Vitra was founded in 1950 as a family-owned company and is headquartered in Birsfelden near Basel, Switzerland. Its production sites listed by the company are in Weil am Rhein, Germany; Sugito, Japan; and Szombathely, Hungary. The figures below cover Vitra’s design institutions, campus, people, supply chain, energy, emissions, water, and selected historical sustainability measures.
Contents
- Company and design institutions
- Vitra Campus and architecture
- People, training, and representation
- Suppliers and production footprint
- Energy, biodiversity, and mobility
- Emissions and water consumption
- Selected historical sustainability figures
Company and design institutions
Vitra’s company history reaches back to 1950, while its design and cultural work has a distinct institutional anchor. The Vitra Design Museum was established in 1989. Its exhibition area totals about 700 square metres, and the museum mounts two major temporary exhibitions each year. It can organise up to ten exhibitions per year, giving the institution a broader annual programme than the number of major temporary exhibitions alone suggests. These figures are reported on the Vitra Design Museum page.
The museum’s collection is measured at several levels depending on what is included. The Miniatures Collection page reports about 7,000 furniture pieces and over 1,000 lighting objects. A Jean Prouvé collection interview describes around 20,000 total objects when archives and designer estates are included. These are complementary collection measures, not interchangeable totals: the larger figure covers a wider institutional scope.
The Vitra Campus attracts over 350,000 visitors each year, according to The Vitra Campus: Architecture Design Industry. That visitor figure places the campus in the context of a public-facing design destination as well as a company location. The site combines manufacturing, architecture, exhibitions, gardens, and retail-oriented spaces in one setting.
Vitra Campus and architecture
VitraHaus was completed in 2010. The VitraHaus page gives its principal dimensions as 57 metres long, 54 metres wide, and 21.3 metres tall. Its stacked arrangement projects up to 15 metres over itself, and the individual building consists of 12 house volumes.
| Vitra Campus measure | Reported figure | Source label |
|---|---|---|
| Campus visitors per year | Over 350,000 | The Vitra Campus: Architecture Design Industry |
| VitraHaus completion | 2010 | VitraHaus page |
| VitraHaus length | 57 m | VitraHaus page |
| VitraHaus width | 54 m | VitraHaus page |
| VitraHaus height | 21.3 m | VitraHaus page |
| VitraHaus house volumes | 12 | VitraHaus page |
The campus landscape also has a substantial horticultural dimension. The Oudolf Garten covers 4,000 square metres and uses about 30,000 plants. It features more than 275 different plant species. These figures come from Vitra’s 2024 Sustainability Report. The report also says that three beehives were installed on the campus and that the campus green-space share increased to 35% in 2022.
Historical reports show that the garden’s plant and species figures have remained recognizable over time, while one older area measurement differs. Vitra’s 2020 Sustainability Report describes about 30,000 plants, more than 275 species, and three beehives, but gives the garden area as 400 square metres. Because the reports state different area figures, they should be retained as report-specific measurements rather than combined into one trend.
The campus environmental timeline includes several built-environment measures. In 2014, Vitra added 980 metres of hornbeam hedge along the Álvaro Siza Promenade. A small park was created between the company’s two main headquarters buildings in 2014. For the Schaudepot opening in 2016, Vitra reduced concrete surfaces. In 2018, the campus received an electric-vehicle charging station.
People, training, and representation
Vitra’s 2024 Sustainability Report records 38 apprentices and students across 15 vocational programmes. The 2024 apprenticeship pass rate was 100%, while just under 82% of apprenticeship and dual-education programmes were successfully completed. Over 44% of graduates chose a future at Vitra. The same report records 47 managers receiving at least 14 hours of additional individual training and 200 participants receiving six-hour short-module training.
The company reported 48 nationalities represented in 2024. Women held 37% of leadership roles. Group Management had a 50:50 gender split, while the overall employee gender split was 48:52 women to men. These percentages refer to different groups, so the leadership, Group Management, and employee figures should not be treated as one single workforce measure.
| Workforce or training measure | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apprentices and students | 38 | 52 | 44 |
| Vocational programmes | 15 | 14 | 18 |
| Apprenticeship pass rate | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Apprentices taken on by Vitra | Not stated in supplied 2024 figures | 64% | 75% |
| Women in leadership roles | 37% | Not stated in supplied 2023 figures | 38% |
The 2023 Sustainability Report recorded 52 apprentices and students in 14 vocational programmes. It reported a 100% apprenticeship pass rate and said 64% of apprentices were taken on by the company. Employees spent an average of 5.9 hours on e-learning and 12.9 hours on face-to-face courses and webinars. Seventeen employees received over 66 hours of external training support, and 34 managers completed at least 10 hours of personalised leadership training.
In 2022, Vitra reported 44 apprentices and students in 18 vocational programmes, with 100% completing training successfully and 75% taken on by the company. Employees averaged 8.2 hours of e-learning and 5.88 hours in face-to-face courses and webinars. Forty employees received more than 70 hours of training support. Group Management was 60% women and 40% men, while women held 38% of leadership roles.
The 2020 Sustainability Report gives a different workforce snapshot: 56 apprentices and students in 10 vocational programmes, a 100% training completion rate, and 59% of apprentices taken on by Vitra. It reported 43 nationalities, a workforce split of 51% women and 49% men, and women holding 67% of general management roles. The average period of employment was 11.1 years.
Suppliers and production footprint
Vitra’s 2023 Sustainability Report says 97% of its suppliers were Europe-based and 95% manufactured in Europe. Germany represented 46% of suppliers, while 39% manufactured in Germany. The 2022 report also recorded 46% of suppliers from Germany and 96% of suppliers based in Europe.
The 2022 supplier distribution was reported as Germany 45%, Italy 24%, Poland 9%, Hungary 8%, Finland 4%, China 2%, the rest of Europe 6%, and the rest of the world 2%. These figures describe the 2022 supplier distribution and should not be read as a current supplier map. Vitra’s listed production sites are Weil am Rhein, Sugito, and Szombathely, while its headquarters are in Birsfelden.
The company’s product-making process can involve substantial manual coordination. According to the Eames Aluminium Group source, an average of six Vitra employees need 40 minutes to assemble one Eames Aluminium Chair. This is an assembly-time observation for that chair and should not be generalized to Vitra’s entire product range.
Energy, biodiversity, and mobility
Vitra’s 2024 Sustainability Report says all Scope 2 production sites listed in that report have been supplied with 100% renewable electricity since 2024. The company installed a 142 kWp solar power system at the Vitra Center in 2024. The report also says the campus heating network supplies 22% of Vitra Campus heating energy from renewable, CO2-neutral sources.
Biodiversity measures in the 2024 report include 10 nesting boxes hung in campus trees and an increase in the proportion of biodiverse areas in campus green spaces from 4.5% to 16.3%. The report’s 2023 comparison also records that same campus biodiversity-area change. These percentages describe the share of campus green spaces identified as biodiverse areas, not the total share of the campus covered by vegetation.
Earlier energy figures show a sequence of installations. In 2022, solar power capacity increased by 18% after new installations on two buildings, and more than 80% of electricity consumed by Vitra came from renewable sources. In 2020, Vitra reported 47.52 kWp of solar power output on the campus. The 2020 report also records a 109.58 kWp campus solar-system expansion in 2008, a 120 kWp solar system at the Neuenburg site in 2008, a combined heat and power unit installed in 2010 with 50 kWp electric power and 100 kWp thermal power, a 436 kWp photovoltaic system at a new Weil am Rhein building in 2012, and a 376 kWp photovoltaic system at headquarters in Birsfelden in 2012.
Vitra’s 2024 report says 34.3% of company cars were electric or hybrid vehicles. Other measures in the sustainability timeline include a geothermal heat pump for VitraHaus installed in 2009 and campus green-space irrigation using water from Vitra’s own well, without public drinking water, beginning in 2018.
Emissions and water consumption
Vitra’s 2024 Sustainability Report reports Scope 1 emissions of 1,223.16 t CO2e, Scope 2 emissions of 84.18 t CO2e, and Scope 3 emissions of 54,332.38 t CO2e. Within Scope 1, stationary-combustion emissions were 626.22 t CO2e, mobile-combustion emissions were 528.36 t CO2e, and fugitive emissions were 68.59 t CO2e. Within Scope 3, purchased goods and services accounted for 36,368.67 t CO2e, while capital goods accounted for 869.08 t CO2e.
These categories describe different parts of the emissions inventory. Scope 1 covers the reported direct-emission categories, Scope 2 covers the reported purchased-energy emissions, and Scope 3 includes value-chain categories such as purchased goods and services and capital goods. The figures are reported values for 2024, not forecasts.
Total fresh-water consumption in 2024 was 12,016.50 m3. The country figures reported by Vitra were Germany 7,865 m3, Switzerland 2,145 m3, Hungary 1,350 m3, and Finland 655.8 m3. These are the measurement geographies named in the 2024 Sustainability Report.
Selected historical sustainability figures
Vitra’s historical sustainability reports provide context for changes in training, workforce composition, suppliers, and environmental infrastructure. In 2020, the company reported 51% women and 49% men across the workforce, compared with the 48:52 women-to-men employee split reported for 2024. The general-management figure was 67% women in 2020, while the 2024 report gives 37% women in leadership roles; the labels describe different reporting categories and should not be treated as a like-for-like series.
The 2022 report recorded 96% of suppliers based in Europe, and the 2023 report recorded 97%. The 2022 report also said more than 80% of electricity consumed came from renewable sources, while the 2024 report states that all listed Scope 2 production sites have used 100% renewable electricity since 2024. These statements use different scopes and reporting periods.
Two production-process changes are recorded in the 2024 Sustainability Report. In 2009, Vitra shifted electroplating to long-term suppliers with a closed water circulation system in Germany. In 2019, it transplanted cherry trees instead of chopping them down to make space for a new garden. Together with the hedge, parks, reduced concrete surfaces, well-water irrigation, nesting boxes, beehives, and Oudolf Garten measures, these dated entries show how the company’s sustainability reporting includes both operational data and site-management actions.