Miniatures Collection
The collection of the Vitra Design Museum ranks among the most important
holdings of furniture design worldwide. It contains some 7000 pieces of
furniture, over 1000 lighting objects, and numerous archives, as well as the
estates of such designers as Charles and Ray Eames, Verner Panton, and
Alexander Girard.
Although the main museum building by Frank Gehry from 1989 was
originally conceived to house the collection, the museum now utilises the space
to stage major temporary exhibitions. To date, the museum’s collection has
never been on permanent display.
For over two decades, the Vitra Design Museum has been making miniature
replicas of milestones in furniture design from its collection. The Miniatures
Collection encapsulates the entire history of industrial furniture design –
moving from Historicism and Art Nouveau to the Bauhaus and New Objectivity,
from Radical Design and Postmodernism all the way up to the present day.
Exactly one sixth the size of the historical originals, the chairs are
all true to scale and precisely recreate the smallest details of construction,
material and colour. The high standard of authenticity even extends to the
natural grain of the wood, the reproduction of screws and the elaborate
handicraft techniques involved. This has made the miniatures into popular
collector's items as well as ideal illustrative material for universities,
design schools and architects.