The Vitra Design Museum is housed in a building designed by the Californian architect Frank O. Gehry – an ensemble of white towers, slopes and cubes - and was opened in 1989. It is now one of the world's leading museum of architecture and industrial furniture design.

Developments in modern furniture design
Vitra, now a multinational company, was established in Weil as a family firm in 1950. The Vitra Design Museum explores the international history of industrial design and related fields and showcases current developments. All major periods in modern furniture design are represented, from the beginning of mass production on an industrial scale in the mid-19th century, via functional modernist designs to today's post-modern furniture. A visit to the Vitra Architecture Park at this famous chair factory on the northern outskirts of Weil is a must for anyone interested in modern architecture and design.

The Vitra Design Museum's collection numbers about 3,000 exhibits and is one of the world's leading collections focusing on furniture and interior design. Its nucleus is the estate of the American furniture designers and architects Charles and Ray Eames, whose designs are manufactured and sold in Europe by Vitra. The collection also features early industrial bentwood furniture, tubular steel furniture designed by Marcel Breuer in the 1920s and 1930s, key items of Scandinavian design from 1930 to 1960, Italian design and present-day trends. An extensive library and an archive of contemporary photographs, drawings, patent records, posters and furniture catalogues are available in the museum for research purposes. As well as its miniatures collection the Vitra Design Museum also produces full-size re-editions of classic designer furniture.
» www.design-museum.de

A selection of other design museums in Germany.