The Charcoal Desk is two things. It’s an award-winning standing desk with the build quality of a MacBook. It's also a product that boosts productivity by helping you use your brain optimally.
Hey Hunters 👋
I'm Drishti, Charcoal's co-founder and the desk's designer. I'm really happy to bring you this product on behalf of my team, who has put in two difficult years to make it a reality.
As you know, we tend to be productive in the morning, sluggish in the afternoon, and exhausted by evening. So despite working long hours, we actually spend very little time with focus and energy. In fact, we usually maintain peak productivity for just 2 or 3 hours a day.
But this can change. By using the brain the way it’s meant to be used, we can work with focus and energy, all day.
The desk helps with this. It precisely identifies moments in the day when our brain naturally slows down to rest and recharge and then reminds us to take a break. When we recover during these crucial healing windows, we allow the brain to replenish fuel and clear out metabolic wastes. It works like coffee - but without the crash.
Besides supercharging your day, the desk is also a beautiful product. It's made more like a MacBook than a piece of furniture with a build quality unseen in the furniture industry.
That's partly the reason why it won the Red Dot Award, the Oscars of the design world.
You can check out the product here - https://www.charcoal.inc/pages/p...
We have a special PH discount for you guys!
We hope you'll like it and we’ll watch the comments for any questions you have for us.
Thank you so much :)
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Hunter
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Have been using Charcoal for the last few months and have been amazed by its build quality. Among the best standing desks I have ever worked on. Clean and Smooth.
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Congratulations on the launch! A desk that understands your work patterns seems obvious now. Overall the design looks sleek, not tech kinda product but also extremely tech kinda product iykwim. Great job, team!
The desk seems clean, the texture looks pleasant and smooth. For this type of furniture (and price) that I would use for hours, I would need to touch and try it.
Another important topic, how is the desk reparability? Is it possible to repair it yourself?
Little note: The intro video and sound design are well-made!
Congrats on the launch @drishti_desai !
@steevep Hey Steve. Thanks for taking the time!
You're right. It's definitely not easy to convey quality with just text and images. We are in the process of getting this placed in a few furniture boutiques, but it'll take a bit more time.
For now, we try to indicate quality by using solely high-end components. For example, the Crystal Acrylic top is also a Red Dot-winning product. It's a more expensive material than solid wood.
In case, you'd like to feel the material, we offer a free swatch on the website. When you scroll, it's just above the review section.
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The desk has a modular construction with multiple independent panels on the underside. So if anything is wrong, we ship out the required panel and the customer can easily switch it out.
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Thanks again! I'm glad you like the video :)
@drishti_desai Thank you for your detailed answer and clarifications!
You are using high-end components, it seems like a solid product and I believe you, but that's not my tipping point. Now, before I buy a product, my requirements are:
- What is the product life cycle, until something is broken?
- How is repairability managed by the company? (you already answered this question)
- What happens if the company dies? Can we repair ourselves without needing technical skills? Are the parts easily available outside the company?
- Is this product sustainable? From manufacturing to recycling, is the impact worth the price?
Those environment-centric questions are getting more en more common on the consumer side, but that's a part often forgotten by companies manufacturing electronics/furniture/stuff.
I hope those questions can help you! Have a good day!
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It seems like an interesting product. Are there any trials available?
Would like to check it out, do guide me to a link if possible.
Thanks.
Wow congrats 🎉 on the launch of your amazing product on Product Hunt! I'm really impressed with the design and build quality of the desk. Could you tell us a bit more about any special features this desk has that makes it stand out? Also, I'd love to know how this desk helps with productivity and focus. 🤔
Looking forward to hearing from you! 🤗
@paolo_degiglio
Hey Paolo. I'd be glad to!
I’ll post the quick version and the long version that delves a bit more into the science in the next comment.
The desk helps us work like how athletes train or how violinists practice - in focussed sprints with brief moments of rest in between.
It does this by identifying the moments in the day when our brain is wired to slow down and recover energy, and then reminds us to take a break. These crucial healing windows prevent burnout and help us work the whole day with focus and energy.
The desk identifies healing windows by forming a daily energy graph by factoring in circadian and ultradian energy rhythms, sleep data, age, and gender and then modifying it based on our work patterns which are captured by the sensors underneath the desk.
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Here's a more in-depth answer.
The neurons in the brain communicate by firing electrical impulses, which can be measured in terms of brain waves. Fast brainwaves correspond to states of alertness or focus and slower ones correspond to states like fatigue and sleepiness.
These brain waves follow a cyclical pattern where brain activity increases steadily in the first part of the cycle and then slows down considerably for a brief period. During these faster brainwave states or ‘peaks’, we have a lot of mental energy because the brain works at maximum capacity, and during the slower brainwave states or ‘slumps’, we feel tired because the brain begins to crave a period of rest and recovery. What’s happening here is that brain cells use sodium and potassium ions to fire the electrical impulses which get depleted after prolonged durations in fast brainwave states, so the brain has to replenish them by going into slow brainwave states.
This clarifies how we are meant to use the brain - work intensely during peaks and then allow the brain to recover during slumps.
The problem arises when we force a stressed brain to continue working during a slump. Excessive stress causes the brain to think it’s an emergency, so it postpones recovery and triggers a bodily reaction called the "fight or flight" response. This makes the brain pour out stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol to act as a substitute for the depleted sodium and potassium ions. When the brain relies on such hormones for energy, the stress builds up exponentially and the prefrontal cortex begins to shut down, resulting in us becoming more reactive and less capable of thinking clearly. By the time the stress hormones are depleted, we are completely burnt out. This state should be avoided at all costs because once we hit it, even taking a break becomes ineffective. Because it is so difficult to reverse, burning out ruins productivity for hours at a time
On the other hand, the ultradian slump is when the brain is wired to recover. A quick break during this period will result in accelerated recovery. We feel much less tired during the slump, and we also recover the energy for the next peak. This is how we are designed to work. The Charcoal Desk helps us do that by identifying when we hit our slumps and reminding us to recover.
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The impact is truly associated with our security, business, and occupations else we can go facing scenes.
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