on something that used to be bulkier and is a cool little way to bring some German engineering to your desktop.

The Posto is a stand for your headphones. Yes, that’s it, but that’s also all you need it to be. Work now is more multimedia focused than it’s ever been, which means, at work, most of us are listening to music, watching videos, listening to podcasts, and maybe even gaming. Since speaker systems would be distracting to our coworkers, we use headphones to make sure we get the audio in our audio-visual pursuits. The Posto gives us the sturdy, durable stand we want for those headphones.

It’s undeniably charming when a small family enterprise finds success while also keeping their perspective on life. Deneen Pottery makes stoneware mugs by hand and everything’s done here in the US. The Flare Mug is a great example of what they provide. It’s a handmade, no frills, yet decorative mug that allows you to drink your morning coffee while supporting domestic manufacturing. Honestly, ceramics wasn’t the place we saw ourselves supporting US businesses, but we’re happy we are. We picked the Flare Mug as our favorite, but there’s a lot of variety on their website and we’d be surprised if you didn’t find something you liked.

Like we said before, multimedia’s a pretty significant focus for businesses right now and with more companies getting into video and audio production, monitor space is at a premium. LG took the 16:9 monitor we’re used to and you’re probably using, and expanded it. Their UltraWide monitors come in at 21:9, meaning there’s a lot more space for audio and video editing, photo manipulation, and graphic design. It rivals dual monitors in terms of space and has the benefit of being seamless, unlike dual monitors. It’s a monitor created with creative professions in mind.

A good solid pen is a sign that you’re serious about your work and they don’t come more serious than the Grafton Pen. Its anodized aluminum body means it won’t crush, bend, or break from daily wear and tear and in fact makes it more likely to be the thing that’s crushing, bending, or breaking something else. The clip is bolted on, so it won’t get snagged and snap off and it’s weighted for smooth, easy writing. And if you’re worried about having to jump through hoops for refills, don’t be. It accepts both Pilot G2 and Fisher Space Pen refills. When they built this pen, then intended to only sell you one.