You get undressed for bed, but your clothes aren't dirty enough to go in the hamper. Nor are they clean enough to go back in the dresser/closet. What do you do with them? I usually throw mine onto a chair.

This would look a darn sight neater if I had Hans Wegner's classic Valet Chair.

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Designed in the early 1950s, the Valet Chair has an interesting story that involves Wegner keeping a King waiting for two years. According to PP Møbler, the Danish workshop that has licensed the design and produces and sells it,

Wegner came up with the idea for the Valet Chair in 1951, following a long talk with Professor of Architecture Steen Eiler Rasmussen and designer Kay Bojesen about the problems of folding clothes in the most practical manner when it was time for bed. But the process of completing the design was not initiated before the Danish King Frederik IX ordered one after seeing the first four-legged version.

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Wegner was dissatisfied with the four-legged version and continued working on the design for two years, before the King could finally receive his chair. By then the three-legged version had been created and made for the King in pine with a teak seat. Wegner wanted to show the King what an extraordinary beautiful chair he could make in even the cheap pinewood. Teak was used for the seat to stretch the exclusivity of the design. The Danish King ended up ordering a total of ten Valet Chairs.

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The back of pp250 [PP Møbler's designation for the chair] works as a hanger for a jacket. The seat is hinged and can be placed in an upright position so the trousers can be neatly folded. Underneath the seat a box is revealed for keys, wallet etc.

The three-legged design is an interesting choice, and was presumably made for aesthetic reasons. (We'll have more for you on the practicality of three-legged chairs after we finish reading Christopher Schwarz's The Anarchist's Design Book, which tackles the subject.) Also interesting is that Wegner opted for humble pine for the bulk of the chair. The top three photos in this entry clearly feature pine, at least for the legs, though all of the other shots reveal oak instead.

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While I wouldn't want to see a wire coming out of the back of the chair, I suspect that if it had a charging dock in the seat compartment and was reasonably priced, this thing would sell like hotcakes.

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See more Valet stands from our Organization expert here.