Furniture of our time – Herman Miller Collection at Contura, Basel

Original poster commissioned in 1962 by the Basel-based Contura from Armin Hofmann for its exhibition of mass-produced furniture by Herman Miller—the U.S. company that continues to produce designs by Charles & Ray Eames, Isamu Noguchi, and George Nelson—which are still regarded as absolute classics today. Undoubtedly one of Hofmann’s two or three most sought-after posters, it plays on the contrasts between light and dark on the one hand, and between austere typography and the organic forms of the furniture silhouettes on the other; it is almost never found on the market.

Willi Fehlbaum—father of Rolf Fehlbaum, the current chairman emeritus of Vitra AG—founded Vitra in 1950 in Weil am Rhein; Vitra AG was established in Switzerland in 1953. Also in 1953, Fehlbaum Sr. came across furniture designed by Charles and Ray Eames in the U.S., prompting him to acquire the production rights for the European market from the manufacturer Herman Miller in 1957—marking the launch of Vitra’s Herman Miller Collection, which also included George Nelson’s furniture. In Switzerland, distribution was initially handled by the subsidiary Contura S.A.; since 1983, the furniture has been sold exclusively under the Vitra label.

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