Tag: Vitra

Jongeriuslab: Rotterdam Chair

Rotterdam Chair by Hella Jungerius for Vitra
Rotterdam Chair by Hella Jongerius for Vitra

Date: 2008

Commissioned by: Vitra, Basel

Type: Industrial product

Vitra asked Hella Jongerius to design a ‘standard’ chair that is stackable.

Jongerius decided to use wood, a historical and archetypical material for a chair, which offers both a simple basis ánd character through it’s detailing.

The design-process was most of all an interesting exercise in producing an affordable chair which would carry the typical Jongerius’ handwriting. The result testifies of a clever marriage between a hands-on approach to design and industrial production-methods. Skillful refinement and high tech solutions. Because of the limits of price and production means, only the details that were essential for the character of the chair could stay. For instance the legs are left straight, bare, in order to give the object a sturdy and modern appearance. As a consequence of this choice there were some production challenges, like how to connect the legs to the seating, which curves above the construction. The seat itself is complimented with a plastic insert, a striking colorful detail that recurs underneath the legs. The chair has a timeless elegance and a modern sturdyness that suits its title: Rotterdam.

Jongeriuslab

Ken and Barbie Chairvertizing

Who would have thought of Ken and Barbie as chairvertizers for Vitra?

Via Core77 Toyfair Favorites, Part IV

London Design Festival 2008 (6): Pillips de Pury | Vitra Limited Edition 2007 | Kimono Chair by Tokujin Yoshioka

Visiting Phillips de Pury’s premises during during London Design Festival proved to be visiting a chair addict’s Walhalla.

Apart from my normal curiosity, the main teaser was that Phillips the Pury had teamed up with Vitra and had the entire Vitra Edition 2007 on show. The front desk lady told me that they were on sale at the auction, but the catalog doesn’t mention them as being for sale.

One of the items I love on show is this very poetic Kimono Chair of Tokujin Yoshioka.

Update September 26
The lady was right and not right, the Vitra edition pieces were on private sale I now learn from an earlier press release, but I understood from her that they were on auction. Maybe my Dunglish…

Alcove Sofa Collection – Vitra – Vassar Interiors

Alcove Collection
Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec
Vitra

The Alcove Sofa is subtle and refined. It is uncommonly tall which creates a dramatic sense of enclosure and privacy. The padded side and back panels have a pronounced sound dampening effect. The acoustic reduction adds to the sense of privacy and protection.

Designed specifically for office settings, the Alcove Highback Sofa creates an even more secluded refuge for work and reflection. When two Alcove Highbacks are placed facing one another they form a small meeting area. The Alcove Highback is approximately fifteen and a half inches higher than a standard Alcove Sofa.

Alcove Sofa Collection – Vitra – Vassar Interiors

Vitra Edition + D & AD 2008 Design Awards: "at One" Chair by Charlotte Kingsnorth

at One Chair

Vitra is one of the major chair manufacturers. It sits as a spider in its web partly in The North West part of Switzerland and partly in the South West part of Germany (Weil am Rhein). Its spider web has many lines into the design community, being it starchitects or graduates from universities or design academies.

One of such lines is with D & AD, a London Based Charity:

D&AD was founded (as British Design and Art Direction) in 1962 by a group of London-based designers & art directors including David Bailey, Terence Donovan, Alan Fletcher and Colin Forbes (who designed the original D&AD logo). The group was dedicated to celebrating creative communication, rewarding its practitioners, and raising standards across the industry.

D&AD annually issues awards for student design. Furniture was one of the 2008 subjects. This year it was sponsored by Vitra Edition.

According to Rolf Fehlbaum, its Chairman:

Vitra Edition is a laboratory that provides architects and designers with the freedom to create experimental furniture objects and interior installations. Their choices of materials, technologies, applications and formal concepts are not limited to the existing Vitra vocabulary, while they have full access to Vitra’s technical know-how. Working without the constraints of market and production logic has a liberating effect and results in surprising solutions and new ways of seeing design.

at One Chair 03
The Vitra brief reads as follows:

Design a sofa inspired by the new Vitra Edition collection that is unencumbered by commercial
constraints and pushes the boundaries of innovative furniture design.
Key drivers

  • Unique
  • Conceptual
  • Experimental
  • Displaying craftsmanship
  • Innovative in form or/and function
  • Use of new or unusual materials
  • Breaking the mould, defying convention

Target audience
Your design is aimed at collectors of art. Each Vitra Edition is strictly limited (usually to 12) and individually numbered and registered. As each piece in the range demands a high value in the market of anywhere between £8,000 and £130,000, your design should reflect this positioning.

The 2008 award winner is Charlotte Kingsnorth of Buckinghamshire New University.

at One Chair 01
She was inspired by the artwork of Jenny Saville and the media coverage of obesity. It is a simple beech wood frame being “devoured” by its obese occupant, in this case an upholstered cushion.

Wow, I wonder whether she also has the honor of her chair being produced in a limited numbered edition by Vitra Edition…..then her name will be vested at once. Congratulations Charlotte!

Via Design Boom and Creative Review