Vitra Design Museum + Vitra Schaudepot17,00 € / 15,00 €*Vitra Design Museum 11,00 € / 9,00 €*Vitra Schaudepot8,00 € / 6,00 €*Architecture tour 2h14,00 € / 10,00 €* Guided tours 1h (Exhibition tour, Production tour or Behind the Scenes)7,00 € / 5,00 €**Reduced prices: young people from age 12, students, seniors,disabled persons, groups of more than 10 people, combination of 3 and more tickets/person, children under 12 years of age free
Vitra Design MuseumCharles-Eames-Str. 2D-79576 Weil am RheinT +49.7621.702.3200F +49.7621.702.3590info@design-museum.de
Daily 10 am - 6 pm,24 December 10 am - 2 pm. The museum is open on Sundays and on all public holidays.
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Victor Papanek: The Politics of Design
29.09.2018 – 10.03.2019Vitra Design Museum
Lake Verea:Paparazza Moderna
02.02.2019 – 07.07.2019Vitra Design Museum Gallery
Anton Lorenz: From Avant-Garde to Industry
22.02.2019 – 19.05.2019Vitra Schaudepot
The Vitra Design Museum Collection – 1800 to the Present
Permanent ExhibitionVitra Schaudepot
Night Fever
21.11.2018 – 05.05.2019ADAM − Brussels Design Museum, Belgium
Alvar Aalto – Second Nature
16.02.2019 – 14.04.2019Tokyo Station GalleryJapan
Together! The New Architecture of the Collective
29.11.2018 – 17.03.2019GRASSI Museum, LeipzigGermany
Hello, Robot
22.01.2019 – 22.04.2019 MAAT Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology Lisbon, Portugal
All exhibitions
The collection of the Vitra Design Museum ranks among the most important holdings of furniture design worldwide. It contains some 7000 pieces of furniture, a vast assemblage of lighting objects and numerous archives, as well as the Collection of the Eames Office, or the estates of Verner Panton and Alexander Girard. On 4 June 2016 the Vitra Schaudepot was opened, created by the architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron, in which the Vitra Design Museum presents key pieces of its collection.
Guided tours through the Vitra Schaudepot:Highlights from the CollectionEvery Saturday and Sunday,2 pmFocus Tour: EamesMaterials and Design ProcessesEvery Friday, 2 pmBehind the ScenesEvery first Friday of the month,3 pm (in German)
Vitra Design Museum + Vitra Schaudepot17,00 € / 15,00 €*Vitra Design Museum 11,00 € / 9,00 €*Vitra Schaudepot8,00 € / 6,00 €*Architecture tour 2h14,00 € / 10,00 €*Guided tours 1h (Exhibition tour, Production tour or Behind the Scenes)7,00 € / 5,00 €**Reduced prices: young people from age 12, students, seniors,disabled persons, groups of more than 10 people, combination of 3 and more tickets/person, children under 12 years of age free
Daily 10 am – 6 pm,24 December 10 am – 2 pm. The museum is open on Sundays and on all public holidays.
Vitra Schaudepot, Temporary Space
Dieter Rams (born 1932) is one of the most influential German designers of the past decades. His designs for the Braun company are legendary, and his design principles are more relevant today than ever. From 18 November 2016 to 12 March 2017, the Vitra Design Museum is presenting an exhibition of Rams’ work in the newly opened Vitra Schaudepot. »Dieter Rams: Modular World« features a selection of the furnishings and electrical appliances designed by Rams, including key works such as the phonograph »Snow White’s Coffin« and the 606 Universal Shelving System. The show is supplemented by historic visual material and a video interview in which Rams discusses his design philosophy.
»Dieter Rams: Modular World« is the first exhibition to put a primary focus on Rams’ furniture designs, demonstrating how closely they are linked to his design philosophy. Rams summarised their essential characteristics – simplicity, honesty, timelessness – in his »Ten Principles for Good Design«, which he began to formulate in the 1970s. In one of them he states: »Good design is long-lasting. It avoids being fashionable and therefore never appears antiquated. Unlike fashionable design, it lasts many years – even in today’s throwaway society.« The starting point for these deliberations was a fundamental criticism of consumerism, which motived Rams to articulate new goals for the practise of design – long before sustainability became a buzzword.
Rams’ ten principles are also a useful source for gaining a better understanding of his multifaceted design activities. From 1955 to 1997 he was head of product design for the German manufacturer Braun. The legendary electrical appliances that have repeatedly been cited in recent years as inspiration for the design of Apple products originated here. Less well known is the fact that Rams also developed furniture beginning as early as 1957. His work in this area was primarily for the Vitsoe company, which continues to produce his designs today. Looking back, Rams explains that furniture design was very important to him: »Perhaps even more directly than with the Braun appliances, my furniture arose from a belief in how the world should be ›outfitted‹ and how people should live in this artificial environment. In this respect, each piece of furniture is also a design for a certain kind of world and way of living«.
Rams’ designs are distinguished by their reductiveness and simplicity, based on the maxim »Good design is as little design as possible.« His intention is not a pure asceticism, however, but an aesthetic sustainability. His shelf systems, seating furniture and tables are so functional and quietly neutral in appearance that they can be used in many different areas – living rooms, kitchens, offices or public spaces – and remain current even today. Many of his furnishings are conceived as modular systems that can adapt to the changing living conditions of the owner. The famous 606 Universal Shelving System, for instance, has been continuously produced since 1960, and it is possible to combine modules manufactured today with a shelf system from the 1960s. The armchair from the 620 series, to cite another example, comes as a one-, two- or three-seater and can be fitted with different side and back panels. The 740 furniture system, one of Rams’ least familiar designs, is based on round stacking elements that were inspired by Japanese sitting mats – even today a captivatingly simple design concept.
Due to their timeless quality, Rams’ products are exemplars of sustainability and continue to exert an influence on contemporary designers.
Wednesday Matinee (DE) | 25 January 2017 | 10amCurator Heng Zhi will guide through the exhibition.10€ per person
Mark Adams | Talk (EN) | 9 March 2017 | 6.30pmMark Adams has been CEO of the furniture company Vitsoe since 1993. He has continued the founder Niels Vitsoe's legacy of simple and durable high-quality design. In his talk, Adams speaks about what good design means.Free admission