Vitra

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.

Vitra X Scandinavia Design

If Scandinavia Design, specialized in Scandinavian design, is associated with Vitra, a Swiss company, it is first and foremost because in 2013, Vitra bought Artek, founded in 1935 by Finnish architect Alvar Aalto and his wife Aino, gallery owner Maire Gullichsen and art historian Nils-Gustav Hahl. But it is also, of course, because Vitra produce furniture by Verner Panton and Eero Saarinen, and because Charles and Ray Eames, the souls of Vitra, were greatly inspired by Scandinavian design. Aesthetically, the consistency is total – so natural that the Finnish company Marimekko constantly uses Vitra furniture to stage its products.

Scandinavia Design has two showrooms where Vitra furniture is displayed.

The main showroom, located at Le Prieuré between Angers and Saumur, houses the main exhibition, backed up by the warehouse and logistics center. The showroom is easy to get to, with no parking problems - and the Loire River flowing nearby, offers visitors the added bonus of beautiful scenery amidst the region's many vineyards.

The showroom includes Vitra furniture, accessories and lighting - come and explore the collection, choose fabric colors, leathers, touch the different materials, woods, ... The team is very familiar with the vast Vitra catalog and will be happy to help you.