joey zeledón's coat hanger chair reworks marcel breuer's iconic design

Oct 24, 2024

industrial designer joey zeledón has released his take on marcel breuer’s cesca chair, combining a continuous steel rod with a coat hangers to create a fully supportive chair. the ‘coat check chair’ strips the iconic design of its seat back and cushion, leaving the frame behind for users to personalize.

images courtesy of the designer

the ‘coat check chair’ uses the steel rod frame, like that which is used inside of a closet, to host a collection of hangers. stopping them from sliding down is a set of welded steel rings that perfectly match the diameter of the tubular hangers.

this nesting together of the coat hangers creates the seat of the chair, which is strong enough to support a weight of up to at least 170lbs. zeledón found this out by standing on the product himself.

‘the coat check chair design helps users find unexpected meaning in mundane objects,’ the designer explains. ‘recombining clothes hangers and a steel closet rod, it engages pedestrian artifacts to solve common problems: what to do with extra hangers clogging up a closet, and how to encourage people to hang up their clothes.’

‘by bringing the elements of the closet into the foreground of a person’s daily routine the coat check chair offers a unique design and a gentle encouragement to stay neat. the hangers’ flexible plastic makes the chair surprisingly comfortable, while its impermanent construction lets users customize in terms of color and pattern.’

the coat check chair is currently available on kickstarter where the product started out as just a concept. zeledón first came up with the idea as a student project, which he worked on while attending rochester institute of technology. more recently, he has refined the design and submitted it to several design awards programs.

project info:

designer: joey zeledón

product: coat check chair

available: kickstarter