POSTED BY MARTIN KICH

This is a photo taken in 1937 in Prague of a mechanism called an “elevator desk”:

In a period in which Varidesks have become very popular and the emphasis on ergonomic design has become commonplace, this photo may seem very anachronistic.

But, I have to admit that I find something absolutely fascinating about this mechanism. I am guessing that everything in the drawers could be put on a small number of 8 TB external hard drives, but I am not sure if our almost reflexive recognition of technological progress mitigates or enhances the appeal of the image. Apart from the mechanism’s clearly being intended to make record keeping as space- and time-efficient as possible, there is something almost aesthetically pleasing about its conception and design. At the time, it may have seemed an illustration of the office worker’s being absorbed into the machinery of the corporation, but now it seems rather whimsically so, at worst.