The valet stand, an odd household object.

The valet stand, as an object of furniture, shows a particular vocation for personification.

The valet stand, as an object of furniture, shows a particular vocation for personification, as is evident in the Italian word servo muto, literally translated as dumb servant, or in its German counterpart Stummerdiener or Herrendiener. Even more significant is the Spanish word galán de noche, which can be translated as “handsome young man”.

We cannot help but be reminded of the harlequin servidor, a popular servant character in the Italian Commedia dell'Arte.

In the eighteenth century, the italian word servomuto referred to a small table with several levels, crossed by a vertical bar in the Venetian “servidor”: similar and contemporary was the French “servant”, a multifunctional table that allowed one to serve oneself on convivial occasions without the help of domestic staff.

Nowadays, the valet stand is mainly intended as a floor-standing, easily movable coat rack, where clothes can be stored before going to bed so that they retain their shape.

Mainly used for men's clothing it usually consists of a hanger for jackets, a horizontal bar for trousers and sometimes a shelf for everyday items such as keys and wallets. Some contemporary models have an electric press for ironing trousers.

The valet stand is therefore used to support clothes rather than coats, a declination of use that influences its height, which is on average about 50 cm less than that of the free-standing coat stands, as well as its location within the home. The free-standing wardrobe is mainly intended for domestic spaces reserved for entrances or offices, or in any case one imagines its use by people on the move from an external environment to an internal environment. On the contrary, the valet stand is mainly housed in the most internal and intimate parts of the home, such as the bedroom and dressing room.

As well as being used before going to bed or after waking up, the valet stand can also be used in the bathroom for undressing.

The fluidity of bedroom and service spaces in the modern home means that destination constraints are being overcome, which is well supported by the wall-mounted valet versions, suitable for any environment. In fact, the wall-mounted valets can perfectly fulfil the functions of both a bedroom and bathroom valet stand and an entrance coat hanger, when placed at the opportune height

The Italian word servo muto can be translated in German as Stummer Diener or Herrendiener and in Spanish as galán de noche.

In French, the word valet prevails, with the possible specification valet de nuit.

In English, various words can be used, mainly compounds, such as hanger or clotheshanger, cloth rack, suit hanger, suit rack, in which the first word identifying the object to be stored (cloth, coat, suit, etc.), in the singular and plural, is combined with the word identifying the type of support (hanger, holder, hook, ring, rail, stand, etc.).

The valet stand is an object which, in addition to its functional value, has a particular emotional significance: its design definition must take this into account, to offer useful objects for characterising the perceptual and psychological timbre of our living spaces.