Vitra

Vitra – design furniture that makes history

Vitra uses the power of good design to improve the quality of homes, offices and public spaces for the long term.

Vitra has been manufacturing furniture by Charles & Ray Eames and George Nelson since 1957. On this foundation, and in collaboration with progressive designers, a wide-ranging furniture portfolio has grown over the years for the office, the home and public spaces. These three areas form the core of the Vitra brand.

Whether Home Collection, Office Collection or Public Collection – for each of these spaces, Vitra offers furniture that is ideally tailored to its purpose.

Vitra design: Home Collection

The Home Collection includes Vitra's best-known furniture: the undisputed design classics. Pieces by big names such as Charles & Ray Eames, Verner Panton and George Nelson are familiar to every design lover. Vitra has been producing many of these pieces since they were first introduced decades ago. Their lasting appeal – in both look and quality – has contributed significantly to Vitra's excellent reputation. Examples include Vitra chairs such as the Panton Chair and the Eames Lounge Chair, which have achieved legendary status.

But Vitra doesn't rest on its laurels. Contemporary designers also create furniture for the Swiss manufacturer's Home Collection: Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, Konstantin Grcic and Alfredo Häberli are just a few of the well-known names the long-established manufacturer works with.

Office Collection: Vitra furniture for the office

Vitra's Office Collection focuses clearly on modern, functional office furniture. The manufacturer uses the latest technological advances to create products designed for modern working life. The goal of this philosophy is the "productive office": the workspace should work for the people in it, rather than simply being used by them. Of course, famous designers are represented here too, such as Alberto Meda, whose ergonomic office chairs can be found all over the world.

Public Collection: Vitra design combines communication and retreat

Vitra also produces tailored solutions for public spaces. "Net 'n' Nest" is the name of Vitra's current philosophy, which is based on scientific findings. Combining communal spaces with places to retreat is now considered the ideal combination for productivity and wellbeing. This approach always allows for networking and exchange with others ("Net"), while keeping the need for quiet spaces to concentrate and recharge ("Nest") firmly in focus.

Whichever area you look at, the design process starts with an approach that makes it possible to tailor products precisely to different settings. Engineers and designers work together throughout the entire development process to keep quality, aesthetics and functionality at the high level that has earned the furniture manufacturer its excellent reputation.

The world of Vitra

Thanks to this interdisciplinary approach, the world of Vitra today includes much more than furniture production. Vitra also stands for the Vitra Design Museum, a collection of modern furniture and its archives, workshops and publications on design, and an approach to architecture that brings together buildings by Frank Gehry, Nicholas Grimshaw, Zaha Hadid, Tadao Ando, Alvaro Siza, Herzog & de Meuron (VitraHaus) and SANAA at its headquarters in Birsfelden (Switzerland) and on the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein in Germany.

The VitraHaus, home of the Vitra Home Collection, is particularly worth a visit. Today, Vitra also produces accessories, sculptures and objects for children.

The recipe for success: good design and uncompromising quality

All these different areas have contributed significantly to Vitra's success over the decades. But the family company's success story was only possible thanks to the consistent combination of good design and high quality. Whatever raw materials a Vitra product is made from, you can rely on a very high standard of materials and manufacturing.

Sustainability is part of this too. Since the company was founded in 1950, it has been a matter of course for Vitra that the production, use and disposal of a piece of furniture should cause no harm. Longevity is the top priority, a principle shaped by Charles & Ray Eames: at Vitra, both materials and design are always intended to last for decades.