Hasta La Ideas

The Vitsœ 606 Universal Shelving System is arguably as close to perfection as an article of furniture can possibly be. Designed by Dieter Rams in 1960, long before the lowercase “i” became the de facto indicator of thoughtful minimalism, its beauty lies in the fact that it is a paragon of functionality, as evidenced by nicely executed short film:

Indeed, the iconic shelving unit was the subject matter of choice for a couple of entrants in our “Good Design Is Long Lasting” sketch competition, a collaboration with Phaidon on the occasion of the publication of As Little Design As Possible: The Work of Dieter Rams. Despite the two artists’ antithetical approaches to depicting the 606, both Yuka Hiyoshi (top) and Dave Pinter (bottom) successfully capture the spirit of the shelving unit.

Fun fact: The design takes its name from its year (1960) and the fact that it was the sixth Vitsœ product—hence, 60-6.

“I can’t think of any way to improve the 606…”

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