Vegetal Chair

One of my favourite chairs of recent times is the Vegetal Chair by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec

"From the outset, our desire to create an original structure, based on a complex and narrative form of construction. Coupled with an inclination for highly advanced techniques, such as plastic injection moulding, which opens the way to mass distribution.The initial designs show a chair that has the fluidity and uniform elegance of a plant: a great unity of form whilst at the same time being, in essence, untamed" Ronan Bouroullec

From my perspective, the subtext in this story is not the aesthetics but Vitra's innovation strategy. The challenge leading manufacturers like Vitra face is they invest enourmous resources into the design, only for their most popular designs are quickly replicated by Chinese manufacturers and sold for a fraction of price.

The Chair's plant-like structure made of polyamide dyed throughout goes to the limits of the technically feasible. It creates an enormous barrier to entry and ensures margins are retained and investments recouped.

Everything about Vitra I like. Vitra's product line consists of designer furniture for use in offices, homes and public areas. Apart from the company's own designs, it also manufactures and distributes the works of designers such as Charles and Ray Eames, George Nelson, Verner Panton, Antonio Citterio, Philippe Starck, Borek Sipek, Mario Bellini, Glen Oliver Löw, Dieter Thiel, Jasper Morrison, Alberto Meda, Ron Arad, Maarten Van Severen and Jean Prouvé.

According to Nils Holgar Moormann, sitting in the basement of Vitra is a private furniture collection of Vitra's owner Rolf Fehlbaum, the company strategy is to gradually drip feed editions of these onto the market over the coming decades. What makes this unique is that the director Rolf Fehlbaum has long since negotiated distribution rights with the estates of each designer. This strategy is enourmously successful as seen in the Jean Prouvé line of furniture that's turned a relatively obscure furniture designer into an iconic name alongside Eames and Nelson.

Another example of Vitra's intuitive approach to building their brand is their ongoing collaborations with the worlds leading architects who're commissioned to design their corporate architecture. After a major fire destroyed the Vitra facilities in 1981, British architect Nicholas Grimshaw was commissioned to design a new factory building. The aluminium factory hall, ready for production in only six months after the fire, was complemented by another production building by Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza in 1986.

In 1989, it was followed by a factory building by Frank O. Gehry. Gehry also constructed the Vitra Design Museum building, which was originally intended to house the private furniture collection of Vitra's owner Rolf Fehlbaum.

In 1993, Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid added a fire station – her first completed building – to the premises. The fire station now houses the Design Museum's international collection of designer chairs. In the same year, a conference pavilion of Japanese architect Tadao Ando was also constructed on the Vitra grounds. It was Ando's first work outside Japan.

From Hadid to Ando, Fehlbaum has successfully predicted these architects will become globally recognised brands in their own right.

This is a business that truly understands innovation, brand building and creating a legacy that will last for generations.