The modern office cubicle is almost synonymous with the drudgery of a soul-crushing office job. But if for some reason you’ve found yourself missing the not-quite-solid not-quite-walls of your regular office, Panasonic is working to bring the magic of cubicles to your work-from-home life with its new 88,000 yen (around $835) Komoru home cubicle.
The Komoru is actually a bit more handsome-looking than a traditional office cubicle, and it’s made of wooden pegboards (to easily hang things) with a matching, integrated desk. It’s designed to blend in with your existing living room or apartment setup.
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The idea is that the Komoru will give you about one square meter (around 10 square feet) of portioned-off space to set aside as a specific work zone, instead of having your work life bleed into the rest of your living setup. The walls are only about four feet high, meaning it’ll be enough to give you some privacy while sitting at your desk, but it won’t help much if you’re trying to create a quiet zone for Zoom calls.
Right now, Panasonic is only selling the Komoru in Japan, but working from home is likely to be the reality for some time, so it’s easy to imagine the idea of home cubicles spreading to the US, too (whether by Panasonic or some other company). And why stop at just one? You could outfit a whole living room with tiny wooden cubicles, bringing the joy of a warehouse filled with endless seas of cubicles to your carefully balanced roommate situation or remote education children. It’d almost be like regular times again.
