Berlin-based designer Nicole Schindelholz has managed to weave kinetic interest into what's ordinarily a rather staid object: The coat rack. What could be mistaken for gears are actually blocks of wood, precision-cut into blocks or trapezoids and glued to either side of a flexible strip, allowing the assembly to bend in a snake-like way.
While the motion of the Respond Mechanical Coat Rack does not provide a functional benefit, that's not what it's about—Schindelholz, a former Swiss schoolteacher turned Eindhoven grad, had a different motive: