According to Christian Holmsted Olesen, Hans J. Wegner’s famous JH540 Valet Chair with its coat hanger shaped backrest and pop up seat almost never saw the light of day. Following its presentation at the 1951 Copenhagen Carpenters Guild Exhibition Wegner decided he didn’t actually like the four legged chair after all, and announced that it shouldn’t be produced. However King Frederik IX had seen it, was fascinated by both concept and design and demanded that it be produced. He wanted one. He was the King of Denmark. And so Wegner reformed his four legged chair into a three legged chair, and the rest is design history.1
Chairs of course provide the perfect basis for a valet: we all use chairs as a makeshift valet and as such everybody understands how they work as a valet.
Not just Wegner knew that, so does Biel/Bienne based designer Christian Spiess.
For his Fidelio valet however Christian Spiess dispenses with the idea of an object that can be used as both valet and chair preferring instead a more stylised form, an object which resembles the essence of a chair but which can only be used as valet. A decison that in no way detracts from the objects fascination.
Manufactured by Austrian based producer Hubert Feldkircher, Fidelio features space for draping objects over, hanging things from, placing things around and laying things on, and as such offers everything that a classic valet should, and that in very accessible, contemporary form language. In a nice modern touch the “interior” of the director’s chair style seat can host a multi-plug with the “seat” itself having a small cable hole, thus allowing Fidelio to not only store your clothes and belongings but also provide a location for charging your phones and the other paraphernalia of our modern “mobile” world.
In addition Fidelio is, apart from the front rail, collapsible meaning that when not in use it can be folded together and lent against a wall: thus creating space while still giving you a place to hang your trousers or drape your jumper.
Sometimes good furniture design can be that simple.
1. “Christian Holmsted Olesen”, WEGNER – Just one good chair”, Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern, 2014
Fidelio by Christian Spiess
Fidelio by Christian Spiess