Vitsœ Brings Back Dieter Rams 620 Chair Program
Revered industrial Dieter Rams has worked almost exclusively for two companies in his lifetime: Braun and Vitsœ. The latter company was founded in 1959 by a Danish furniture entrepreneur, Niels Vitsœ, and a German furniture-maker, Otto Zapf, to realize Rams's casegoods and furnishings–down-to-earth furniture that would last as long as possible.
The updated 620 Chair Program, designed by Dieter Rams for Vitsœ in 1962, has just been reintroduced to the market at $3,340 per unit.
As of May 9, Vitsœ will once again be selling Rams's 620 Chair Program, a series of modular seating upholstered in full-grain aniline-dyed leather. Like its sibling the 606 Universal Shelving System, Rams designed the program as a rigorously-conceived kit of parts. One chair can morph into a multi-seat sofa , or an armchair on a base of castors can be transformed into a swivel seat.
The 620's base is constructed from precision-engineered birch ply and houses a traditional coil-sprung construction. This in turn is over-laid with a rubberized-coir molding (a mixture of torn coconut husks and natural rubber). The arms and backs are made from warm-pressed sheet-molding compound, a material similar to, but stronger than, fiberglass. Photo courtesy Vitsœ.
Astoundingly, Rams first came up with the system when he was only 30 years old. In the last year, he has worked with Vitsœ to reengineer and reinforce the seating, "down to the last purpose-designed stainless-steel bolt." Not only that, but it costs (relatively) less: from $3,340 per unit.
The full-grain uncoated leather is available in six colors, including the midnight leather with off-white shell shown here.
Here's a video about the process:
A vintage 620 Chair Programme from the 1960s figures prominently into the Austin, Texas, family room of architects Elizabeth Alford and Michael Young. (Read the entire story from October 2012 here.)
For more on Dieter Rams and his design ethos of "less is more," check out Dwell's exclusive video interview.
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