Desk Accessories for Men: Matching Sets for the Office
People who search for desk accessories for men are usually doing one of two things: buying a gift or setting up an office. Either way the aim is a desk that looks composed, not collected one object at a time. There is no separate men's desk set in our catalog; every set is sold to anyone. What decides the choice is the same for any buyer: which color, which desk, which material, and whose name goes on the plate.
Office decor for men: start with the desk
Of everything in an office, the desk is the part we cover: we sell desk sets and their single pieces, not wall art or furniture.
A desk looks composed when everything on it comes in the same color and material. Bought separately, a pen holder, a tray and a coaster rarely do. A desk set settles that in one order: a desk pad with accessories made to match it. Every set has a pen cup. The rest varies: a memo holder on nearly all, a business card holder and a phone stand on most, a document tray on most executive sets.
Dark colors are often what these searches have in mind, so they come first.
Dark desk set colors, family by family
One color name can cover several finishes. The wording below comes from the product pages.
Black and brown
Black and brown are offered on the most sets, so they give the widest choice of sizes. Among the black desk sets, the finish changes with the family: white contrast stitching on the Vega sets, a plain fine grain with gold-tone trim on the Pulsar, glossy black on the Prestige. Brown desk sets come in several browns: a distressed brown with dark mottling on the Luna sets, a medium chocolate brown with white contrast stitching on the Vega 9, a dark chocolate brown on the Star 14. Black is the more formal of the two; brown is the one that blends into a wood desk.
Green and burgundy
Every one of the green desk sets is dark: dark green on the Luna and Cloud sets, a dark teal-green on the Vega sets and a petrol green that leans toward teal on the Star sets. Burgundy is a deep wine red, and the burgundy desk sets all have ten pieces or more, from the Venus, Vega, Cloud and Prestige families.
Gray
Gray desk sets differ more than the name suggests: charcoal on the Luna 4, a medium gray with a fine grain on the Elegance sets, slate with a blue tint on the Vega 14. Check one listing before you order: the Pulsar sold as gray is a printed marble-look pattern on faux leather, black with white and gray veining.
Dark is a habit, not a rule: the range also includes white, tan and bright colors such as blue and red. Our guide to choosing a desk set color lists safe and bolder choices for each desk finish.
Choose the size by the desk
Measure the free space in front of the chair before you compare piece counts. The desk pad, the largest piece in any set, is either 13.4 × 18.9 in (34 × 48 cm) or 15.0 × 22.8 in (38 × 58 cm).
A home office or a smaller desk
Stay with the compact desk sets: four to nine pieces, always on the 13.4 × 18.9 in (34 × 48 cm) pad. The Vega 9-Piece Desk Set in brown ($160) is an example in faux leather: a desk pad, pen cup, memo holder, calendar holder, business card holder, phone stand and three coasters. Calendar sheets are not included. It has no nameplate; among the compact sets, the Luna 8- and 9-piece sets include one.
A large desk
Executive desk sets start at ten pieces. More pieces do not mean a bigger pad: the 15.0 × 22.8 in (38 × 58 cm) size comes with the Chester, Prestige, Star, Elegance and Pulsar sets and the 17-piece set, and the other executive sets keep the smaller one.
One example on the larger pad is the Chester 13-Piece Desk Set with Nameplate Clock ($200): faux leather in a fine-grain black finish with gold-tone tray brackets and pen fittings, with a two-tier document tray, a phone stand, a paperclip holder, three coasters and a clock attached to the nameplate. You choose no desk flag, one or two; with a flag, you type which one you want. Clock batteries are not included.
Materials: a wood look, or genuine leather
Most of the range is faux leather. Two alternatives follow.
A wood look: the Prestige
The Prestige sets combine wood veneer with faux leather components. Veneer is a thin layer of real wood; the sets are not solid wood. Their product pages describe a warm brown wood-veneer grain on brown, a reddish-brown, burl-pattern veneer on rose black, and a glossy finish on black and burgundy.
The Prestige 14-Piece Desk Set with Clock in burgundy ($500) is built on the larger pad, and its fourteen pieces include a two-tier document tray, a large desk clock, a tissue holder and an A5 notepad holder. Every finish is under wood veneer desk sets.
Genuine leather: the 17-piece set
The ready-made genuine leather set for a large desk is the 17-Piece Executive Desk Set ($799): black with a pebbled grain, light beige interior linings and gold-tone trim, on the larger pad. Its seventeen pieces include a two-tier document tray, a personalized nameplate, a desk flag with a pole, an ashtray and a lidded presentation box. The 5-Piece Genuine Leather Desk Set is the compact one, without a nameplate.
The name plate: the personal piece
Most sets include a personalized nameplate. It carries a name (32 characters at most) and, optionally, a title (36 at most), in a font you choose, on a gold or silver plate. The text is printed, not engraved, and comes out exactly as you type it. The sets without a nameplate are the Luna 4 and 5, the Vega 4 and 9, the Cloud 10 and the 5-Piece Genuine Leather Desk Set.
Several dark sets have gold-tone fittings or pens, the Chester and the brown Luna 8 and 9 among them, so check the photos before you choose a silver plate.
A desk name plate can also be ordered on its own through Build Your Desk Set. Most models pair it with two ballpoint pens; which ones add a clock or a business card holder is set out on our personalized desk name plates page.
A desk set as a gift for a husband, father or colleague
A gift for someone you live with has one advantage over an office gift: you can look at the desk. Check two things before you order.
- The clear space. Measure it against the two pad sizes. If you cannot measure, choose a set on the smaller pad, the size most sets use.
- The name. You know his name; you may not know the form he uses at work. Dan Whitfield and Daniel R. Whitfield are two different plates, so look at a business card. If it still comes out wrong, tell us through the contact page: the text can be changed until the order has shipped.
A full set suits a milestone such as a new job, a promotion, a retirement or a first home office. For a birthday or Father's Day, one piece can be enough: a Desk Pad, a Pen Cup or a name plate on its own. Single pieces have no minimum order, and desk accessories by the piece lists which models offer which piece.
When the gift is for your manager, different etiquette applies: gifts for your boss covers group gifts and the title line. For other occasions, start from personalized office gifts. We do not offer voluntary returns or exchanges (the refund policy has the terms), one more reason to look at the desk first.
Quick picks: if you want this, look at that
| If you want | Look at |
|---|---|
| A formal look on almost any desk finish | Black |
| Warmth next to a wood desk | Brown |
| A traditional study look | Green or burgundy, with a gold plate |
| A cooler, modern desk | Gray, with a silver plate |
| A home office or a smaller desk | A compact set of four to nine pieces, such as the Vega 9 |
| Room for papers on a large desk | An executive set with a two-tier document tray, such as the Chester |
| A wood veneer pattern you can see | The Prestige in brown (grain) or rose black (burl pattern) |
| Genuine leather | The 17-Piece Executive Desk Set, or the 5-Piece Genuine Leather Desk Set for a smaller desk |
When you are down to two or three sets, the compare page puts them side by side, with everything in each set listed.
