September 18, 2008
On October 9, traffic will be showcasing the latest Vitra collection and will be sure to attract interior designers, architect, homeowners and the wider emerging design community here in Dubai. To begin, the night will start with a short presentation with Rami Farook; the owner of traffic.
The evening will be a great opportunity for design aficionados to see firsthand the collection from a brand which has paramount importance in the design world today as leading design icons which influence office furniture and industrial design throughout the world, through both graphic and video installations.
Vitra has manufactured furniture designs by Charles & Ray Eames possibly one of the most fruitful collaborations of the 20th century, since 1957. Building this foundation over the years, the company has developed a wide range of furnishings for the office, for the home and for public spaces in collaboration with progressive designers. Vitra already has presence here in the Middle East with Vitra chairs being used in the Dubai International Airport and in the new Abu Dhabi Airport.
Vitra is more than just a design-oriented manufacturing company. The name also stands for the Vitra design Museum, for a collection of modern furniture and its accompanying archive, for workshops and publications on topics of design and for an architectural concept that unites buildings by Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid and Tadao Ando.
The goal of both Vitra and the Eames family is to spread the design message of Charles and Ray Eames - American designer couple, who worked and made major contributions in many fields of design including industrial design, furniture design, art, graphic design, film and architecture - and to give the customer the design experience Charles and Ray intended. Vitra is not simple a manufacturing company but a project.
The collection is bringing with it a key piece for Rami Farook; the polder sofa in leather. “In 2006, I became a fan of Hella Jongerius because of this sofa. She has become known for the special way she fuses industry and craft, high and low tech, tradition and the contemporary. The leather version was only launched a few months back so I’m overjoyed that we’re having this in the gallery. Also, that the Joyn table is part of the exhibition - as well as being the official table in the traffic library - as I am a big fan of Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec’s designs.” The Bouroullec’s are part of the permanent museum collections of the New York Museum of Modern Art, the “Musée National d’Art Moderne - Centre Georges Pompidou” in Paris, the London Design Museum, the Lisbon Design Museum and the Boijmans van Beuningen Museum of Rotterdam.
traffic gallery decided to bring Vitra to Dubai given its position as a legendary brand that brought some of the world’s most iconic collections together, collaborating with key designers from around the globe. Ultimately traffic aims to bring the latest in design and innovation to Dubai.
Vitraffic will remain at traffic until the end of October as an exhibition, and afterwards available as collections from traffic.