That furniture often has a cultural background can probably be best observed in chairs: the cultural background often defining, for example, the height, number and position of legs.
That wall hooks can also have a cultural basis is new to us.
But in the case of the North American Shaker community they would appear to. Traditionally Shaker homes have a wooden bar that runs round a room onto which at regular intervals hooks are attached. Meaning you're never more than a couple of metres from a hook.
Inspired by the Shaker wall hooks Hochschule Design & Kunst Luzern graduate Christoph Goechnahts has developed a wall mounted system that is as simple as it is innovative as it is practical.
In essence Ordnungshalber [for the sake of order] is a wooden bar the runs round a room. Carved into the bar are slits into which rubber wedges can be placed.
Rubber wedges that can be used as hooks for hanging clothes on, hooks for hanging umbrellas, hooks for hanging bags on, as supports for hanging small cupboards on or as supports for placing shelves on top of. The shelves and small cupboards are supported and fixed in place by a genial locking system that demonstrates both the completeness of Christoph Goechnahts' planning of the project and his competence as a designer.
In addition a small groove has been carved along the top of the wooden bar, into which can be placed, for example, postcards, photos, posters etc...
In many ways as a product Ordnungshalber is not a million miles removed from the Rechenbeispiel system by Nils Holger Moormann, just with a lot more potential functions and practical applications.
All in all a delightfully conceived, realised and generally very well thought through project.
And the judges of the d3 design contest at IMM Cologne 2014 clearly thought so to, awarding Ordnungshalber first prize in the 2014 competition.
Congratulations.
The next step is to find a manufacturer who is equally convinced......
