Vanity or professionalism; call it what you like. Ironing boards and mirrors work toward the same goal of making you appear put-together. Fortunately, neither is necessary 24 hours a day and rarely, if ever, are they used at the same time. With this in mind, Madame Est Servie, a mirror that doubles as an ironing board, seems quite clever. “This object is a link between two consecutive actions: iron clothes and dress up,” explains the designer Aïssa Logerot, a recent graduate of ENSCI les Ateliers.

Madame est Servie. Designed by Aïssa Logerot.

The ironing board converts into a mirror by tilting it vertically and locking it in place. Designer Therese Glimskär had the same idea: “I found that a mirror and an ironing board are approximately the same in size, and they also use the same volume in a room.” And thus his own version of the Ironing Board – Mirror materialized. Lay it flat to iron your clothes, flip it vertically to check yourself out.

Though the idea of a full-length mirror is very simple, many don’t provide a full-length, accurate image of your body. Isn’t this their purpose? Angled mirrors are often guilty of falsifying body image, making you appear either taller and thinner or shorter and wider. Others, due to their size or distance from the ground, don’t fit your entire body within the frame. Unfortunately Madame Est Servie appears to be guilty of the latter. How do you dress yourself and choose shoes when you can’t even see your feet in the frame? Although I’m a huge fan of multi-tasking objects, sacrificing function diminishes the value of the concept.

As an amateur ironer, my ability to access the functionality of the ironing board is limited. Those of you with more experience in this area are welcome to chime in.  Why do ironing boards continue to have the same shape? I understand this is supposed to be optimal for ironing shirts but am convinced that further exploration in this area could yield a better solution.  So while the idea is innovative and clever, further development could result in a multi-functioning object that more successfully fulfills both tasks.

via MocoLoco