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Vitra (furniture)
Encyclopedia
Vitra is a Swiss
(originally German
) manufacturer of designer furniture. Vitra is the European manufacturer and retailer of the works of many internationally renowned furniture designers. It is also known for the works of notable architect
s that make up its premises in Weil am Rhein
, Germany, as well as for its sponsorship of the Vitra Design Museum
.
Vitra was founded in Weil am Rhein, Germany, in 1950 by Willi Fehlbaum, the owner of a furniture shop in nearby Basel
, Switzerland. In the following years, Fehlbaum acquired licences for the designs of Charles and Ray Eames and George Nelson
.
After a major fire destroyed the Vitra facilities in 1981, British architect Nicholas Grimshaw
was commissioned to design a new factory building. The aluminium
factory hall, ready for production in only six months after the fire, was complemented by another production building by Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza in 1986. In 1989, it was followed by a factory building by Frank O. Gehry. Gehry also constructed the Vitra Design Museum building, which was originally intended to house the private furniture collection of Vitra's owner Rolf Fehlbaum.
In 1993, Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid
added a fire station
– her first completed building – to the premises. The fire station now houses the Design Museum's international collection of designer chairs. In the same year, a conference pavilion of Japanese architect Tadao Ando
was also constructed on the Vitra grounds. It was Ando's first work outside Japan.
In 1994, the Vitra administrative staff moved from Weil to the company's new headquarters (also designed by Frank O. Gehry) in nearby Birsfelden, Switzerland, while Álvaro Siza added a design shop building to the Weil factory. A 1978 Charter-sphere Dome by U.S. architect Thomas C. Howard of Synergetics, Inc. was set up at Weil in 2000, to serve as a meeting hall, and in 2003, a petrol station by the French designer Jean Prouvé
was also moved in.
, Verner Panton
, Antonio Citterio
, Philippe Starck
, Borek Sipek
, Mario Bellini
, Glen Oliver Löw, Dieter Thiel, Jasper Morrison
, Alberto Meda
, Ron Arad
, Maarten Van Severen
and Jean Prouvé
.
, the Tate Modern
gallery, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Dubai International Airport
, EuroAirport Basel
and the 2000 World's Fair Expo 2000
in Hanover.
Germany, Austria
, Belgium
, the Czech Republic
, Spain
, France
, Great Britain
, the Netherlands
, the United States
and Singapore
. Vitra also has showrooms in numerous international cities.
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
(originally German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
) manufacturer of designer furniture. Vitra is the European manufacturer and retailer of the works of many internationally renowned furniture designers. It is also known for the works of notable architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
s that make up its premises in Weil am Rhein
Weil am Rhein
Weil am Rhein is a German town and commune which is a suburb of the city of Basel in Switzerland. It is situated on the east bank of the River Rhine, and close to the point at which the Swiss, French and German borders meet. It is the most southwesterly town in Germany.-Geography:Weil am Rhein is...
, Germany, as well as for its sponsorship of the Vitra Design Museum
Vitra Design Museum
The Vitra Design Museum is an internationally renowned, privately owned museum for design in Weil am Rhein, Germany.Vitra CEO Rolf Fehlbaum founded the museum in 1989 as an independent private foundation...
.
History and corporate architecture
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
, Switzerland. In the following years, Fehlbaum acquired licences for the designs of Charles and Ray Eames and George Nelson
George Nelson (designer)
George Nelson was a noted American industrial designer, and one of the founders of American Modernism. While Director of Design for the Herman Miller furniture company both Nelson, and his design studio, George Nelson Associates, Inc., designed much of the 20th century's most iconic modernist...
.
After a major fire destroyed the Vitra facilities in 1981, British architect Nicholas Grimshaw
Nicholas Grimshaw
Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, CBE is a prominent English architect, particularly noted for several modernist buildings, including London's Waterloo International railway station and the Eden Project in Cornwall...
was commissioned to design a new factory building. The aluminium
Aluminium
Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....
factory hall, ready for production in only six months after the fire, was complemented by another production building by Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza in 1986. In 1989, it was followed by a factory building by Frank O. Gehry. Gehry also constructed the Vitra Design Museum building, which was originally intended to house the private furniture collection of Vitra's owner Rolf Fehlbaum.
In 1993, Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid
Zaha Hadid
Zaha Hadid, CBE is an Iraqi-British architect.-Life and career:Hadid was born in 1950 in Baghdad, Iraq. She received a degree in mathematics from the American University of Beirut before moving to study at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London.After graduating she worked...
added a fire station
Fire station
A fire station is a structure or other area set aside for storage of firefighting apparatus , personal protective equipment, fire hose, fire extinguishers, and other fire extinguishing equipment...
– her first completed building – to the premises. The fire station now houses the Design Museum's international collection of designer chairs. In the same year, a conference pavilion of Japanese architect Tadao Ando
Tadao Ando
is a Japanese architect whose approach to architecture was once categorized by Francesco Dal Co as critical regionalism. Ando has led a storied life, working as a truck driver and boxer prior to settling on the profession of architecture, despite never having taken formal training in the field...
was also constructed on the Vitra grounds. It was Ando's first work outside Japan.
In 1994, the Vitra administrative staff moved from Weil to the company's new headquarters (also designed by Frank O. Gehry) in nearby Birsfelden, Switzerland, while Álvaro Siza added a design shop building to the Weil factory. A 1978 Charter-sphere Dome by U.S. architect Thomas C. Howard of Synergetics, Inc. was set up at Weil in 2000, to serve as a meeting hall, and in 2003, a petrol station by the French designer Jean Prouvé
Jean Prouvé
-Images:**- External links :***...
was also moved in.
Products
Vitra's product line consists of designer furniture for use in offices, homes and public areas. Apart from the company's own designs, it also manufactures and distributes the works of designers such as Charles and Ray Eames, George NelsonGeorge Nelson (designer)
George Nelson was a noted American industrial designer, and one of the founders of American Modernism. While Director of Design for the Herman Miller furniture company both Nelson, and his design studio, George Nelson Associates, Inc., designed much of the 20th century's most iconic modernist...
, Verner Panton
Verner Panton
Verner Panton is considered one of Denmark's most influential 20th-century furniture and interior designers. During his career, he created innovative and futuristic designs in a variety of materials, especially plastics, and in vibrant and exotic colors...
, Antonio Citterio
Antonio Citterio
Antonio Citterio is an Italian furniture designer and industrial designer who lives and works in Milan.Citterio graduated in architecture at the Politecnico di Milano and since 1972 has worked for many leading manufacturers such as Ansorg, B&B Italia, Flexform, Flos, Hackman, Iittala, Hansgrohe,...
, Philippe Starck
Philippe Starck
Philippe Patrick Starck is a French product designer and probably the best known designer in the New Design style...
, Borek Sipek
Borek Šípek
Bořek Šípek is a prominent Czech architect and designer. Born in Prague, Bořek Šípek is renowned for his individual, unusual, colorful and rich style. He experiments with unexpected and often opulent shapes....
, Mario Bellini
Mario Bellini
Mario Bellini is a world renowned Italian architect and designer.He graduated from the Milan Polytechnic - Faculty of Architecture in 1959 and began working as an architect himself in the early 1960s...
, Glen Oliver Löw, Dieter Thiel, Jasper Morrison
Jasper Morrison
Jasper Morrison is an English product and furniture designer.Morrison was born in London, England. He was educated at Bryanston School. He received a Bachelor of Design degree from Kingston Polytechnic Design School in 1982 and a Masters degree in Design from the Royal College of Art, London, in...
, Alberto Meda
Alberto Meda
Alberto Meda is an engineer focusing on design, born in Lenno, in the Italian province of Como in 1945. He graduated with a laurea in Mechanical Engineering at the Politecnico di Milano in 1969...
, Ron Arad
Ron Arad (industrial designer)
Ron Arad is an Israeli industrial designer, artist, and architect.-Biography:Arad attended the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem between 1971–73 and the Architectural Association in London from 1974–79...
, Maarten Van Severen
Maarten van Severen
Maarten van Severen was a Belgian furniture designer.-Summary:The son of an abstract painter, Maarten Van Severen chose to study architecture at Ghent art school; he completed three years before going to work in various agencies on interior design and furniture projects, then in 1986 started to...
and Jean Prouvé
Jean Prouvé
-Images:**- External links :***...
.
Awards and projects
Vitra's director and products have received numerous design-related awards by international organizations, according to the company's website. Vitra products have been used in numerous high-profile settings, including the plenary chamber of the German BundestagBundestag
The Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...
, the Tate Modern
Tate Modern
Tate Modern is a modern art gallery located in London, England. It is Britain's national gallery of international modern art and forms part of the Tate group . It is the most-visited modern art gallery in the world, with around 4.7 million visitors per year...
gallery, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Dubai International Airport
Dubai International Airport
Dubai International Airport is an international airport serving Dubai, the largest city of the United Arab Emirates. It is a major aviation hub in the Middle East, and is the main airport of Dubai. It is situated in the Al Garhoud district, southeast of Dubai...
, EuroAirport Basel
EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg
EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg is an international airport northwest of Basel , southeast of Mulhouse , and south of Freiburg . It is located in France, on the administrative territory of the commune of Saint-Louis near the Swiss and German borders...
and the 2000 World's Fair Expo 2000
Expo 2000
Expo 2000 was a World's Fair held in Hanover, Germany from Thursday, June 1 to Tuesday, October 31, 2000. It was located on the Hanover fairground , which is famous for hosting CeBIT...
in Hanover.
Locations
As of 2006, the company's website lists national subsidiaries in Switzerland,Germany, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. Vitra also has showrooms in numerous international cities.