We need a better solution for clothes that are worn but not dirty enough to wash.
There's an unspoken dilemma many of us face each evening when we change into our jammies: what do we do with our clothes that aren't really dirty but aren't really clean? Undies and socks definitely belong in the dirty laundry bin, but what about a sweater you wore over a t-shirt just to lounge around your house? What about jeans that you're not supposed to wash every time you wear them?
"I'm going to go out on a limb, and I'm gonna guess that you have a chair in your bedroom where you throw the clothes that are too dirty to go back into the drawer but too clean to go into the laundry," says inventor Simone Giertz.
Yep, fair guess. That covered-in-worn-but-not-really-dirty clothes chair, henceforth known simply as The Chair, is a familiar sight in thousands, if not millions, of bedrooms. Some even call it a "chairdrobe."
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"I have one of those chairs," Giertz says. "I don't like it. It looks messy, and I want to design a chair that is meant for throwing laundry on."
So she conceived of a round chair with a swiveling armrest that could serve as a rack for hanging clothes and stay hidden behind the chair. But would it look odd? How would she engineer the swivel function? Would it really be any better than The Chair that already sits in many bedrooms? She had so many questions to answer as she attempted to create a prototype.
Watching an inventor work is really something. In the video, Giertz walks us through her process, and we see her working out ideas, questions, and conundrums in real time. She does everything herself, from the engineering to the woodworking to the upholstery. And the finished product looks like a sleek, modern chair without screaming, "Hey, I'm designed for half-dirty laundry!"
However, when she takes it to her bedroom and demonstrates how the swivel rack works, it's clear her version of The Chair is extraordinary. She piles on a dozen or so pieces of clothing, and when she turns the swivel so they move behind the chair, it almost looks like there's nothing there. It's definitely a lot neater than The Chair normally looks in a bedroom.
Giertz was quite proud of her accomplishment.
"I cannot believe that I managed to wing this chair together just on vibes and plywood," she says as she sits down on it. "I wish I could just snap my fingers and that it was a product so you could buy it."
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She's not the only one. Though she said she was only joking, people in the comments gushed over her invention and seriously encouraged her to market it:
"I'm telling you right now: you have a market for this. If you can get some sort of design patent DO IT and then see if you can collab with a furniture company that has the finances to mass produce this. I want one REALLY BADLY. This is a much classier solution than throwing my half-clean clothes on the floor of my closet."
"This could be an opportunity for an insane Simone Giertz x Ikea collab. I would totally buy this chair."
"Simone, this could actually be one of the biggest inventions of the century. The wisdom of accepting the existence of "the chair" and coming up with a solution that's both effective and aesthetic. brilliant. You should sell it."
"You made a thing that really is a thing. Very clever and utilitarian. No motors to move it, no gimmicks. Nicely done."
A good inventor sees a problem that doesn't have a solution yet and comes up with an idea to solve it. The Chair is a universal problem, and this unique chair is a brilliant solution.
You can follow Simone Giertz on YouTube for more cool inventions.