ABOUT US

Our Story, Our Beginnings and everything about Minimal Desk Setups.

Minimal Desk Setups began as an Instagram page and blog which provided a lot of people with desk setup inspiration since 2021. We are a group of friends from university that banded together to form this company.

We started MDS at the height of the pandemic and have gone on to be a leading authority in the desk setup space with over 200k followers across multiple platforms.

We’re based out of Melbourne, Australia where we design all our products and produce all of our content.

ABOUT THE CO-FOUNDERS

The core behind minimal desk setups

SAMUEL TU CO-FOUNDER

Hi guys, I am Sam – I, along with the others, wrote a lot of the early guides and desk setup reviews on the blog. I am most likely also the person who responds to your DMs on Instagram if you ever tried messaging. I love building desk setups and since the start of MDS, I’ve built various setups for our Instagram page, you may not know who I am but perhaps you might’ve seen my work.

KENNY YEOH CO-FOUNDER

Kenny here! You might not see me all that much as I mainly work behind the scenes, but I am mostly responsible for bringing to life all the cool products you see on our store! Being an engineer, I am a tinkerer at heart and love to design, build and tear apart stuff! Personally, I have a huge passion for cars, especially classic BMWs.

We’ve given it everything we’ve got to provide you with the best products, and this guide is no different. We hope that you find the inspiration you need to tinker, create, but most importantly, have fun while you do it!

DAMIEN CABRAL CO-FOUNDER

I’m Damien and a fun fact is that the first desk pads we sold were all packed and shipped out of my tiny apartment for a good few months! I was still working my 9-5 at the time, and let’s just say it quickly got out of hand. But it was an amazing start to the business, and a great way to feel more connected to our customers.Β 

On the personal side, I love exploring new places and cultures. So it’s no surprise that I found myself living and working in Shanghai, China for the past 6 years, where I started my career at a Financial Services company. I then worked at one of the world’s fastest growing e-commerce companies, but gave it up to put my heart and soul into Minimal Desk Setups.

HOW DID IT ALL START?

From day 1 till now

We started an instagram page one day to help people gather inspiration for their work space.

In a time when wfh became the norm, we knew people needed advice on what to do.That's when we dropped our IKEA starter kit guide which took off.

And now we’re at 180k, multiple products and our own melbourne office.Things are not easy though, we didn’t get here without fighting adversity.

You see, we didn’t really have any intention of making this a business, it started with just a showing of our passion for the desk setups.

Until one day, we wanted a desk pad but there was nothing on the market that was at the quality that we wanted and that’s when it all started.

So we embarked on journey of crafting our own products.

We didn’t have warehouses or proper storage at the start - we literally fulfilled all our orders through damien’s apartment.

2020

Started blog & Instagram

2021
JUNE

The Original Desk Pad - released

NOVEMBER

Felt & Cork Coasters - released

2022
JANUARY

Cable Management Kit v1 - released
Xiaomi Monitor Light Bar - added to store
Yeelight Smartbulb W3 - added to store

MARCH

Charging Tray - released

JUNE

Gaming Desk Pad v1 - released

JULY

Got our first office/warehouse @ Oakleigh, Melbourne !

AUGUST

Essential Oil Humidifier (Flame) - released

DECEMBER

Cleaning Brush - released

2023
JANUARY

Cable Management Kit v2 - released (v1 retired)

JUNE

Pomodoro Timer v1 - released

OCTOBER

Task & Time Cards - released
Walnut Card Stand - released
Metal Pencil - released
Candela Humidifier - released
Lantern Humidifier - released

NOVEMBER

Gaming Desk Pad - Stealth Version - released
Cashmere Desk Pad - released
Apple leather Desk Pad
Yeelight Monitor Light Bar - added to store

2024
JANUARY

Gaming Desk Pad - renamed to β€˜Glide Desk Pad’Keycaps - Released

MAY

Productivity Starter Kit - released

JUNE

Weeks & Habits Cards - released

JULY

Productivity Pro Kit - released

AUGUST

Pomodoro Timer v1.1 (with autoswitch) - released
Desk Setups Essentials Kit - Released

NOW
SEPTEMBER

Flame Humidifier - Released
Flow Timer - Pre-launch