Scale Coat Rack by Coen De Vries for Devo, 1950s

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A first edition ‘Toonladder’ coat rack, designed by Coen de Vries in 1953 and manufactured by his own company DEVO … Read more A first edition ‘Toonladder’ coat rack, designed by Coen de Vries in 1953 and manufactured by his own company DEVO in 1954. The coat rack is also known as ‘Notenbalk’.

The coatrack was designed for a model home of the foundation ‘Goed Wonen’ (Good Living) in Weesp, the Netherlands.

You can recognize this particular model (the first version of this coat rack) by its round tube frame and coat hooks made of curved plastic-coated electrical wire. The design was later modified by several other designers, such as Tjerk Reijenga for Pilastro, whose version comes in different sizes, with flat metal hooks and a square tubular frame. Tomade and Artimeta later put Reijenga’s design into production.

The original version is mounted on the wall with four screws. It is particularly rare due to the additional hat rack, which was an optional extra at the time.

Its name, ‘Toonladder’ (musical scale) or ‘Notenbalk’ (stave), comes from the shape of the curved hooks which symbolise the notes. These are manufactured in red and yellow. This piece is attributed to the mentioned designer/maker. It has no attribution mark and no
official proof of authenticity,
however it is well documented in design history. I take full responsibility for any authenticity



issues arising from misattribution See less