About the catalogue
A curated desk for the things worth keeping.
Dirty Desk is a curated catalog — less a database, more a rummage through a very well-kept desk. Everything here is hand-picked and catalogued one piece at a time; nothing is dumped in by the crateload. You don't so much search as wander, and end up somewhere you didn't plan.
The rule is simple: only the things worth keeping. We start with art — paintings and prints drawn from open museum collections — and add what earns a spot on the desk beside it.
Hand-picked, one piece at a time. No bulk imports, no filler — only what's worth keeping.
Every piece gets context — who made it, when, and what makes it worth a second look.
No search bar required. Scroll the desk and open whatever catches your eye.
Built with Next.js, Neon PostgreSQL for data storage, and deployed on Vercel. The art catalog draws on open collections such as the Art Institute of Chicago.
This platform indexes and displays catalog metadata and images. It does not host or stream full media files.