Private | |
Industry | Manufacturing |
Founded | 1959 |
Founder | Niels Vitsœ |
Headquarters | Royal Leamington Spa, United Kingdom |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people |
|
Products | Design furniture |
Website | vitsoe |
Vitsœ (pronounced ‘vit-soo’)[1], is an English company based in Royal Leamington Spa[2] that manufactures modular furniture designed by Dieter Rams.[3] Its products include the 606 Universal Shelving System[4], 620 Chair Programme[5] and the 621 Table.[6]
The company Vitsoe + Zapf was founded in Frankfurt am Main, Germany in 1959 by Danish furniture dealer Niels Vitsœ and German industrial designer Otto Zapf to produce furniture designed by Dieter Rams, who was already working for the consumer products company, Braun. Rams produced numerous furniture designs for Vitsœ, including the 606 Universal Shelving System and the 620 Chair programme. Otto Zapf left the company in 1969 and it was renamed simply ‘Vitsœ’.[7]
In 1985 Mark Adams founded a British subsidiary, Vitsœ Ltd, for the distribution of furniture to the UK market. On Niels Vitsœ’s retirement, Adams became managing director and moved the company headquarters and production to London, United Kingdom, in 1995.[1] In 2017 Vitsœ moved its workshop to a new purpose-built HQ and production building in Royal Leamington Spa in central England.[8]
The 606 Universal Shelving System was designed by Dieter Rams in 1960 and has been made by Vitsœ ever since. It is an adaptable, modular, track-based, wall-mounted storage system. The system consists of numerous interchangeable components and allows multiple configuration possibilities.[9] It is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.[10]
The 620 Chair Programme was designed by Dieter Rams in 1962. It was designed as a kit of parts which allows a single chair to be converted into a multi-seat sofa. In 1969 its design was copied. In 1973 – following a prolonged court case – the 620 Chair Programme was granted copyright protection. It was re-engineered and relaunched by Vitsœ and Dieter Rams in 2013.[5] The 620 Chair was made part of the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1970.[11]
The 621 Table was designed by Dieter Rams in 1962 as the partner to the 620 Chair Programme. Vitsœ and Dieter Rams re-engineered the table in 2014 for modern manufacturing methods.[6]
Vitsœ and managing director Mark Adams feature in filmmaker Gary Hustwit’s documentary Rams. The full-length film released in 2018 is an exploration of Dieter Rams’s life, his design philosophy and some of his most iconic designs.[12]
This article "Vitsoe" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical. Articles taken from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be accessed on Wikipedia's Draft Namespace.