Kyle Buckner has been inspired by Steve Jobs his whole life, ultimately choosing a career in design due to the Apple founder’s influence.
Today, he announced a new tribute piece in honor of the first anniversary of Jobs’ passing: a specially designed desk, available in two colors from his website. The desks are a labor of love from Buckner that include a special Steve Jobs logo, designed specifically for this project. The result is a piece of furniture that’s both functional and beautiful, much like the product designs Buckner’s hero was a lifelong advocate for.
The desks are selling fro $999.99 apiece, with a portion of the proceeds going to The American Cancer Society. We took a few minutes to chat with Buckner via email.
Kyle Buckner began designing furniture in 2009, though he had an earlier art piece, a custom timepiece Cult of Mac wrote about at the time. He founded Kyle Buckner Designs shortly thereafter. “The world of furniture as I saw it was bland and boring,” he told us in an email exchange today. “I wanted people to feel connected to their furniture. Through an artistic focus and an uncompromising desire for quality, I hand-craft each piece of furniture to be an extension of my customer.”
Sound familiar?
Buckner says that he works today to marry modern design with technology into artistic furniture that can be used every day. He has created pieces for clients across the US as well as overseas. The current desks come with either a high-gloss black or white end panel, and an “SJ Tribute” logo that can be applied to the desk by the buyer. One is black with silver etching, while the other is silver with black etching; the choice is up to the purchaser.
“Other than that,” he said, “this project was really close to me. I wanted to design something very practical and simple, yet sleek and unique, in the honor of Steve Jobs. Each component is hand-made from the ground up and assembled right here in my Studio. I just don’t want people to think this is mass produced.”
The desks can be seen on Kyle’s website or Facebook page.
