In 1953, the entrepreneur Willi Fehlbaum discovers the furniture of Charles & Ray Eames in a New York store. Immediately seduced by the designs, his enduring enthusiasm leads to the decision to become a furniture manufacturer. Back in Switzerland, Fehlbaum gets in contact with the Herman Miller furniture company in Michigan, the manufacturer of the Eames furniture.
In 1957, after 4 years of negotiations, Vitra begins with the licensed production of the Herman Miller Collection including designs by Charles & Ray Eames, George Nelson, Alexander Girard and Isamu Noguchi. In the following years, the Fehlbaum family (Willi, his wife Erika and their eldest son Rolf) comes into contact with Nelson, Girard and the Eames' on numerous occasions. For Rolf Fehlbaum, currently Vitra’s Chairman, these encounters number among his most formative experiences.
In the early 1960s, Willi Fehlbaum makes the acquaintance of the Danish designer Verner Panton, who is seeking a manufacturer for his design of a plastic chair. Vitra’s expertise in the processing of plastics gives Fehlbaum the confidence to develop the chair for mass production together with Panton. After several years of collaborative effort, Panton’s sculpture-like chair comes onto market in 1967 – the first cantilever-based plastic chair moulded in one piece and the first product developed directly by Vitra.
In 1984, the partnership with Herman Miller is terminated by mutual consent. Vitra acquires all rights for the production of furniture designs by Charles & Ray Eames and George Nelson, as well as Alexander Girard’s textiles for Europe and the Middle East. Now able to sell these products under its own label, Vitra operates as an independent brand.
In 2013, Vitra acquired the Finnish Artek, the renowned design company founded in 1935 in Finland by architect Alvar Aalto and his wife Aino, art promoter Maire Gullichsen and art historian Nils-Gustav Hahl. Artek was built upon the radical business plan to “sell furniture and to promote a modern culture of habitation by exhibitions and other educational means.” Artek has become one of the most innovative contributors to modern design, building on the heritage of Alvar Aalto.
VITRA CHAIRS
VITRA LOUNGE CHAIRS
VITRA COFFEE & SIDE TABLES
VITRA BENCHES & STOOLS
VITRA RECTANGULAR DINING TABLES
VITRA ROUND TABLES
VITRA DESKS
VITRA SOFAS
VITRA STORAGE UNITS
➤ LIGHTING
Vitra, a Swiss company, shares many values with Scandinavia Design and the major Scandinavian design companies, which have long been concerned with social and environmental progress. This responsible attitude is reflected in many aspects of life at Vitra, where there are 41% of women in management positions (and even a majority in the board), where relaxation and well-being activities are on offer, where the workstations are ergonomic and the offices designed to make working life as pleasant as possible.
This is also reflected in the architectural quality of the Vitra campus, open to the public (for example the Oudolf Garten), in the way in which Vitra operates its buildings (with hydroelectric power) as in the way in which Vitra designs its products and supplies raw materials: while Vitra's headquarters are in Birsfelden, Switzerland, the company has production sites in Weil am Rhein (Germany), Szombathely (Hungary) and a plant in Sugito (Japan) for the Asian market .
Vitra has set itself three goals for 2030:
- Vitra will be a net positive company on the basis of all indicators of its ecological footprint.
- Vitra will follow each product throughout its lifespan, ensuring the longest possible use and facilitating its recycling and disposal.
- Vitra customers will be able to make their purchasing decisions based on detailed information about where and how a product was produced and the partners involved.
For all these reasons, Scandinavia Design is happy to be a Vitra partner.
