The desk once belonged to Axel's father, Hugo Haartman. On the cabinet door to the left of the desk, there is a pencil drawing made by Axel, depicting himself as a little boy under his father's desk. On the drawing, Axel has written "My first room." The desk was probably made in the 1870s by the steam carpentry company Boman in Turku. Casa Haartman also contains many other pieces of furniture made by Boman, including in the hall and the bedroom. The extra top piece with side compartments on the desk was added by Axel himself to create more space for his papers. However, it didn’t completely solve the problem, as the desk, according to him, was always a "chaos of papers."