Vitra Design Museum

Profile

The inception of the Vitra Design Museum dates back to the early 1980s. With the aim of documenting the history of the Vitra company, Vitra CEO Rolf Fehlbaum began collecting the furniture of designers who had influenced the company's development, such as Charles and Ray Eames, George Nelson , Alvar Aalto , and Jean Prouvé . As the collection grew, so did the desire for an architectural venue in which the objects could be displayed.

Back in 1986, Fehlbaum developed the concept for a design museum and in 1987 contacted Frank O. Gehry as the architect for the planned museum building. That same year, Fehlbaum met the later director of the museum Alexander von Vegesack through Ray Eames. Together Fehlbaum and von Vegesack developed the idea of a publicly operating museum from the original idea of a closedprivate collection.

represented artists

Alvar Aalto      Tadao Ando      Harry Bertoia      Coosje van Bruggen      Buckminster Fuller      Frank O. Gehry      Zaha Hadid

George Nelson      Claes Oldenburg      Verner Panton      Gaetano Pesce      Jean Prouvé