The design of the Legare desks was conceived in late 1999 in the offices of Stick Networks, a small, start-up internet company in Dallas, TX. Having little capital to buy furniture, one of the founders, Brock Brandenberg, decided to design and build an affordable desk that would have all the features of furniture that they couldn't afford, but that could be built locally on a very low budget.

The design started with a list of requirements gathered from all the people in the office, including:

• a wrap around work surface that you could rest both arms on
• shelves for books
• holes for computer cables
• modesty panels to close off the bottom of the desks to make workspaces more private
• modularity to create larger workspaces for workgroups
• compact storage because the company would build and keep extra desks for later growth
• and of course, it had to be good looking

After a couple of weeks of drawing, tinkering and mock-ups, the first design emerged. Making use of available resources, the design was cut using a cnc router at a small tradeshow exhibit shop in Fort Worth owned by a friend, Art Fairchild of Artfair Displays. The design consisted of a corner desk and an add-on peninsula that were all cut from only four 5'x5' sheets of Baltic Birch plywood. The design used the material as efficiently as possible with the only scrap left over amounting to little more than a pile of toothpicks.

The use of a cnc router allowed the design to take a unique direction - one that didn't require any tools or fasteners because the cnc router could cut intricate details that would allow the desk pieces to interlock without having to be fastened to one another with hardware. And the birch plywood was a natural choice because of its strength, high quality surface veneers, and the beauty of its edges whose striations would darken when finished and add to the beauty of the design.

The first design needed only a few tweaks to a couple of edges, so a dozen desks were soon cut and sent to a local finisher. About a week later, a truck was rented to carry them home to the office.

There was a little suspense since not everyone in the office knew what the design looked like, but once they saw the desks, the design was very well received. In fact, the first day was basically an assembly party where everyone put together their own desk (kind of a test to see if they had the skill to keep their job :).

The desks regularly received compliments from visitors, so it didn't take long to realize that the desks should be manufactured and sold to others. And so, the saga began.

The current Legare designs are simply an evolution of this original modular design. All components preserve the original aesthetics and functionality while doing away with the need for tools or fasteners for assembly.