No One Knows What To Do With The New York Times’ Confusing Modern Office Furniture

Written by

Tara BellucciNews and Culture Director
Tara BellucciNews and Culture Director
Tara is Apartment Therapy's News & Culture Director. When not scrolling through Instagram double-tapping pet pics and astrology memes, you'll find her thrift shopping around Boston, kayaking on the Charles, and trying not to buy more plants.
updated May 3, 2019
We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.
Post Image
(Image credit: osugi)

Picking office furniture is generally a no frills, utilitarian endeavor. Grab some desks, chairs, file cabinets, conference tables and call it a day. Whoever was in charge of that task for the New York Times, though, decided to spice up the workspace with some modern pieces—so modern, in fact, that they’re baffling the staff.

It started Wednesday morning with a Tweet from NYT editor Erin McCann, featuring a strange J-shaped chaise:

I am a smart human with a masters degree and everything and I have absolutely no idea how to sit on these. pic.twitter.com/qqOWhX5vnB

— erin mccann | inspector general of your tweets (@mccanner) February 7, 2018

Soon, the responses started coming in from Twitter users, including some other Times employees.

hop on, i think those are magic carpets

— Niraj Chokshi (@NirajC) February 7, 2018

j pic.twitter.com/dNkDOu8PBe

— darth:™ (@darth) February 7, 2018

criss-cross-applesauce knee crevice with a padded top surface to #headdesk

— Kira Goldenberg (@kiragoldenberg) February 7, 2018

are you supposed to plank inside the little alcove thing?

— Siddhartha Mahanta (@sidhubaba) February 7, 2018

You can check them out in a video, and see a peek of another modern piece, a yellow chair, in the background:

I found them! They are hiding near our new elevator bank that no one can find. pic.twitter.com/LY90847jMO

— Maira Garcia (@mairalg) February 7, 2018

If you’re wondering how you can get this modern masterpiece for yourself, one intrepid WSJ reporter solved the mystery: It’s the Lowseat chaise designed by Patricia Urquiola.

“where comfort and function meet” https://t.co/UxmZQeLIWE

— Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) February 8, 2018

Tell us, how would you sit on it?