Casa Vitra

During Milan Design Week Vitra moved into a temporary location as part of the Fuorisalone events in Milan’s city centre: CasaVitra, in the vicinity of Corso Como, exhibited the spatial installation “Colour Machine”, which is dedicated to the Vitra Colour & Material Library, presenting Hella Jongerius’ insights and inspirations about colours, textiles and materials.

A decade ago, Vitra initiated a research project in collaboration with the Dutch designer to study the properties and possibilities of the colours, textures, finishes and materials in the company’s product portfolio. This long-term project resulted in the Vitra Colour & Material Library. In her role as Art Director for colours and materials, Hella Jongerius creates designer-specific colour and material worlds in collaboration with Vitra’s contemporary designers and the company’s development team. Simultaneously, updates of the classics are developed in consultation with their originators’ descendants. Taken all together, the designer-specific libraries result in a wide range of Vitra colours, which have a classification scheme that makes it possible to combine furnishings in vibrant and expressive collages.

The Colour & Material Library is a dynamic system. Vitra’s textile collection is at the heart of the library, which offers a wide selection of Vitra-exclusive fabrics. For decades Vitra has been developing its own fabrics, which combine a strong technical performance with high aesthetic quality for use in homes and offices. Vitra is convinced that textiles give a piece of furniture an important signature.

At CasaVitra, visitors encounter giant spinning tops twirling on the floor, which present the full range of Vitra materials in four colour worlds: lights, darks, greens and reds. These four worlds form the foundation of the library, organising textiles, plastics, woods and colours in many sizes and shapes. Suspended from the ceiling above the spinning tops, nine colour wheels revolve in space. These wheels celebrate particular parts of contemporary and classic furniture pieces by iconic Vitra designers – such as the base of Prouvé’s EM Table or Eames Plastic Chair.

12–17 April 2016
Casa Vitra
Spazio Edit
via Pietro Maroncelli 14, Milan