Amidst new projects and trends, the London Design Festival (17-25 September) is also an opportunity to commemorate great designers of the 20th century. Vitra does the honors on 20 September: during the opening of the new showroom in London, the company presents the second limited edition of the Kangourou chair by Jean Prouvé (1901-1984).
Created by the French designer in 1948 but never industrially produced, the iconic piece has been added to the Prouvé Collection by Vitra, and stands out for its elegant oak structure and ingenious seat that forms a whole with the back legs. Completed with cushions in pale bouclé fabric with contrasting brown stitching, Kangourou will have an edition of 100 pieces, sold only at the vitra.com website, starting on 20 September.
The new Vitra space is inside the historic Tramshed building in the Storeditch area, a former power plant for the East London Tramway built in 1905. The space of 920 m2 has been renovated, conserving its industrial charm and structural details, with brick walls and metal beams that form a backdrop for the Vitra universe, organized in offices, product displays and an area for events.
The launch of the Kangourou chair opens the way for the Vitra Sessions, digital appointments that starting this fall will periodically approach themes related to design, including the recommendations and contributions of design experts.
Don’t miss the session on 20 October, a conversation about Prouvé’s work between the designer’s daughter Catherine Prouvé, and the President of Vitra Rolf Fehlbaum, who during a trip to Paris in the 1980s purchased the Antony chair from 1954 from Prouvé. It was to become the first item in a collection of Prouvé creations, the largest in the world, presently under the aegis of the Vitra Design Museum. To see the session, sign up at the following link.
