Portable office built into a steamer trunk

Here's a portable office built into an oversized repro of a vintage steamer trunk -- it's a movable workspace you can take on the QEII or sail off with on a zeppelin.

Crafted by antiques dealer and furniture maker Timothy Oulton of London, our oversized steamer trunk armoire is configured as an ingeniously designed secretary.

* Reproduction antique steamer trunk
* Handmade of distressed vintage cigar leather over a solid wood frame
* Aniline-dyed leather has an antiqued, vintage look
* Accented with over 3,000 hand-hammered brass nailheads
* Features a pull-down desktop and multiple drawers, cubbies, wire management and bookshelves
* Lined in leather-edged canvas
* Stands on wheels for mobility and closes for storage and privacy

Mayfair Steamer Secretary Trunk Vintage Cigar Leather (Thanks, Charlie!)

• [Teapunk]

  Needs some solar cells to power the Mac and a satellite dish. And maybe an old oil lamp.
  Pretty.

• [jimh]

  I wouldn’t consider traveling with it, as pointed out in #10 above- it’s really a stowaway office if you’re occupying a small multi-use space. Like my studio apartment.

  I like it, I just don’t $4,000 like it. It’s a good thing to add to my “make myself” list though.

• [jjasper]

  Very interesting. For a luggage problem. [/joe vs. the volcano]

• [Lobster]

  Careful. This is how the cubicle was invented.

• [tim]

  a movable workspace you can take on the QEII or sail off with on a zeppelin

  Err, QE2 is now permanently laid up in Dubai so you might have a bit of a problem with that. And last time I looked we were desperately short of zeppelins, which is a great pity since I’d much prefer a gentle two or three day ride from Vancouver to London over a nasty 9-10hr jet ride

• [jmcnichols]

  I like the look, but how could you sit at a desk with so little legroom and actually use that computer?

  I guess a short tray that folded down and allowed you to bring at least the keyboard forward might help.

• [The Lizardman]

  If you really want something like this, a paint job (or even covering) for the exterior of a custom road case will be far less pricey and much more effective in design. The office in a box has been all but perfected, including room for personalization and customizing by tour managers and traveling show folk for many years now. This looks like it was meant for anything BUT traveling.

• [jimh]

  Haroun, no cigars were harmed in the construction of the case!

• [dogwelder]

  How very “Joe Versus The Volcano.”

• [The Lizardman]

  @15

  Start out by looking at the ready to go options from the many road / tour case companies, then it is simply a matter of doing some customization.

• [Anonymous]

  I love it. I work freelance implementing admin organization using proprietary systems. When not telecommuting, I spend several weeks on site with a client. It looks like it could fit into the trunk or back seat of a mid-sized car.

• [Haroun]

  Cigar leather? How many frigging cigars does one have to kill, skin & tan to cover something like that?

• [Anonymous]

  I want Lizardman’s idea, complete with tips and tricks! I can haz how-to?

• [Anonymous]

  In the earliest days of vaudeville, W.C. Fields traveled with several steamer trunks. One was for juggling props and his “tramp” costume, one was devoted entirely to alcoholic beverages.

• [Anonymous]

  the original stuff is much nicer designed and for the same price you might get something with collectors value (tho’ not built for computers!)
  see:
  http://www.britishcampaignfurniture.com/
  http://www.campaignfurniture.com/
  http://www.amazon.com/British-Campaign-Furniture-Elegance-1740-1914/dp/0810957116

• [Anonymous]

  A very Victorian item -should be filled with some sort of steampunkery.

• [BWChicago]

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bargue%C3%B1o_desk

• [thermidorthelobster]

  I can’t see any consideration for stopping the little glass flask and goblet, and the stuff on the shelves, and for that matter the keyboard and mouse, from smashing up the nice glass screen on the Mac as you heave it into the cargo hold. I’d have thought some basic means of restraining the contents would have been high on the list of design priorities. Unless of course it’s not designed for travelling at all, but simply for having in the corner of the room as a posing accessory.

• [Pasketti]

  I’ll take four of them.

• [Beverly Stayart]

  It seems impractical because of its size and may also be expensive. Vintage steamer trunks may be purchased relatively inexpensively at many antique stores. A vintage trunk could be outfitted in the same manner as this reproduction.

• [The Joey B]

  May you live to be a thousand years old!

  Nice, but like everything at Restoration Hardware, overpriced and largely unneeded.