Vitra Design Museum – förlag

In 2019, the Vitra Design Museum will publish the Atlas of Furniture Design, the definitive, encyclopedic overview of the history of modern furniture design. Featuring over 1700 objects by more than 500 designers and 121 manufacturers, it includes approximately 2800 images ranging from detailed object photographs to historical images documenting interiors, patents, brochures, and related works of art and architecture. The basis for the Atlas of Furniture Design is the collection held by the Vitra Design Museum, one of the largest of its kind with more than 7000 works. The book presents selected pieces by the most important designers of the last 230 years and documents key periods in design history, including early nineteenth-century industrial furniture in bentwood and metal, Art Nouveau and Secessionist pieces and works by protagonists of classical modernism and postwar design, as well as postmodern and contemporary pieces. The Atlas of Furniture Design employed a team of more than 70 experts and features over 550 detailed texts about key objects. In-depth essays provide sociocultural and design-historical context to four historical epochs of furniture design and the pieces highlighted here, enriched by a detailed annex containing designer biographies, glossaries, and elaborate information graphics. The Atlas of Furniture Design is an indispensable resource for collectors, scholars and experts, as well as a beautifully designed object that speaks to design enthusiasts.

The Shakers: A World in the Making aims to both examine the lasting impact of the Shaker legacy as well as the more unexpected facets of their production, ideology and way of life from a contemporary perspective. Established in the 18th century, the Shakers were a free church that embraced principles of social equality, communal property and pacifism, viewing labour and design as expressions of their faith. The Shakers’ radically simple, functional objects have had a profound influence on modern design, inspiring generations of artists, architects and designers up to the present day. The Shakers: A World in the Making accompanies the eponymous exhibition – designed by the Milan-based studio Formafantasma – which will showcase a wide range of Shaker furniture, architecture, tools and commercial goods. Works by contemporary artists and designers enter in dialogue with the historic exhibits, reflecting on the Shakers’ enduring relevance. The publication includes a rich array of thematic essays contextualizing the Shakers within the wider design, architecture and art canon, detailed studies of selected exhibits as well as personal contributions by the participating artist. Contemporary object and architectural photography offers a fresh perspective on one of the most compelling communal experiments of recent centuries. With contributions by Glenn Adamson, Aaron Betsky, Jeffrey de Blois, Amie Cunat, David Hartt, Chris L. Halstrøm, Mea Hoffmann, Christien Meindertsma, Sarah Margolis-Pineo, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, Shoshana Resnikoff and others.

A comprehensive monograph exploring Hella Jongerius’ visionary, process-driven design practice, drawing on her archive recently acquired by the Vitra Design Museum.Hella Jongerius is among the most influential designers of the past decades. Since the start of her career in the 1990s, she has created groundbreaking works in many different disciplines, including textiles, ceramics, furniture, lighting, and sculpture. Jongerius’ research-driven approach has been a defining influence for an entire generation of young contemporary designers.This monograph, accompanying the Vitra Design Museum’s retrospective offers a definitive look at her multifaceted career—spanning textiles, ceramics, products, interiors, and thought-provoking design manifestos. Drawing from Jongerius’ recently acquired archive, the book provides rare insight into her process-driven practice through prototypes, experiments, and research materials. With an introduction by Alice Rawsthorn, an extensive interview with Hella and Louise Schouwenberg and essays by Paola Antonilla, Glenn Adams, Marcella Hanika and Christel Vesters.

This publication is accompanying the presentation »Tsuyoshi Tane: The Garden House« at the Vitra Design Museum Gallery, which is dedicated to the recently constructed Tane Garden House on the Vitra Campus. The idea to build a garden house on the Vitra Campus was initiated by Vitra Chairman Emeritus Rolf Fehlbaum. The building which is direct proximity of the Oudolf Garten, combines a rooftop viewing platform for Campus visitors and a meeting room for the gardeners who tend the grounds. Tsuyoshi Tane understood that this project was small in scale, but large in meaning. This is reflected in the Japanese architect’s unique design approach, which is based on an intensive research process that explores the local context in order to utilize traditional handicrafts as well as regional resources. Like an archaeologist, Tane started with a long period of exploration, researching the »memory of the place« where the project was being planned. Tsuyoshi Tane calls this approach »Archaeology of the Future«. The publication Tane Garden House provides a deep insight into the design process that stretched over several years. It documets the creation of the architectural project, including unrealised models, as well as sketches drawn by Tsuyoshi Tane. The appealing softcover book in a handy format does not only excite those interested in architecture, but also serves as a source of inspiration for the topic of building in the future.

Surrealism expanded our reality by drawing upon myths, dreams, and the subconscious as sources of artistic inspiration. Beginning in the 1930s, the movement made a crucial impact on design, and it continues to inspire designers to this day. »Objects of Desire: Surrealism and Design« is the first book to document this fascinating conversation. It includes numerous essays and a comprehensive selection of images which traces these reciprocal exchanges by juxtaposing exemplary artworks and design objects. Among the featured artists and designers are Gae Aulenti, Achille Castiglioni, Giorgio de Chirico, Le Corbusier, Salvador Dalí, Marcel Duchamp, ntoni Gaudí, Frederick Kiesler, René Magritte, Carlo Mollino, Meret Oppenheim, and many others. The book is rounded off with historical text material as well as short texts and statements by contemporary designers. This in- depth examination makes one thing abundantly clear: form does not always follow function — it can also follow our obsessions, our fantasies, and our hidden desires.

Since the 1980s, Vitra has enlisted some of the world’s leading architects to design buildings for its campus, including Zaha Hadid, Frank Gehry, Tadao Ando, SANAA, Álvaro Siza, Nicholas Grimshaw and Herzog & de Meuron. This has resulted in a unique architectural ensemble that attracts 350,000 visitors each year, about which Philip Johnson wrote: “Since the Weissenhofsiedlung in Stuttgart in 1927, there has not been a gathering in a single place of a group of buildings designed by the most distinguished architects in the Western world.” While the renowned Vitra Design Museum presents alternating exhibitions, the Schaudepot gives visitors an insight into parts of the museum’s extensive collection. In addition, during their time on the Campus, visitors can take part in a guided tour of the architecture or a workshop, enjoy the view from the Vitra Slide Tower and afterwards slide down the 37-meter-long slide, experience furniture classics and new products from the Vitra Home Collection in the VitraHaus as well as savour the offers of the shops and cafés. Originally published in 2014, this revised flexibound edition of The Vitra Campus offers an overview of Vitra architecture, its daily use, the development of the Campus and biographies of the contributing architects. An ideal souvenir and campus guide, The Vitra Campus is also a fascinating read about some of the most significant architects and buildings of our time.

Our homes are an expression of how we want to live; they shape our everyday routines and fundamentally affect our well-being. Interior design for the home sustains a giant global industry and feeds an entire branch of the media. However, the question of dwelling, or how to live, is found increasingly to be lacking in serious discourse. This book sets out to review the interior design of our homes. It discusses 20 iconic residential interiors from the present back to the 1920s, by architects and designers such as Assemble, Arno Brandlhuber, Lina Bo Bardi, and Josef Frank and by artists such as Cecil Beaton and Andy Warhol. Including historic and recent photographs, drawings and plans, the book explores these case studies as key moments in the history of the modern interior. Penny Sparke provides a concise history of the discipline of interior design, Alice Rawsthorn investigates the role of gender, and Mark Taylor discusses the discourse on interior design in the twenty-first century. Adam Štěch offers insights into the use of colour in residential interiors and Matteo Pirola offers a detailed and richly illustrated chronology of significant events in the history of interior design. In a portfolio of photographs selected exclusively for this book, Jasper Morrison explores what makes a good interior. In addition to interviews with contemporary interior design practitioners, experts in the fields of the sociology of living and psychology provide further insight. This book is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in interior design.

Presented in this oversize publication are 146 aerospace-related toys from the collection of Rolf Fehlbaum, Vitra’s chairman emeritus and the founder of Vitra Design Museum. Toys related to space exploration—rockets, robots and astronaut figurines—exploded in popularity in the 1930s with the success of space opera comic strips such as Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon, which portrayed postwar fantasies of untold technological possibilities. From there, sci-fi only gained a wider audience as the Soviet/American space race began and people of all ages turned their gazes skywards to wonder about what marvels may exist beyond Earth’s orbit.The toys in this volume are shown at their original size with the available packaging, organised into ten categories and arranged in chronological order by their manufacture dates. Some of the toys depict amusing conjectures for the future of aeronautical exploration such as space dogs, space elephants and even a space whale, while others are more realistic replicas of rockets in miniature. Infused with an undeniable nostalgia, this collection maintains the childlike wonder of the toys’ initial audiences and invites present-day readers to both reflect on the era’s technological advancements and look to the future for what discoveries may still be on the horizon.

The cheap, colourful plastic designs from East Germany pitted against the cool functionalism of West German design: The publication German Design 1949 – 1989: Two Countries, One History does away with such clichés. More than 30 years after German reunification, it presents a comprehensive overview of German design history of the post-war period for the first time ever. With over 380 illustrations and numerous examples from the fields of design—fashion, furniture, graphics, automobile, industrial, and interiors—the book shows how design featured in daily life on both sides of the Wall, the important part it played in the reconstruction process and how it served as a propaganda tool during the Cold War. Key objects and protagonists—from Dieter Rams or Otl Aicher in the West to Rudolf Horn or Renate Müller in the East—are presented alongside formative factors such as the Bauhaus legacy and important institutions. The exceptional case of the division of Germany allows a unique comparative perspective on the role design played in promoting socialism and capitalism. While in the Federal Republic to the West, it became a generator of the export economy and the "Made in Germany" brand, in the East it was intended to fuel the socialist planned economy and affordability for broad sections of the population was key. While the book highlights the different realities of East and West, the many cross references that connected design in both are also examined. It impressively illustrates the many facets of German design history in the post-war period.With contributions by Paul Betts, Greg Castillo, Petra Eisele, Siegfried Gronert, Jana Scholze, Katharina Pfützner, Eli Rubin, Katrin Schreiter, Oliver Sukrow, Carsten Wolff, among others; interviews with Prem Krishnamurthy, Renate Müller and Dieter Rams.

Plastic has shaped our daily lives like no other material. Originally associated with convenience, progress, even revolution, today plastic seems to have lost its utopian appeal. Plastic is everywhere, yet most conspicuous as waste and as a key factor in the global environmental crisis. This book examines the success story of plastic in the twentieth century and at the same time presents the different discourses on how we should manage the waste the material produces and also find solutions that take into account its entire life cycle in the future. Mark Miodownik, Susan Freinkel, and Nanjala Nyabola each contribute an essay that sheds light on the history of plastics from 1850 to today. A material-rich visual chronology illustrates how consumers’ perception of plastics has changed over the decades. Brief descriptions of a selection of 50 objects examine the importance of plastics for material culture. Reprints of fundamental texts about the history of plastics—for example by Alexander Parkes and Roland Barthes—provide a context from the history of ideas. The book reflects the current discourse and state of research on plastic with numerous individual interviews and panel discussions that were held with designers, representatives from industry, researchers, and environmental activists. Underpinning these conversations are comprehensive data visualizations on plastic production and consumption, recycling.

This new publication is dedicated to the Baranger Motion Displays of the R. F. Collection housed at the Vitra Design Museum. Motion Displays were conceived as eye-catching and novel moving objects, which – primarily in the US – were used in jewellers’ shop-window displays to attract customers. The Baranger Motion Displays were produced by Baranger Studios in Pasadena, CA between 1937 and 1957 and were lent to thousands of jewellers’ shops over the years. Primarily during the 1990s, Rolf Fehlbaum, Vitra Chairman Emeritus and founder of the Vitra Design Museum, worked to assemble a carefully selected a comprehensive collection of these objects in Weil am Rhein.With large-scale illustrations of the different Motion Displays and an atmospheric photo essay featuring black-and-white details of the objects, the book provides an unprecedented and in-depth view into this collection. In an accompanying essay, Bill Shaffer traces the success story of the displays and sheds light on the significance of the red cases in which they were delivered to the jewellers.Along with Robots 1:1 and Space Fantasies 1:1, Baranger Motion Displays is the third publication to focus on the R. F. Collection. Visitors can view the collection of Motion Displays at the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein as part of the “Wunderkammer” (cabinet of curiosities), which also presents other parts of Rolf Fehlbaum’s wide-ranging collection. In order for readers to be able to experience the wonders of these moving objects for themselves, each Motion Display has been given a QR Code in the book which links to an entertaining video clip of the display in action.

Hello, Robot. Design between Human and Machine investigates how robotics is increasingly becoming part of our everyday lives. The exhibition shows that design in its traditional function as a mediator is indispensable if robots are to become a visible reality and not just remain hidden in washing machines, cars and cash machines. The catalogue points out where we already encounter these intelligent machines and where we may come across them in the near future: in the industry, in the military and in everyday settings; at nurseries and retirement homes; in our bodies and in the cloud; when shopping and having sex; in video games and, of course, in film and literature. In a series of in-depth essays and interviews, experts such as science-fiction author Bruce Sterling or the design duo Dunne & Raby explore the question of how we deal with an environment that is rapidly becoming more digital, smarter and more autonomous. They highlight our often ambivalent relationship to new technologies and discuss the opportunities and challenges that present themselves to us as individuals and as a society in this context. In this regard, Hello, Robot. broadens the scope of the discussion to include the ethical and political questions with which we are faced today in the light of technological advances in robotics, while confronting us with the contradictions that are often found in the answers to these questions.Authors and interviewees: Bruce Sterling, Fiona Raby, Anthony Dunne, Gesche Joost, Carlo Ratti, Amelie Klein and others.

Gardens have always been places of leisure, pleasure, and production – they reflect identities, dreams, and visions. Deeply rooted in their culture, gardens have immense symbolic potential.The recent revival of horticulture has focused less on the garden as a romantic refuge than as a place where we imagine the future and develop solutions. Urban farms, vertical gardens, and other innovative projects in art, architecture, and urban planning demonstrate that the present return to the garden is no timid retreat, but a pioneering quest for a world in which social and ecological justice count for something.Garden Futures examines what gardens and their design reveal about our relationship to nature. In exploring the history of ideas behind the genesis of the modern garden, the book takes a close look at the present, goes in search of origins in the past, and builds bridges into the future. Stunning photographs illustrate ground-breaking gardens by such designers as Derek Jarman and Piet Oudolf while critical articles by well-known authors question conventional garden ideals. Authors and gardeners including Gilles Clement and Jamaica Kincaid present the garden as a place of learning where abstract concepts like ecology, climate change, and food insecurity are translated into things you can smell, touch, and taste. Daisy Ginsberg, Salmon Creek Farm, and EcoLogic Studio create experimental and speculative projects generating new attitudes and approaches.

The catalogue of a unique collection, ROBOTS 1:2 presents the space-themed toys in the R. F. Robot Collection held by the Vitra Design Museum. "Small kinetic sculptures of great originality": that is how Rolf Fehlbaum, Chairman Emeritus of Vitra and founder of the Vitra Design Museum, describes the objects in his collection. In many years of careful research, he compiled a rare Wunderkammer of toy robots made mainly in Japan between 1937 and 1973.The term robot was coined in 1921 by Czech writer Karel Capek in his play R. U. R., which foreshadowed some of the impact robots have had on human lives – from relieving us of hard, dangerous, or unpleasant tasks to taking over our jobs, from small everyday dependencies to shifts in social power dynamics.While the large-format predecessor to this book presented the exhibits in their original size, ROBOTS 1:2 shows the space toys on a 1:2 scale. The largest robot determines the size of the book: this conveys a sense of the uncanny ambivalence that clings to even the most playful representatives of their kind. The fantastic pictures on the original packaging often displayed alongside the figurines vividly illustrate an image of the future that by this time is itself part of our past.QR codes give access to short films showing a number of robots in action.The R. F. Robot Collection, housed in the »Wunderkammer« on the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein, Germany, can be visited as part of a guided tour.For more information please go to www.design-museum.de.

The Umbrella House is the smallest residential home by Japanese architect and mathematician Kazuo Shinohara (1925–2006). This book tells the story of his unique masterpiece, which was first built in Tokyo in 1961. More than sixty years later, a stroke of good fortune made it possible to save the Umbrella House from demolition and move it to a new location, where it now stands on the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein (Germany). The wooden house’s post-and-beam construction references traditional Japanese domestic and temple architecture. Experts from Japan and Europe supervised the dismantling of the house in Tokyo and its reassembly in Weil am Rhein.The book traces the long journey of the Umbrella House in lavish illustrations including impressions from 1960s Japan, architectural designs and plans, and photographs that document its dismantling and reassembly or show the house in its new location. Texts by Ryue Nishizawa (SANAA), Shin-ichi Okuyama, and David B. Stewart discuss the Umbrella House against the background of Japanese architectural discourse between 1960 and the present."The strength of my conviction that A House is a Work of Art was born of the struggle with this small house. I wished to express the force of space contained in the doma [earthen-floor room] of an old Japanese farmhouse, this time by means of the geometric structural design of a karakasa [oiled-paper Japanese umbrella]." Kazuo Shinohara in a text on the Umbrella House published in October 1962 in the Japanese architecture journal Shinkenchiku (vol. 37, no. 10; first published in English in February 1963 in The Japan Architect, vol. 38, no. 2).

Iwan Baan: Moments in Architecture offers the first comprehensive overview of works created by one of the leading photographers of our time. More than six hundred images from two decades document the growth of global megacities and portray buildings by prominent contemporary architects including Herzog & de Meuron, Rem Koolhaas, and Zaha Hadid, as well as traditional and informal architecture all around the world The photographer was personally involved in the conception of this richly illustrated and beautifully made publication.

This publication accompanies the exhibition "Transform! Design and the Future of Energy" at the Vitra Design Museum. Energy is the central driving force of our society; Energy is political; Energy is invisible. But all buildings, infrastructure and products with which energy is generated, distributed and used are designed. Design must therefore also play a central role in urgently needed energy transition. This publication accompanying the exhibition “Transform! Designing the Future of Energy" explores the current, radical transformation of the energy sector from a design perspective: from products that harvest renewable energies to the design of solar houses and wind turbines, from intelligent mobility concepts to future visions of self-sufficient cities. It sheds light on the global thirst for energy and asks critical questions: How can design contribute to making greater use of renewable energies and to reducing our energy consumption?

Brazil unites some of the most creative manifestations of popular art in the world. By presenting works by the legendary Mestre Vitalino and other artists from Pernambuco, the Jequitinhonha Valley and Niterói An Art of Resilience fosters awareness of this amazing art of the people. This new publication documents Rolf Fehlbaum`s collection of popular art from Brazil. They are on display in the »Wunderkammer«, a gallery of special objects from the world of popular culture, located on the Vitra Campus. Rather than representing the full scope of Brazilian popular art this collection is based on specific personal choices that were formed by the first pieces, which were by Mestre Vitalino, Zé Caboclo, Adolton and Ulisses. While most of the objects deal individually with different aspects of life, there are three groups of objects that are treated separately: the Bumba Meu Boi spectacle, the Maracatu carnival procession, and the cruel raids of the cangaceiros around Lampião and Maria Bonita. The groups are accompanied by essays written by the Brazilian anthropologists Ricardo Lima and Guacira Waldeck.

An unprecedented look at the design archives of the iconic sportswear brand.In Autumn 2024 the Vitra Design Museum will present the first ever museum exhibition about Nike, the world’s most revered sport brand. The exhibition and this accompanying catalogue mark the milestones in Nike’s six decade history and explores its ascent into a global brand that holds a central role in popular culture. The focus of the exhibition is on Nike’s design practice – from the company’s beginnings in the 1960s and the design of its famous “swoosh” logo to iconic products such as Air Max Air Jordan and Vapor Fly, and current research devoted to future materials and sustainability. The main source for the exhibition is the Department of Nike Archives, which contains a unique collection of drawings, prototypes and other documentation. The exhibition marks the most comprehensive access ever given to this archive. Among the objects on show are rarities and one-offs from the company’s early days in the 1960s, original design drawings and prototypes of iconic sneaker models, historical documents and films, as well as the results of collaborations with creative figures such as Virgil Abloh and Marc Newson. Nike: Form Follows Motion traces Nike’s design process, which begins with the scientific analysis of the human body in motion and material research and culminates in the finished product and its branding. Along with Nike designers like Bill Bowerman, Diane Katz, Tinker Hatfield and Eric Avar, athletes – from the world’s greatest to the everyday – have played an important role in this design process.

An introduction to the cost-effective social housing project established in Dhaka and on display at Vitra. In Bangladesh, flooding is becoming more frequent as a result of climate change, forcing countless people to find new homes. In response, Bangladeshi architect Marina Tabassum and her team have developed the Khudi Bari – Little House: A low-cost structure that can be assembled, disassembled, transported, and reassembled in another location by the in-habitants themselves. A Khudi Bari has been erected on the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein as an example of an architec-tural approach and a concrete response to problems exac-erbated by the climate crisis. This accompanying publication contains texts, photographs and illustrations of the building, which forms an important part of the ongoing architectural dialogue on the campus.

An illustrated lecture celebrating the master of modernist Mexican architecture, Luis Barragán. This publication is based on an illustrated talk presented by architect and historian Fernanda Canales in June 2024 at the Vitra Design Museum as part of the Barragán Lecture series. It focuses on the Mexican architect Luis Barragán (1902–1988), whose work occupies a permanent place in the canon of twentieth-century architecture and continues to fascinate architectural scholars, connoisseurs, and enthusiasts. In her lecture, Fernanda Canales deftly interwove Barragán’s biography with his major built works, which are characterised by a skilful approach to spatial and chromatic atmospheres and environments. Following the traces found in his extensive private library, his travels, the exhibitions he saw, and his personal and professional friendships, she took the audience on a multifaceted journey through space and time, providing a concentrated overview of Barragán’s creative work from the late 1920s to the 1980s.

An encyclopedic exploration of all facets of the fashion show, from its beginnings around 1900 to the present day The exhibition at the Vitra Design Museum explores the fashion show as a cultural ritual and a total artistic experience. It features iconic shows by Balenciaga, Chanel, Dior, Gucci, Helmut Lang, Maison Martin Margiela, Issey Miyake, Prada, Viktor & Rolf, and Louis Vuitton. The accompanying catalogue brings together historical sources, contemporary image series, and essays by leading voices in the fashion world. Model Malgosia Bela recounts the highlights and challenges of international runways. Legendary sound supervisor Michel Gaubert reveals how sound shapes moods and dramaturgy. Visionary buyer and curator Andreas Murkudis offers insights into the selection of key fashion collections. Fashion historian Caroline Evans analyses the social roles of the fashion show, Cathy Horyn reflects on its influence on contemporary fashion, and Valerie Steele, Director of The Museum at FIT in New York, situates it within the global cultural context. Catwalk is both an opulent visual archive and a definitive reference work, presenting the phenomenon of the fashion show in all its facets – well-founded, multi-voiced, and close to the action.

Covering the entire career of the renowned Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa, this comprehensive monograph offers original perspectives on one of the most influential twentieth-century architects in South Asia, whilst featuring new photography of built projects and never-before published material from the architect's own archive. Accompanying the Vitra Design Museum’s retrospective Geoffrey Bawa: Architecture for the Senses, co-produced with the M+ and the Geoffrey Bawa Trust, this monograph contextualises Geoffrey Bawa’s practice within post-colonial Sri Lanka, and situates his work in relation to contemporary discourses around collaboration, social enterprise and ecology.The book features scholarly essays, a never-before published text by Geoffrey Bawa, fully illustrated descriptions of all exhibited projects, comprehensive listings of his entire oeuvre, and interviews with leading contemporary architects inspired by his work. Richly illustrated with archival photography, many taken by Geoffrey Bawa himself, and newly commissioned photography by Iwan Baan, the book is a visual treat for anyone interested in twentieth-century architecture and design.