Product news: furniture brand Vitsœ has reissued a classic chair by German designer Dieter Rams, the former head of design at Braun.
The 620 Chair Programme, first designed in 1962, has been "comprehensively re-engineered" according to Vitsœ, which last year was granted an exclusive global licence to produce Rams' furniture designs.
Like Rams' 606 Universal Shelving System, which Rams designed for Vitsœ in the same year, the chair is an adaptable piece of furniture that can be joined with other chairs to form a multi-seat sofa. Its castors can also be swapped for a swivel base.
Dezeen previously recorded a podcast with Rams at London's Design Museum, where he talked to Vitsœ managing director Mark Adams about an exhibition of his work at the museum – see more stories about Dieter Rams.
Photographs are by Vitsœ.
Here's more information from Vitsœ:
New licence, new Vitsœ chair production
Following Dieter Rams granting Vitsœ the exclusive worldwide licence to his original furniture designs, Vitsœ is pleased to announce it has comprehensively re-engineered Rams's 620 Chair Programme delivering exceptional improvements in both quality and price. The 620 Chair Programme – marking its 50th anniversary – will be available from 9 May.
Vitsœ’s new production of 620 shows characteristic rigour and attention to detail. The chair has been completely re-engineered, right down to the last purpose-designed stainless-steel bolt. In turn, the very best traditional upholstery skills have been revived to ensure a chair that will last for generations, a point reinforced by the choice of a sumptuous full-grain aniline-dyed leather that will only improve with age. All of this has been achieved while prices have been reduced.
Designed for Vitsœ in 1962, the 620 Chair Programme has won numerous prizes and is collected by, and exhibited in, museums and galleries worldwide. Notoriously, in 1968, the chair was copied. Vitsœ’s co-founder, Niels Vitsœ, fought a lengthy court case that culminated in the chair being granted rare copyright protection in 1973.
Like its sibling the 606 Universal Shelving System, which was designed by Dieter Rams in 1962, the 620 Chair Programme is a carefully-conceived kit of parts. For example, a single chair can become a multi-seat sofa when more chairs are added. Or a chair on castors can be transformed into a swivelling chair.