TYPOLOGY 01: the COAT RACK

Our 2026 exhibition explores the coat rack as an open typology: defined by function, yet open to interpretation. Designers are invited to rethink its form, function, and material. The object can be freestanding or mounted on the wall, but there is only one requirement: it must hang a coat.

The coat rack, or stumtjener (literally “silent servant” in Scandinavian languages), represents a distinct typology within domestic and public furniture. Functionally, it mediates between body and space, a structure that temporarily accommodates garments and accessories as we transition between public and private realms.

Unlike furniture associated with rest or work such as chairs or tables, the coat rack exists in moments of movement. It marks points of arrival and departure, where the act of hanging a coat becomes both ritual and spatial signal. Beyond utility, it performs socially structuring behavior, it expresses etiquette and hospitality, it welcomes you to a new space.

We would like this years participants to investigate the coat rack, apply your own material practice and process to the piece, there are no wrong interpretations. We hope you to take the opportunity to dream, critique the contemporary and think outside the box.