What our customers say
“I can’t tell you the seemingly disproportionate amount of pleasure that good design brings me, and Vitsœ has established a new benchmark.”
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The handmade 620 chair is normally available on a 10-week leadtime in Europe.
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“…620 can safely be considered one of the few major furniture designs of the century, alongside those of Breuer, Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, Aalto and Saarinen”
Dr Hans Wichmann, 1971
The black and white photographs were taken in 1964 by Ingeborg Kracht-Rams and show the original production version of the chair.
A classic is born
At the tender age of 28, Dieter Rams’s 606 Universal Shelving System was launched in the German market. But he had also been working on the notion of another kit of parts that could be adapted, changed, added to in response to your changing life: the 620 Chair Programme.
Rams describes that he wanted to create a piece of upholstered furniture that was sumptuously comfortable but also visually light. Of course, he wanted it to be long-living so, not only did he ensure that all of the upholstery was removable, but he allowed a single chair to be transformed into a multiple-seat sofa.
620 was awarded the Rosenthal Studio Prize in 1966 and received a Gold Medal at the International Furniture Exhibition in Vienna in 1969. It then went on to be exhibited in numerous international exhibitions, including Modern Chairs 1918-1970 at the Whitechapel Art Gallery organised by the Victoria & Albert Museum in 1970. 620 has been included in the V&A’s permanent collection since 1970.
In 2006 the 620 Chair Programme was reissued in both the UK and US. Many knowledgable observers have commented that they are astonished that such an important piece of 20th century furniture has managed to pass them by.
”One of the few major furniture designs…“
The 620 Chair Programme had only been on the market for seven years before it was copied.
Court action was commenced in Germany and the following expert opinion was one of those submitted to the court:
“The 620 armchair has been on the market for approximately seven years… In this period hundreds of other designs for furniture have disappeared without trace from the market and from the consciousness of customers… Today, 620 can safely be considered one of the few major furniture designs of the century, alongside those of Breuer, Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, Aalto and Saarinen.”
Dr Hans Wichmann, 15 July 1971
On 10 October 1973 the court substantiated:
”The design of this chair is a personal, original creation of a highly aesthetic value.“
Accordingly the 620 Chair Programme was granted copyright protection and may be regarded as a work of art.
On being asked in 2006 whether design could be regarded as art, Dieter Rams said, “The question is obsolete. Engineers can be artists. So can architects, gardeners or any other person skilled in their trade.”
Chair programme…or sofa programme?
Like its sibling, the 606 Universal Shelving System, which was designed by Dieter Rams in 1960, the 620 Chair Programme has more to it than meets the eye. Many people take years to appreciate the subtleties and nuances that 606 is able to offer to a constantly changing lifestyle, the least of which is ensuring that you do not leave it behind when you move your home or office.
620 is also a kit of parts. Whether it is the simple interchangeability of castors for feet (available for hard or soft floors) or the combining of castors with feet for easy repositioning of the chairs or, indeed, their replacement with a swivel base, 620 constantly surprises.
Only the pig-nose screws reveal that a low back can be replaced with a high back; or that an arm can be removed so that another chair, or two, or three can be added to make a sofa that is as long as you need.
And, after many years of faithful service, nothing reveals that it will be you who is able to fit the replacement upholstery.
The conversation can flow naturally from chair to chair as the swivel base subconsciously works its charm.
Remove the arm from your chair, buy another armless chair, join them together, reattach the arm and, hey presto, you have a sofa.
There is no limit to the length of the sofa or the number of times you may subdivide it as your the needs of your life change.
What appeared to be a handsome solitary chair turns out to be a chair programme of multifarious possibilities.
