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Vitra

Vitra is a Swiss-German family company headquartered in Birsfelden (Canton Basel-Landschaft), founded in 1950 by Willi and Erika Fehlbaum — the name derives from the original product line, vitrines for retail display cases. In 1953 Willi Fehlbaum discovered the furniture of Charles and Ray Eames on a trip to the USA, signed a licence agreement with Herman Miller in 1957 and laid the foundation for the company known today. Since then, Vitra has produced design in its most radical form: in 1967 the company launched the Panton Chair by Verner Panton — the first free-standing, single-piece injection-moulded plastic chair. In 1981 a fire destroyed large parts of the Weil am Rhein factory; the response was the Vitra Campus programme with architectural buildings by Frank Gehry (Vitra Design Museum, 1989), Zaha Hadid (Fire Station, 1993), Tadao Ando, Álvaro Siza, Herzog & de Meuron (VitraHaus, 2010), SANAA and Renzo Piano. In 2013, Artek joined Vitra. CEO: Nora Fehlbaum.

The product range covers chairs, lounge chairs, sofas, office chairs, tables, shelving, lights, clocks and decorative objects. Designer authors include Charles & Ray Eames, George Nelson, Alexander Girard, Verner Panton, Jean Prouvé, Isamu Noguchi, Jasper Morrison, Antonio Citterio, Hella Jongerius, Barber Osgerby, Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec and many more. Placed in, among others, the German Bundestag, Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, Deutsche Bank Frankfurt, Novartis Basel and Dubai International Airport.

For architects and contract planners, Vitra is the quintessence of the design canon: a brand that does not merely document design history but continues to write it — with the greatest density of iconic references in the office and residential furniture segment, unsurpassed architect trust and a globally distributed production and distribution infrastructure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vitra

Vitra is a Swiss-German family company headquartered in Birsfelden (Canton Basel-Landschaft), founded in 1950 by Willi and Erika Fehlbaum — the name derives from the original product line, vitrines for retail display cases. In 1953 Willi Fehlbaum discovered the furniture of Charles and Ray Eames on a trip to the USA, signed a licence agreement with Herman Miller in 1957 and laid the foundation for the company known today. Since then, Vitra has produced design in its most radical form: in 1967 the company launched the Panton Chair by Verner Panton — the first free-standing, single-piece injection-moulded plastic chair. In 1981 a fire destroyed large parts of the Weil am Rhein factory; the response was the Vitra Campus programme with architectural buildings by Frank Gehry (Vitra Design Museum, 1989), Zaha Hadid (Fire Station, 1993), Tadao Ando, Álvaro Siza, Herzog & de Meuron (VitraHaus, 2010), SANAA and Renzo Piano. In 2013, Artek joined Vitra. CEO: Nora Fehlbaum.

The product range covers chairs, lounge chairs, sofas, office chairs, tables, shelving, lights, clocks and decorative objects. Designer authors include Charles & Ray Eames, George Nelson, Alexander Girard, Verner Panton, Jean Prouvé, Isamu Noguchi, Jasper Morrison, Antonio Citterio, Hella Jongerius, Barber Osgerby, Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec and many more. Placed in, among others, the German Bundestag, Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, Deutsche Bank Frankfurt, Novartis Basel and Dubai International Airport.

For architects and contract planners, Vitra is the quintessence of the design canon: a brand that does not merely document design history but continues to write it — with the greatest density of iconic references in the office and residential furniture segment, unsurpassed architect trust and a globally distributed production and distribution infrastructure.