There have been a few posts on this blog about the functional benefits of using printed parts to join existing objects in a reliable and precise way. Most of the time my printed parts themselves look strange. The goals are usually printability and a clean assembly of printed and non-printed. As an attempt to buck this trend,  I recently designed and manufactured a desktop organizer that showcases the medium’s ability to bond objects and also look great.

Created as a birthday project for a family member, this piece is designed to poke fun at the concept of a desktop organizer. We’ll typically deploy this type of item in trying to declutter our workspaces, filing away assorted pens, paperclips, calculators etc. I actually created a really simple one some time ago to do just this, containing the mess rather than dealing with it.

This new design, however, is deliberately designed only to hold one type of pen and one type of notebook and absolutely nothing else. This denies the user the ability to create more chaos and enforces organization.

The pens and notebooks are a favorite brand of the recipient and myself.

I  printed the parts out of PLA. The green rim and white base are two different parts, held together with hot glue.

I printed the parts on my close-to-death Prusa i3 MK2S.

Thanks for reading! As this project was a gift I’m hesitant to release CAD like I typically do. However if you absolutely must have one, send me a note and we can work something out.