Vitra

Heritage

Vitra was founded in 1950 as a family-owned company by Willi and Erika Fehlbaum and is headquartered in Birsfelden near Basel. After discovering the furniture of Charles and Ray Eames and George Nelson in New York in 1953, the Fehlbaums began producing these designs for Europe in 1957.

Philosophy

Vitra develops design furniture for offices, homes and public spaces in close, long-term collaboration with its designers, and makes design culture public through the Vitra Campus and the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein.

Iconic Works

In 1967 Vitra introduced Verner Panton's Panton Chair, the first cantilever chair made of plastic. The collection holds classics by Charles and Ray Eames, George Nelson, Alexander Girard and Jean Prouvé alongside work by Antonio Citterio, Jasper Morrison and Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec.

Today

The company is still family-owned, with Nora Fehlbaum as Chairwoman of the Board, and produces in Weil am Rhein (Germany), Sugito (Japan) and Szombathely (Hungary). The Vitra Campus gathers buildings by Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Tadao Ando, Álvaro Siza, Herzog & de Meuron and SANAA.