#HTE

Miniature of DCW Chair by Charles & Ray Eames.

Left: Miniature of Tulip chair by Eero Saarinen. Right: Miniature of Stuhl W1 by Mart Stam.

Left: Miniature of Coconut chair by George Nelson. Middle: Miniature of Hill House 1 by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Right: Miniature of Lounge Chair & Ottoman by Charles & Ray Eames.

Miniature of Stool (Modell A) by Charles & Ray Eames.

Left: Miniature of 3-Benet Skalstol by Hans J. Wegner. Right: Miniature of Standard chair by Jean Prouve.

Miniature of Big Easy by Ron Arad.

Left: Miniature of Mezzadro by Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni. Middle: Miniature of Ribbon chair by Pierre Paulin. Right: Miniatures of Stuhl No.14 by Gebrüder Kohn & Thonet.

Left: Miniature of Plywood Elephant by Charles & Ray Eames. Right: Miniature of MR 90 Barcelona by Mies van der Rohe.

Miniature of Heart-Shaped Cone chair by Verner Panton.

Seriously, who hasn’t dreamed of owning a collection of Vitra Miniatures? Hang on, it’s not just me, is it? Of course not, silly! Vitra Miniatures is the stuff of design legends, and the good news is that an exhibition of 100 minis is currently touring Australia for the first time ever, thanks to our buddies at Living Edge. Hooray!

I think we can all agree that no piece of furniture has attracted the attention of designers, architects and artists like the chair. The chair is closely related to the shape of the human body, it is the depiction of our figures with arms, legs, feet and a back that mirror our own. The chair has assumed a crucial role in the history of design – as an experimental object, as the motor driving new developments forwards and as an icon. It has long since advanced from being an everyday utilitarian object to attain the status of an artistic event.

Installation view of Vitra’s 100 Miniatures Exhibition.

For over two decades, the Vitra Design Museum has been making miniature replicas of milestones in furniture design from its collection. The Miniatures Collection encapsulates the entire history of industrial furniture design, from Historicism and Art Nouveau to the Bauhaus and New Objectivity, from Radical Design and Postmodernism all the way up to the present day.

Exactly one-sixth the size of the historical originals, the chairs are all true to scale and precisely recreate the smallest details of construction, material and colour. The high standard of authenticity even extends to the natural grain of the wood, the reproduction of screws and the elaborate handicraft techniques involved. This has made the miniatures into popular collector’s items as well as ideal illustrative material for universities, design schools and architects.

In the touring exhibition at Living Edge, 100 miniatures of classic seats are presented on plinths in an elegant installation. The exhibition is accompanied by 40 wall-mounted panels comprising photographs, original drawings and timelines.

Since 1992, the Miniatures Collection available for sale comprises more than 8,000 models of furniture and lighting. By contrast, 100 prototypes of classic seats dating from the 1800s and 1990s have been developed for this display.

In this special showcase, the viewer’s attention is directed towards the perfectly crafted true-to-scale character of the miniatures. It is visually accessible to grasp a chair as a miniature – its proportions stand out even more distinctly than in the original object. The clearly-defined world of the miniatures helps us find our bearings in the diverse styles of contemporary design.

In this special exhibition, the chairs are viewed not as isolated phenomena but are placed firmly in their cultural and historical context. A perfect little lesson in design history.

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