Vitra Design Museum

An encyclopedic exploration of all facets of the fashion show, from its beginnings around 1900 to the present day. Fashion shows are special moments in the fashion industry – simultaneously ritualistic and dreamlike, both commercial and poetic. Their images spread across the globe in real time, shaping our cultural memory. Stage design, performance, clothing, light, and sound come together to form a temporary Gesamtkunstwerk – a comprehensive artwork. The exhibition »Catwalk« offers a look behind-the-scenes and explores the fascinating evolution of the fashion show: from its modest beginnings in couturiers’ salons around 1900 to the spectacular presentations of the twenty-first century; from haute couture to pret-a-porter; from the era of supermodels to the celebration of diversity; from classic catwalk photography to the virtual fashion show. The exhibition catalog is conceived as an encyclopedic A to Z and sheds light on the fashion show phenomenon and its history in all its facets, from backstage to front row, from model to performance, from pose to vogueing. In text contributions and interviews, the book gives numerous experts and protagonists from the fashion world a chance to have their say. Illustrations range from archival materials and fashion show ephemera to backstage and catwalk photography.

Unfolding five decades of design, collaboration and cultural impact from one of the most iconic sneaker brands of all time Published to accompany the fall 2024 exhibition at the Vitra Design Museum in Germany, this volume explores the design history of Nike, one of the world’s most revered sports brands. The exhibition catalog follows the evolution of the company’s design culture, tracing milestones, iconic objects and inspirations across their 50-year legacy. It also highlights Nike’s scientific research, which always begins with close examination of the body in motion, ultimately melding technology, function and aesthetics. The book features a wealth of previously unseen materials including rarities and one-offs from the company’s early days in the 1960s, original design drawings and prototypes of iconic sneaker models, historical documents and films, and the results of collaborations with creative figures such as Virgil Abloh and Marc Newson. It also illuminates the stories behind iconic objects and innovations, such as the development of the first waffle sole in the kitchen of Nike cofounder Bill Bowerman, or the story of the Tennessee State University Tigerbelles, a team of Black female athletes during the Black Power era in the United States. Leading design historians provide essays on diverse topics including the use of graphics, collaborative relationships with athletes and fashion designers, advanced R&D and more. In addition, the book features excerpted interviews with over 50 figures who have played a key role in Nike’s history, arranged in a readable conversational format. Not just for “sneakerheads,” the book provides deep insight into one of the world’s most sophisticated design entities and the relationship between product design, technical innovation and social change.

Tangible, sustainable energy solutions for designers to incorporate into buildings, products and more Energy is the central driving force of our society; energy is political; energy is invisible. But all buildings, infrastructure and products with which energy is generated, distributed and used are designed. Design must therefore also play a central role in urgently needed energy transition. Led by the curators of the Vitra Design Museum, Transform! Designing the Future of Energy explores the current, radical transformation of the energy sector from a design perspective: from products that harvest renewable energies to the design of solar houses and wind turbines, and from intelligent mobility concepts to future visions of self-sufficient cities. It sheds light on the global thirst for energy and asks critical questions: How can design contribute to making greater use of renewable energies and to reducing our energy consumption?

Gardens have always been places of leisure, pleasure, and production - they reflect identities, dreams, and visions. Deeply rooted in their culture, gardens have immense symbolic potential. The recent revival of horticulture has focused less on the garden as a romantic refuge than as a place where we imagine the future and develop solutions. Urban farms, vertical gardens, and other innovative projects in art, architecture, and urban planning demonstrate that the present return to the garden is no timid retreat, but a pioneering quest for a world in which social and ecological justice count for something. Garden Futures examines what gardens and their design reveal about our relationship to nature. In exploring the history of ideas behind the genesis of the modern garden, the book takes a close look at the present, goes in search of origins in the past, and builds bridges into the future. Stunning photographs illustrate ground-breaking gardens by such designers as Derek Jarman and Piet Oudolf while critical articles by well-known authors question conventional garden ideals. Authors and gardeners including Gilles Clement and Jamaica Kincaid present the garden as a place of learning where abstract concepts like ecology, climate change, and food insecurity are translated into things you can smell, touch, and taste. Daisy Ginsberg, Salmon Creek Farm, and EcoLogic Studio create experimental and speculative projects generating new attitudes and approaches.

The catalogue of a unique collection, ROBOTS 1:2 presents the space-themed toys in the R. F. Robot Collection held by the Vitra Design Museum. “Small kinetic sculptures of great originality”: that is how Rolf Fehlbaum, Chairman Emeritus of Vitra and founder of the Vitra Design Museum, describes the objects in his collection. In many years of careful research, he compiled a rare Wunderkammer of toy robots made mainly in Japan between 1937 and 1973. The term robot was coined in 1921 by Czech writer Karel Capek in his play R. U. R., which foreshadowed some of the impact robots have had on human lives – from relieving us of hard, dangerous, or unpleasant tasks to taking over our jobs, from small everyday dependencies to shifts in social power dynamics. While the large-format predecessor to this book presented the exhibits in their original size, ROBOTS 1:2 shows the space toys on a 1:2 scale. The largest robot determines the size of the book: this conveys a sense of the uncanny ambivalence that clings to even the most playful representatives of their kind. The fantastic pictures on the original packaging often displayed alongside the figurines vividly illustrate an image of the future that by this time is itself part of our past. QR codes give access to short films showing a number of robots in action.