A relatively recent invention among furnishing objects – it was not until the nineteenth century that it first became widespread – the coat hanger or coat rack has proved over time to be a prolific inspiration for many designers, seduced by its ability to embody proposals that oscillate between mimicry and absolute scenic prominence.
The essentials: 20 of the best coat racks
Whether wall-mounted, floor-standing or even suspended, apocalyptic or integrated, the coat rack is a tool for the essential order, curiously never tied to a binding dimension and capable of oscillating between moralising functionalism and imaginative evocative power.
Wood
Bent beech. Size 55 x 55 x 185 cm.
Bent beech wood. Size 70 x 70 x 195 cm.
White steel wire frame, lacquered maple wood. Size 50.3 x 17 x 37 cm.
Polyurethane foam. Size 70 x 70 x 170 cm.
Varnished beech, natural or black, or natural, wenge-stained, grey-stained or white oak. Size 65 x 145 x 11 cm.
Aluminium, metal, plastic. Size 52 x 52 x 156 cm.
Polypropylene base, steel frame. Size 48 x 48 x 194 cm.
Scratch-resistant painted steel. Size 17 x 11 x 39 cm.
Transparent, semi-transparent or tinted polycarbonate. Size 6 x 15 x 19,5 cm.
Powder-coated metal. Size 21.5 x 21.5 x 175 cm.
Ash In 18 colours. Diameter size 17 - 13 - 9 - 6.5 cm.
Laser-cut sheet metal available in white, mud, anthracite. Size 50 x 50 x 170 cm.
Brushed aluminium, white-stained aluminium. Size 11 x 12 x h 10 cm.
Lacquered steel, elastic, steel wire, color pencils.
Maple wood in natural or sky grey finish. Size 35 x 35 x 172 cm.
Rope in white, black or sand, painted metal with black, chrome, black nickel or 24k gold finish.
Painted metal.
Solid oak wood. Size 21 x 5.5 x 18 cm.
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- Giulia Zappa
- 06 February 2021
Born as a humble and anonymous object, an evolution of the nail that has been refined to the benefit of our clothes’ care, it resides in its most essential form in a simple wall hook that the industrial traditions of many countries have now fixed in iconic and very recognisable forms.
Over time, its form has experienced an increasingly extraordinary evolution, linked on the one hand to the industrialisation of curved wood and the invention of floor-standing models, and on the other to the democratisation of public places such as offices and cafés – which would contribute not only to multiply its need, but to anchor this object in the imagination and domestic needs too. Never bound to a specific dimension, the coat rack could incorporate mirrors, capitonné padding, shelves and umbrella stands, as in the 1930s and 1950s integrated systems, or again be reduced to essential and abstract hooks realised in the years of the nascent plastic industry.
In other cases, figurative homology will transform it into an exquisitely cinematographic object: as with Cactus, but the same could be said for many models that find a particularly self-explanatory organic reference in the morphology of the tree, the coat rack will be transformed into an object that we do not want to hide under the blanket of coats, but rather magnify as an absolute presence. In more recent years, its versatility seems to have increased with the appearance of numerous proposals aimed at meeting the tidiness requirements of increasingly smaller homes, more and more populated with objects. And this has had an indirect effect on its positioning: the absolute king of the entrance hall, the coat rack is now found in all the rooms of the house, crowning the recognition of its indispensability over the years.
Emblem of an order taste devoted not only to organisational efficiency, but to moral clarity as well, this modular wooden coat hanger was used by the Shaker community around the perimeter of some rooms to hang not only clothes, but all kinds of objects, including some furniture such as chairs. In an age of newfound attention to (and obsession with) order, the peg rail is back in the limelight as a practical support to put in order, and on stage, the ordinary objects of our daily.
Another timeless classic of Thonet’s production, it is perhaps the icon of the coat hanger par excellence and as such has come to identify not only one of the emblems of the Viennese and Parisian café coat racks, but the reference type which numerous floor-standing models were inspired by during the 20th century.
In Thonet’s extensive experimentation in the field of coat racks, the model designed by Kolo Moser stands out for its four-pillar structure culminating in a dome, which turns it into a highly architectural object, and for the significant dryness of its lines, which abstain from the curves and curlicues typical of the many virtuoso models of the time.
Prototyped by the Eames during the years of their experimentation with curved plywood and metal balls, Hang It All was created as a coat rack for children, invited through the joyful use of bright colours to hang “everything”: not only coats, but small personal items too. The original version with 14 coloured knobs – often compared to lollipops – is now rethought with new colour combinations, including recent tone-on-tone versions.
A pop desecration of the coat hanger, which uses an explicit and unexpected figurative element to overturn the expectations and the narrative horizons of the domestic universe, Cactus also represents an experimentation in plastic and chromatic and tactile solicitation research that this material can provide. Returned in recent years in new colours, Cactus is still made from the same mold as fifty years ago.
Compasso d’Oro in 1979 by the DDL trio, this coat rack inspired by the famous board game mimics the gesture of throwing its sticks, immortalised in a still image. The eight slats, assembled by a joint just above the centre of gravity, can be opened and closed as required, allowing the coat rack to be stored away in the summer season to save space.
As many objects in the Olivelli Synthesis series, this coat rack aims at embodying a new possibility for the office life: formally abstract but ergonomic and devoid of any reference to hierarchies among white-collar workers.
With this Servo collection piece, Castiglioni continues his compositional exercise with the series of domestic service allies with a coat rack that combines classicism with a touch of exuberance in the shape of the hooks.
A genuinely discretion exercise, Museo takes up the anonymous design of the many popular hooks in the French and English tradition, magnifying their presence with larger dimensions and a careful play on proportions.
A new style exercise on the search for the classic hook personality, Hang up is a double hook transformed into a small bijou poised between preciousness and invisibility.
A hyper minimalist version of the coat rack with a floor lamp, all based on the sign of the three hanging supports, Bincan is designed for the office and can be used both indoors and outdoors.
With a wall-mounted dotting, this essential hanger with its round, slightly curved body is designed to be used freely with other dots, in a playful and personal composition.
Mimed or simply evoked, the tree has often inspired the shape of many floor-standing coat racks. In the case of Tuta, the evocation becomes figurative, transforming this circular totem into a celebration of the decorative power of vegetation.
Handcrafted using the cast aluminium technique, this three-hook stand is a statement of formal balance capable of combining purity and geometric softness.
A childhood dream: this wall-mounted coat rack breaks up the apparent ordinariness of the white wire that makes it up through the playful action of the coloured pencils attached to its hooks, which, thanks to the action of gravity exerted by the weight of the jacket, end up drawing irreverent scribbles on the wall.
Signs is a coat stand with a compact functionality and a playful vocation. It is distinguished by the presence of a magnetic mechanism that folds the arms along the central shaft when no clothes are hanging.
Hanging coat rack fixed to the ceiling with a hook, it creates an original symbiosis between a nautical rope and metal hooks that tighten it as a clamp. Evocative of the marine environment, but also of a scenographic taste for living, it can be modified at will, adding knots or letting the rope slightly roll to the ground.
Presented at Design Miami/Basel 2019, this ironic yet functional integrated office furniture solution does not lack a floor-standing coat rack and some wall hooks made with metal profiles that combine a bright use of colour with a trait inspired by the Meccano’s game.
Inspired by the grooves of classical columns, this small modular coat rack combines practicality of use and a slightly sculptural taste for woodwork, making it an object of intriguing simplicity and great versatility.