00.00.00 21.11.2024

Workspace

Arnie.M. Conceived & crafted in Manchester.

Arnie.M is modular in the way it fits together for you. You start with the frame, and basically hang the units that best meet your needs on that sturdy (yet elegantly formed) frame. The whole thing is made from BB/BB grade 18mm birch plywood — beautiful stuff, and highly durable too.

You tell us what you need – frame, legs, small door unit, desk unit plus 2x small door units – whatever. Just take your pick from the modular options and configure your Arnie.M your way. Then the guys in Manchester can get cracking with the build.

Our birch plywood is a natural, FSC certified material. Mother Nature doesn’t do uniformity, so here and there you may see slight variations in the grain. Sometimes where there was a knot in the tree, the mill will have inserted a neat and matching ‘plug’ of birch. But although they don’t stand out that much, wherever possible our guys make sure plugs are hidden from view.

That’s better, in detail.

Because we built the first Arnie.M for ourselves and lived with it over many months as a real home office space, we’ve thoroughly refined all the details. So while the look is stylish, the functionality is totally practical, tried and tested.

We decided handles or knobs would mess with the clean uncluttered look, so doors have a swish pushopen/ close action with soft-close hinges. The desk unit’s bureau steel stays are soft-open too, and it’s big enough to accommodate everything from a laptop to a large desktop computer. Cables can neatly run out of sight behind the units. We’ve made shelves adjustable, and spaces are practical – so your A4 ring binders and things all slot in nicely. In fact the overall storageness of your Arnie.M is kind of TARDIS‑like.

The ‘hooks’ for the units are a key design feature, and where they’re visible they add to the form and function appeal.

Cupboard doors line-up neatly, but it’s worth noting that when your Arnie.M has settled in to your home, and the natural wood gets used to things like your heating and ambient atmosphere, the easily adjustable hinges may need some slight tweaking to keep the doors perfectly aligned. And because not all floors are perfectly level, if you opt for legs at the base of your Arnie.M, there are concealed adjustable feet to take up any variation in height.

From the neatly recessed desk storage compartments to your Arnie.M’s very own ‘date of birth’ etched on the frame side, the heaven is in the details.

Fixing.

We also need to point out that the frame needs really strong fixing to whatever kind of wall is behind it.

It’s got to be solidly attached to the brick, blockwork or studwall timber behind the plaster. So if you feel you’ve got the skills to DIY it, if you know what you’re fixing to, that’s good. Not so handy with the drill and rawlplugs? In that case we recommend that you get a handy person in.

Note: we make a point of not supplying fixings, because walls can be highly enigmatic things, and we can’t presume to know how yours have been constructed.

So the correct frame fixing thing is very important, but once it’s sorted, everything else is really easy. You simply hang the modular furniture units on the frame, always starting at the bottom and working up.

Patience pays.

Patience pays.

You may have guessed that we don’t have a monumental manufacturing facility churning out millions of flatpack units, allen keys and unintelligible instructions. So, because we’ll be creating your Arnie.M to your specifications, carefully building each unit for you and waxing it all by hand, it’s going to take 4 to 6 weeks to do.

You can’t rush handcrafting.

Why ply?

Plywood is basically a ‘green’ product. Tick. It looks and feels like real wood, because it is real wood. Thin layers of timber are laminated together with their grains running opposite ways for strength, and the outer faces finished in beautiful fine-grained light-coloured birch. This process makes plywood incredibly rigid and stable.

Much mass-produced furniture is made from MDF, a manmade composite using waste wood particles. MDF is nowhere near as durable or long lasting as ply. And we don’t like the fact that it contains formaldehyde, (a pretty poisonous, carcinogenic chemical). MDF is OK-ish for short design life throw-away furniture, but not so good for the environment.

We designed Arnie.M to be easily reconfigured to meet your needs over a lifetime. That’s why it’s built to last in the natural BB/BB grade birch plywood we love.

Togetherness, and other lovely ideas.

Togetherness, and other lovely ideas.

Modular is Arnie.M’s mantra, making it as add-on-able and adaptable as you can ask (OK, you’re right, that’s enough alliteration for one sentence).

So why not pair two together as shown? Or change the size, shape or colour? It’s up to you, you can get as creative as you like with Arnie.M.

Just get in touch and we can chat through your customisation thoughts, and the implications for things like cost and lead times.