Dear All,
I've spent a nice Sunday at the Vitra Design Museum, in Germany. A few kilometers from Basel.
I first went to the building where Vitra and other famous brands are used to create cozy environments, so that people that are looking for new ideas on how to furnish their apartments (given to have a large wallet) can get inspired. The structure of the building is really impressive (see pictures), with overlapping floors that cross each other. Amazing the view on the vineyard (see pictures).
On a different building, they have at the moment an exhibition about Charles and Ray Eames, which was good to understand that their design and activities went well beyond the furniture they created . I found interesting how similar the facade of their house looked like a bookshelf they designed. There were also short movies and documentaries Charles and Ray Eames realized.
Finally, I found really cool the "Depot", where a selection of famous design chairs is shown (see pictures); I liked to see pieces that I have been seeing only on the internet, and realize that their dimensions were different that what I imagined. The shelf with the Juhl and Wegner pieces was astonishing. But probably a bit too obvious.
The Vitra campus is quite bit; I think they have also the production site there. A nice place where to go on a Sunday, when a golden Autumn we had is giving space to Winter.
All the best
Ernest.
<img class="wpforoimg" src=" http://d1t1u890k7d3ys.cloudfront.net/cdn/farfuture/aXcbHohRYj-EC
That looks like you had a fun trip Ernest. It is great that you made time to visit an excellent collection of 20th century design/modernism. Before the internet, going to these places was where I spent a lot of time (still do) studying & memorizing/looking closely at the details/design/work of the 20th century designers.
It is also worthwhile mentioning Frank O. Gerry ,Herzog & de Meuron, Zaha Hadid, Alvaro Siza, Jean Prouve, Tadao Ando & others (for the architecture/buildings).
In a 2012 interview Noritsugu Oda said that the Vitra Design Museum was his rival many years ago at the auction where he bought his first Finn Juhl Chieftain Chair. He outbid Vitra, but he said that Vitra subsequently was able to acquire a Chieftain Chair at another auction. However, I do not ever recall seeing a photo of the Chieftain chair that Vitra apparently owns as part of its collection. Did you happen to see one in the museum?
Edit: Nevermind, I see it is in one of your photos, on one of the high shelves.
It would be funny if they put all the expensive pieces on top. What does that say about the pieces they put down on the bottom?
But seriously why own something like a Chieftain chair or a Hunting chair if you are going to display it at ceiling height? It is some sort of strange unwritten commentary on the pieces displayed.
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