Vitra New Launches: Anagram & La Fonda
Vitra launches two new products for Autumn 2024 - the Anagram modular sofa system, designed by Panter & Tourron, which provides a versatile and adaptable lounge seating solution that can be reconfigured in seconds, and the Eames La Fonda fiberglass side chair limited edition, created to celebrate the mutual influence of close friends Alexander Girard and Charles and Ray Eames.
Vitra has launched the Eames fiberglass side chair with La Fonda base as a limited edition that combines the seat shell by Charles and Ray Eames with cushions in Tootstripe fabric designed by Alexander Girard in 1965, manufactured by the renowned American textile specialist Maharam.
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The limited edition is available in two colourways: an ochre fiberglass shell combined with a dark painted cast metal La Fonda base and seat cushion in raw umber and black Tootstripe wool fabric, and a red orange fiberglass shell on classic red metal base with the seat cushion in dark orange and dark crimson Tootstripe fabric. Limited globally to just 250 pieces of each colourway and priced at £1,090, this edition is exclusive to Aram in the UK and we have two of each available for the discerning collector. Supplied with a numbered special edition metal label on the underside of the seat and an informative editon leaflet. This La Fonda edition is only available for purchase in store - please contact us for further information.
Charles and Ray Eames were close friends with the designer and interior architect Alexander Girard, and they mutually influenced each other's work. The Girard and Eames archives are part of the Vitra Design Museum collection and were the starting point and inspiration when developing this limited edition.
Alexander Girard, Ray and Charles Eames photographed during the installation of The Good Design Exhibition at MoMA in New York in 1950. Image courtesy of Eames Office © Eames Office, LLC
The La Fonda chair was commissioned from the Eameses by Girard in the early 1960s for his interior of the La Fonda del Sol restaurant in the Time Life Building in New York. A cast metal base in two halves each comprising mirrored columns forms a sturdy yet elegant pedestal base. It is known in the Vitra catalogue by the acronym DAL (Dining height, Arm chair, La fonda base).
The Eames fiberglass side chair in the bar lounge of La Fonda del Sol restaurant in 1960, photographed by Charles Eames. Image courtesy of Vitra Design Museum, estate Alexander Girard; Photo: Charles Eames / © Eames Office, LLC
"Anagram is not just a comfortable sofa. It is a flexible lounge system that can be easily adapted to changing needs within seconds."
Panter & Tourron
Anagram is more than just a sofa: it is a family made up of a few modules and elements that can be used to respond quickly to the needs of the moment, as well as major life changes.
The Anagram platform modules are designed as islands that can be combined with other modules on all four sides and fitted with elements such as backrests, side panels and attachable tables. Thanks to an ingenious click mechanism, these elements can be freely positioned anywhere on the platform and rearranged in a matter of seconds. This allows for countless configurations and easy layout changes – from a classic L-shaped sofa or small reading nook to a practical sleeping area for guests, from a flat island-like meeting point in the centre of the room to an S-shaped configuration promoting communication or a cosy retreat and many other possibilities. Anagram is on display in store now.
The soft comfortable cushions are filled with 100% recycled PET fibres and contain zero animal-based padding. The fabric covers are easy to remove for cleaning or replacement. The robust, lightweight frame is made of aluminium with 80% recycled content and, like all Anagram components, is separate from other materials – nothing is glued, laminated or foamed. This means that the individual components, which are manufactured from recycled materials wherever possible, can be easily separated at the end of the product's life and recycled again.
Back panels and side tables 'click' onto the platform frames, allowing the sofa system to be reconfigured in almost any way you could desire.
The eleven Anagram elements are:
- Platform 2200x900mm
- Platform 1800x900mm
- Platform 1100x1650mm
- Back panel 1100mm
- Back panel 900mm
- Back cushion 1100mm
- Back cushion 900mm
- Back cushion 700mm
- Attachable side table 350mm diameter
- Attachable side table 900x300mm
- Set of two platform connectors
The frames are powder coated in a choice of three colours - basic dark (almost black), dark bordeaux and chalk. The side tables are available in oiled, natural oak, cotton white ash or black ash. There is a very wide range of upholstery fabrics to choose from, with samples available to see in store. The Anagram sofa system will be on display in store soon.
