Simone Giertz, the Swedish inventor and YouTuber, built a desk chair with a second seat attached so her dog could sit right beside her while she worked. She showed the build in a video in spring 2021, at a time when millions of people were working from home and discovering that their pets had strong opinions about who should be sitting where. If you landed here looking for the "chair for needy pets," that is the one: a homemade, one-off prototype, not a product you could order at the time.
Below is what the chair is, why it struck such a nerve, who Giertz is, and what anyone thinking of building or buying something similar should consider first.
What the pet chair actually is
The idea is simple. A normal work chair gets a companion: a low, padded platform fixed next to the human seat, roughly at hip height, so a small or medium dog can curl up within reach. The dog gets the closeness it is asking for, and the person keeps the full seat, the backrest and access to the desk. Nobody has to perch on the front third of a cushion.
Giertz explained the motivation with her usual deadpan humour. Her dog, she said, would really prefer it if she turned herself into a dog bed. Since that project was off the table, she built a chair instead. The dog in question is Scraps, her three-legged West Highland White Terrier, who appears in a number of her videos.
You can watch the whole build here:
The video shows the typical Giertz workflow: sketching the problem, mocking up dimensions, cutting and upholstering, then testing the result on the most important user, who has no interest in the design process and simply wants to be close to her person.
Why it resonated during the work-from-home years
The timing mattered. In 2020 and 2021, video calls replaced offices for a huge number of people, and pets suddenly had their owners at home all day. Many animals adapted by demanding a bigger share of attention: pawing at legs, climbing onto laps mid-meeting, or wedging themselves behind their owner on the chair.
Comments under the video read like a support group. One viewer described sitting on the edge of a chair because a cat had claimed the rest. Another said their parent's dogs simply took over the office chair whenever she stood up. A third joked about lifting a small dog up and down every ten minutes. The chair turned that shared, slightly ridiculous experience into an object, and that recognition is a big part of why the clip travelled so far.
It is worth being careful with one claim that circulated at the time: that a high view count proved there was a large commercial market. Views show interest and amusement; they do not show how many people would pay for, assemble and make room for a double-width chair. That question is one only a real product launch can answer.
Who Simone Giertz is
Giertz was born in Stockholm in 1990 and is based in the United States. She first became widely known in the mid-2010s for deliberately useless machines, a breakfast robot that flung cereal, a hair-washing contraption that slapped water around, an alarm clock that hit its owner. Fans nicknamed her the "Queen of Shitty Robots," a title she later said she had retired.
Her work has always put comedy first and engineering lessons second, but the skills are real. She worked with Adam Savage's Tested team early on, gave a TED talk in 2018, and in 2019 led a project that converted a Tesla Model 3 into a small pickup truck nicknamed "Truckla." She also spoke openly, and often funnily, about a benign brain tumour she was diagnosed with in 2018 and treated over the following year.
In 2022 she launched an online shop called Yetch, a phonetic spelling of her surname, selling objects she designed. That shift from joke builds to sellable products is the context for the pet chair: it sits halfway between a comedy prototype and a genuine piece of furniture design.
The design thinking behind a "silly" invention
It is easy to file a dog chair under internet novelty, but the process behind it is the same one product designers use every day:
- Observe the real behaviour. The dog was not after the chair itself; it wanted contact and a view of its person.
- Define the conflict. Two bodies want the same seat. One of them needs a desk, the other needs a warm surface nearby.
- Solve the conflict rather than the symptom. Training the dog to stay off is one answer. Giving it a better spot within arm's reach is another.
- Test with the actual user. A pet will ignore a beautiful bed that is in the wrong place. Proximity beats styling.
That last point is backed up by everyday experience of animal behaviour: many dogs are social animals that prefer to rest near the people they are bonded with, which is why a dog bed moved next to the desk often works better than an expensive one in another room.
If you want something similar at home
You do not need a workshop to borrow the idea. A few practical points help whether you build, adapt or buy:
- Stability first. Office chairs swivel and roll. Anything attached to one must not tip when the dog jumps on or off, and the chair base needs to carry the combined weight.
- Height and access. Jumping down from a high seat is hard on small, older or three-legged dogs. A low platform or a ramp is kinder to joints.
- A static alternative. For many homes, a raised bed or padded stool placed beside the desk gives the same closeness with no moving parts.
- Size honestly. A seat that fits a terrier will not fit a Labrador. Measure the dog lying curled up and stretched out.
- Watch the animal. If your dog is restless or seeks constant contact during work hours, that can also be a sign it needs more exercise or a predictable routine. If behaviour changes suddenly, talk to a vet.
And keep expectations realistic: some pets will love the new perch, others will still prefer your lap.
Why small inventions like this matter
The chair does not solve a global problem, and it was never meant to. Its value lies in showing that ordinary domestic frustrations are legitimate design briefs. Giertz takes the kind of irritation most people shrug off, frames it precisely, and builds an answer in public, mistakes included. For viewers, that is both entertaining and a quiet invitation to look at their own homes the same way.
It also captures a moment. For many people, a dog or cat pressed against them during long days of video meetings was one of the gentler parts of a difficult period. A chair built for two is a small monument to that.
Sources: Simone Giertz, pet chair video on YouTube; Wikipedia: Simone Giertz; story first shared by The Animal Rescue Site.
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