Vitra presents the new Circle Store: a model of circularity

Last Thursday, we had the opportunity to visit Vitra's new Circle Store, now officially open to the public. After two successful years since its inauguration in Offenbach, Germany, the store has moved to the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein, near Basel.

A new center has thus been added to the Vitra Circle Store network - which counts two other locations in Brussels and Amsterdam - that plays a key role as both a store and a touch point for the circular furniture model promoted by Vitra.



Vitra's Circle Stores are a manifestation of the company's attention on environmental issues and its contribution in promoting values related to sustainability and circularity.  The stores in Brussels, Amsterdam, and Weil am Rhein are integrated into a circular model that involves the use of recycled materials, sourcing components from local suppliers, and the installation of photovoltaic systems, among other initiatives.

The new Circle Store at the Vitra Campus includes an area dedicated to product service and repair, where customers can get advice, purchase spare parts and products. The latter also include used items collected from sample collections, exhibitions and fairs, and put back for sale with the aim of supporting a circular economy.



During the Press Conference, Nora Fehlbaum, CEO of Vitra, emphasized, "We wanted to make our contribution be addressing the most burning and urgent problems the world is facing right now."

With its synergistic effects, the new Vitra Circle Store contributes to Vitra's ecological mission, which is outlined in three main objectives to be achieved by 2030:
1. Reduction of the ecological footprint
2. Contribution to the circular economy
3. Transparency in production processes



On the occasion of the Circle Store opening, Vitra presented the photographic exhibition "Iwan Baan: Moments in Architecture". This exhibition marks the first great retrospective dedicated to the Dutch photographer and is hosted in the Vitra Design Museum. The exhibition showcases the panorama of world architecture from the beginning of the 21st century through the lens of one of the most important photographers of architecture and the built environment.