The Eiermann Table: How a Student Desk from Karlsruhe Became a Classic

Some of the most influential furniture of the twentieth century was never meant to be furniture at all. It was meant to be equipment. The Eiermann table is a good example: two steel side frames, a cross between them, a board laid on top. It was made in a university workshop for people who needed somewhere to draw, and more than seventy years later it stands in studios, home offices and kitchens all over Europe, still looking as if it had just been invented. This is the story of how that happened, and a practical guide to putting one together yourself.

A desk for the drawing room, 1953

Egon Eiermann, born in 1904, was one of the defining German architects of the post war years. He taught at the Technical University of Karlsruhe from 1947, designed the West German pavilion for the Brussels World's Fair of 1958 with Sep Ruf, and gave Berlin the new Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, completed in 1963, with its walls of blue glass beside the ruined tower. His buildings were known for their steel frames and their clarity. His furniture followed the same logic.

In 1953 he needed a practical worktable, first for himself and then for the students and colleagues in Karlsruhe's drawing studios. The answer was a frame of thin steel tube: two side frames, joined by a cross that runs diagonally through the depth of the table and was welded into one rigid piece. The frames were made by the firm of Max Meier and in the university's own metal workshop. The top was almost an afterthought, a board laid across the frame, which is exactly why the design proved so adaptable. Many of the original tables are still in use at what is now the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.

Eiermann 1 or Eiermann 2: the difference is in the cross

The welded original had one weakness for a growing university: it did not travel. In 1965 Klaus Brunner, one of Eiermann's assistants, was moving to Freiburg and asked for a version he could take apart. Adam Wieland, head of the university's metal workshop since 1963, solved it by tilting the diagonal cross upright and connecting it to the side frames so that it could be detached. That frame is what we now call the Eiermann 2. It was not designed by Eiermann himself, but it has carried his name ever since, and for many people it is simply the Eiermann table.

The two are easy to tell apart once you know where to look. On the Eiermann 1 Table Frame, the cross lies at an angle through the depth of the table, which gives it the more sculptural silhouette and makes it the purist's choice. Seen from the side, the bars cut through the space where your knees go, and the occasional bump is part of the deal. On the Eiermann 2 Table Frame, the cross stands vertically, so the space under the top is clearer. It is also the more flexible of the two in size: Richard Lampert, which has produced both frames under licence since 1995, makes the Eiermann 2 in widths of 80, 100 and 135 centimetres, while the Eiermann 1 comes in one width of 110 centimetres. Both are available 66 or 78 centimetres deep.

The one decision that matters more than the model is the position of the cross. A central cross leaves equal room on both sides, which is right for a table people sit at from either side, such as a dining table or a shared desk. An offset cross moves the bars towards the back and gives you more legroom in front, which is what most people want from a desk that stands against a wall.

Getting the height right

Here is the detail that surprises most first time buyers. The basic frame is 66 centimetres high, and with a tabletop on it you arrive at roughly 68.5 centimetres. That is a comfortable height for a dining table or for children, but lower than most people expect from a desk. For a desk, the version with height extensions is usually the better choice. Extension rods slide into the legs and lift the top to between 72 and 85 centimetres in steps of 3.5 centimetres. Because each leg can be set on its own, the extensions can also tilt the top towards you, which turns the table back into what it once was: a drawing table.

The frames are light, but they are not meant to carry everything. Richard Lampert gives a maximum load of 90 kilograms, which is plenty for a desk and a dinner, and a sensible limit for anyone thinking of a workbench.

Choosing the tabletop

Because the frame and the top are separate, the Eiermann table is really two purchases. The rule of thumb is generous overhang: the top should reach well beyond the frame on every side, otherwise the table looks unfinished and the edges feel tippy. For a frame 78 centimetres deep, a top 90 centimetres deep is the usual match. A 135 centimetre Eiermann 2 frame commonly carries a top of 180 by 90 centimetres, a classic large desk, and the smaller frames take correspondingly smaller tops.

The Eiermann Table Top comes in sizes from 100 by 60 to 200 by 90 centimetres and in three families of surface. White melamine is the original look, practical and bright under a desk lamp. Linoleum, in black, red, conifer green, blue and a stone colour called pebble, is warm to the touch and pleasant to write on. Solid oak is the most domestic of the three and the obvious choice when the table doubles as a dining table. Edges in oak or in the colour of the surface decide how graphic the finished table looks.

Laid, not fixed: rubber stoppers and the mounting kit

True to the idea of 1953, an Eiermann tabletop is simply laid on the frame. That is part of its charm, since the table can be taken apart in minutes and moved anywhere, but it also means the top can shift if you lean on it or push it. There are two ways to make it more settled. Small rubber stoppers, about three centimetres high, sit in the tops of the legs, grip the underside of the board and stop it from sliding. If you want the top properly fixed to the frame, the tabletop mounting kit among the Eiermann accessories connects the two.

The same accessories include a levelling set for uneven floors, which is worth having in old buildings with wooden boards, and industrial castors for a table that needs to move around a studio. Underneath, the Eiermann Cable Management Tray hooks onto the frame without tools and keeps chargers and plugs out of sight, in the same colours as the frames.

Sitting and standing: the height adjustable Eiermann

For a long time the one thing the Eiermann table could not do was move while you worked. In 2025 the designer Tim Schütze developed two editions for Richard Lampert that keep the familiar frame and add height adjustment. The Eiermann 2 M Table is entirely mechanical: a pull cord connected to a continuous rubber belt lets the top glide between sitting and standing height, with no motor and no cable. The Eiermann 2 E Table does the same at the touch of a button, with or without an integrated cable duct. Both come as complete tables with tops from 140 by 80 to 200 by 90 centimetres, in linoleum, melamine or oak.

The family has a small member too. The Children's Eiermann Table keeps the oblique cross of the original, fixes the top securely and adjusts from 55 to 72 centimetres, so it can follow a child from the first drawings to homework.

Why it lasts

It is tempting to explain the Eiermann table by its looks, the thin lines and the cross that reads from across a room. The better explanation is that it was designed as a system before anyone used the word. Frame, top, height and accessories are separate decisions, so the table can be a student's first desk, an architect's drawing board, a family dining table or a standing desk without ever stopping being the same object. Egon Eiermann built churches and embassies, but few of his works are used every day by as many people as the table he drew for a drawing studio in Karlsruhe. The full range is gathered under Richard Lampert.

Images: Courtesy of Richard Lampert