Magic Box Desk - Wooton, Mummenthaler & Meier, and Taiwan  

Picked up the Norwegian version this evening off of Craigslist. The lamp is long gone.

In the early 1980s, I owned one of these. It once occupied my father's office.

@netrogaipisu. Any pics? Always nice to see photos of these " magic boxes".

First of all, thanks for sharing the info and all your research about this magic box. I picked up this beauty and wanted to know more about it. Never seen anything like it especially with the marble top. 

Closed front view.

Back view

So which one do I have? 

@Anafacut Good question, which one do you have?

@lexi. @Mark737. I hope you two are still around this place - reading this thread conversation was so enjoyable! I found a magic box desk for sale at a local auction, and of course turned to the internet to do some initial research and found this great resource. Any thoughts on the origin and/or makers? It seems to have the same wood lamp as @lexi original post. I'd be interested to hear everyone's thoughts. Pic 1/2 here with pic 2/2 to follow

pic 2/2

Another version of the "Magic Box" desk.  This one by Vantinge Møbelindustri A/S of Ringe, Denmark (still in business).  Sellers attribute the design to Niels Erik & Gladsam Jensen but who knows if this is accurate.    

@mark737. Interesting version. Hadn't seen it before.

@ssingeisengmail-com Sorry, I just found your months old post that had to be approved. I hope @lexi and @mark737 can still ad something valuable to the conversation.

@ssingeisengmail-com, @herringbone.  

Have a few days off work, so will see if I can find anything to add to the conversation.

@ssingeisengmail-com. Welcome to the Forum.

Have read through all the posts and there are 2 that are of interest, with both showing the curved wooden lamp.

I posted a design by Genestar  ( page 1) which appears to be a more modern version. The 2nd image in that post is a sketch of the internal layout. It doesn't show the lamp but mentions automatic lighting of shelves. It also gives the measurements of the unit.

@ball-2 posted his desk ( pages 2/3) along with various labels and information that came with it. A date of 1954 appears on the 5th image he posted. He also posted a sketch of the internal layout that came with his desk. 

It is identical to the Genestar one (sold in France),with small differences in measurements.

So your desk is most likely one of the earlier versions ,which used darker wood varieties.

Called Hausburo and either sold  or possibly made by August &

I would think that the light could have been an extra option(? ) and the internal layout could possibly have been adjusted to suit the users needs.

Sorry ,but unfortunately this  still does not answer your question about the manufacturer of your desk.

There were lots of versions of this design made in different countries. The Norwegian versions pop up a lot.