This day is coming closer. This day has a date – this date is September 17th. On September 17th, the first ever factory sale is taking place on the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein (D) from 9am till 6pm, just 7 km from Basel (CH). Products from the Home Collection and design classics, which have been on display in the VitraHaus or used for photo shoots will be up for sale with reductions of up to 65%!

Since 2009, the Domaine de Boisbuchet has opened its doors each summer to visitors from the region and all over the world, providing access to the park-like grounds with buildings by international architects along with special exhibitions in the chateau. Having organized countless exhibitions as the founding director of Vitra Design Museum, Alexander von Vegesack now concentrates his energies as head of the Domaine de Boisbuchet on staging exceptional presentations on themes from outside the classical museum canon – exhibitions that reflect Boisbuchet’s identity as an experimental centre for interdisciplinary creativity. This year, the exhibition Naked Shapes underscores Boisbuchet’s close ties with Japan and its exemplary culture of design and architecture.

In the second half of the 20th century, Italian design attained worldwide recognition. The Milanese photographers Aldo Ballo and Marirosa Toscani Ballo played a considerable part in this success – there is hardly a design icon from that era which was not photographed in their studio.

The Vitra Design Museum traces these conditions and influences in its new exhibition and presents the high art of reduction as the quintessence of design. Divided into twelve sections grouped under the headings Manufacture, Function, Aesthetics and Ethics, the exhibition puts forth the motifs, motivations and strategies pursued by design in its quest for efficiency. The fact that Vitra Design Museum concentrates on tendencies in furniture design – though by no means exclusively – proves to be a decisive advantage, as furniture supplies this complex theme with particularly vivid arguments as a proxy for everyday culture and our attitude toward the world.

We use them every day. They influence our lives. They number in the billions. They are so common that we rarely even think about them: the Hidden Heroes of everyday life. Be it a dowel, a tea bag or a zipper, these objects are classics. Typically based on an idea that was both simple and ingenious, they have often remained essentially unaltered for decades. Due to their constancy, efficient use of materials and great utility, they are the utmost examples of sustainability and functional aesthetics. With the exhibition „Hidden Heroes: The Genius of Everyday Things“, the Vitra Design Museum and Hi-Cone present 36 of these everyday classics, telling about their history and demonstrating the enormous significance they have today, both conceptually and economically.

Rudolf Steiner is regarded as one of the most influential – and also one of the most controversial – reformers of the twentieth century. He founded the Waldorf schools and advocated a holistic view of humanity which shows its influence in many areas of our lives today – including bio-cosmetics, a heightened environmental consciousness and biodynamic agricultural products, to name a few examples. 

In cooperation with Vitra Design Museum and the Centre Georges Pompidou, CIRECA has been putting on an international summer academy at Domaine de Boisbuchet since 1996. The international summer workshops are offered from July through mid-September. The courses are led by renowned designers, architects and artists who live and work together with the participants for a length of six to ten days.