A reception desk whose entire face is one monkeypod slab, bent around the corner in a single piece, with the tree's own edge left running along the top. An ebonized oak ledge floats across the front, and the working side is fitted out behind it. Built to order in our Chicago workshop.
Built in Chicago
Lifetime warranty
Final approval before delivery
Nationwide white-glove installation
Most reception desks are a box with a veneer on it. The Cove is a single slab of monkeypod standing on its edge, wrapped around the corner in one continuous piece, with the natural edge of the tree left running along the top of the counter. It is the first thing anyone sees when they walk into the room, and it is unmistakably a tree.
This is the piece. The face is one board, not a series of panels mitered at the corner, and it curves through the return without a seam or a break in the grain. The figure runs continuously around the corner, which is only possible because the slab was wide enough and long enough to give up that much material in one piece. Where two panels meet at a joint, the eye stops. Here it does not.
The slab is monkeypod, Albizia saman, the rain tree of Central America, sourced from Costa Rica. Its canopy can spread wider than the tree is tall, and beneath it the trunk runs three to four feet across, which is why monkeypod produces some of the widest boards in the world and why a face like this can come off a single tree. The heartwood runs deep chocolate through warm caramel with dark figure moving across it, and a thin band of pale sapwood traces the top, following the natural edge exactly as the tree grew it. That pale line against the dark face is the piece's signature.
Everything that is not the slab is ebonized oak, stained black and left flat so it recedes. A ledge floats across the front of the counter, cantilevered clear of the face so it appears to hover against the wood, giving visitors a surface to sign or set something down without interrupting the slab behind it. Behind the counter the work surface, the drawer pedestal, and the keyboard tray are all the same black oak. The contrast does the work: dark, quiet millwork holding one piece of extraordinary wood.
The front of a reception desk is for the lobby; the back is for the person who sits there eight hours a day. Behind the slab is a full ebonized oak work surface at desk height, a three-drawer pedestal for storage, a keyboard tray, and concealed power management, so cabling for a monitor, a phone, and a laptop is routed out of sight and nothing crosses the surface. From the lobby side none of it is visible.
Six feet long, thirty-six inches deep, forty-four inches tall at the counter. The height puts the natural edge at standing eye level, so the first thing a visitor reads is the top line of the tree.
Every Cove is built to order in our Chicago workshop. The monkeypod and the ebonized oak are both finished in 2K polyurethane, sprayed in our commercial spray booth, for a hard, durable surface built for a lobby that sees traffic every day.
Every Cove is built to order around its own slab. The monkeypod shown is unrepeatable; yours will be its own board, selected with you and sized to your lobby, your millwork, and the way your front desk actually works.
A single live edge monkeypod slab wrapping the corner, as shown. Because each face is its own board, yours will carry its own color, figure, and edge line, and the wrap is sized to the board we find. The slab is selected and shown to you before the first cut.
Ebonized oak for the transaction ledge, work surface, drawer pedestal, and keyboard tray, as shown. Other treatments are available if your lobby calls for a different counterpoint to the wood.
Three-drawer pedestal, keyboard tray, and concealed power management as shown. The layout behind the counter is built around how your front desk actually runs, and file drawers, additional storage, and printer or equipment space can be planned in.
Concealed power management is integrated into the working side, with cabling for monitors, phones, and laptops routed out of sight and tied into a floor box or wall feed where one exists. We coordinate the routing with your IT team during design.
We collaborate with clients, designers, and architects on commercial commissions, providing shop drawings and finish samples for review and approval and coordinating on materials, delivery access, and installation.
The piece shown is six feet long, thirty-six inches deep, and forty-four inches tall. Length, depth, height, and the geometry of the return are built to your lobby and the wall it sits against.
Monkeypod as shown. The Cove can also be built in claro walnut, Oregon black walnut, blackened Bavarian oak, and big leaf maple, each selected for a board wide enough to carry the wrap.
2K polyurethane spray finish applied in our commercial spray booth, as shown, for a lobby surface that sees daily traffic. A hand rubbed oil finish using Odie's Universal Oil is also available.
Client Experience
“I can’t say enough about the quality, craftsmanship, and creativity that he puts behind all his pieces. They are in a class of their own.”
Custom furniture client, Chicago
A custom reception desk whose entire front face is a single monkeypod slab, wrapped around the corner in one continuous piece with the tree's natural edge left along the top. An ebonized oak ledge floats across the front, and the working side carries a black oak work surface, three-drawer pedestal, keyboard tray, and concealed power. Built to order in our Chicago workshop.
The Cove begins at $15,500 for the configuration shown, quoted by commission. Final pricing depends on the slab selected, the overall size, the geometry of the wrap, and the fit-out behind the counter. Every desk is built around an individual board and quoted around your lobby.
The desk shown is six feet long, thirty-six inches deep, and forty-four inches tall at the counter. Custom sizes are available, built to your lobby and the wall the desk sits against.
Yes. The face is a single monkeypod slab that wraps the corner in one continuous piece, not panels mitered together at the joint. The grain and figure run without interruption around the return, which is only possible with a board wide and long enough to give up that much material at once.
Monkeypod is Albizia saman, the rain tree of Central America, and we source ours from Costa Rica. Its trunk runs three to four feet across, which is why it produces some of the widest single slabs in the world. The heartwood is deep chocolate to warm caramel with dark figure, set off by a thin pale band of sapwood at the natural edge.
Oak stained to a deep flat black. We use it for the transaction ledge, the work surface, the drawer pedestal, and the keyboard tray, so everything that is not the slab recedes and the wood carries the room.
A full ebonized oak work surface at desk height, a three-drawer pedestal for storage, a keyboard tray, and concealed power management. Cabling for monitors, phones, and laptops is routed out of sight, and none of it is visible from the lobby side.
Yes. Concealed power management is built into the working side as shown, with cabling routed out of sight and tied into a floor box or wall feed where one exists. We coordinate the routing with your IT team during design.
Yes. Length, depth, height, and the geometry of the return are built to your lobby. Because each Cove is built around an individual slab, the size and the wrap are discussed together with the wood.
Monkeypod as shown. The Cove can also be built in claro walnut, Oregon black walnut, blackened Bavarian oak, and big leaf maple. The species has to yield a board wide enough to carry the wrap, and each board is selected and shown to you before fabrication begins.
Yes. Natural voids and fissures are stabilized with epoxy, and the piece is finished in 2K polyurethane sprayed in our commercial spray booth, which gives a hard surface built for daily commercial traffic.
The desk shown is finished in 2K polyurethane, applied in our commercial spray booth, on both the monkeypod and the ebonized oak. A hand rubbed oil finish using Odie's Universal Oil is also available.
Build time is 12 to 14 weeks from the time the commission is confirmed and the deposit is received, and includes slab selection, fabrication of the wrap, the ebonized oak millwork, power integration, finishing, and quality review. We allow additional time up front for shop drawings, finish samples, and design-team approvals.
Yes. We collaborate with clients, designers, and architects on commercial commissions, providing shop drawings and finish samples for approval and coordinating on materials, delivery access, and installation.
Our white glove delivery partners review the access path, doorways, and elevators before fabrication, and set and level the desk in place on site. We build, ship, and install nationwide.
Every piece that leaves Statement Chicago is built by Jerry Rodman, a furniture maker who has been in business for 11 years, and his team of four carpenters in our Chicago workshop. There is no production line and no outsourcing.
Custom boardroom furniture
Share the room dimensions, seating count, power and data requirements, and your target installation date. We will guide the proportions, material, engineering, and delivery.
