Hasta La Ideas

In modern spaces, coat racks are typically wall-mounted. But in factories of the early 20th century, windowed walls were important sources of light, and what little solid wall space existed was in short supply.

Thus the existence of this object, a freestanding dual-sided coat rack meant to stand on its own on a factory floor.

The design is quite interesting: It was designed to use a minimum of materials and easily breaks down. Borrowing a trick from the trestle table, the verticals have through-mortises. The horizontals have tenons that protrude through these mortises, and the tenons themselves are mortised. These are then locked in place by the wedge-shaped tusk tenons.

The two wide feet add stability; the seller of this piece describes it simply as “stable.”

I love it. It’s pure form-follows-function, with not a wasted element.

This piece, manufacturer unknown, was acquired and sold by Lux-Est, a German dealer of industrial furniture from the Bauhaus era. They say it features hooks on both sides, though I can’t see that in the photos.