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Go to shop29 August 2025
The Vitra 2025 Collection updates the iconic Slow Chair and introduces the new Slow Sofa, both designed by the Bouroullec brothers. Crafted with eco-friendly materials, they feature a steel frame, innovative fabrics, and recycled padding.
In 2006, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, in collaboration with Vitra, introduced the Slow Chair—a lounge chair that would soon achieve the status of a contemporary classic.
The concept was revolutionary: delivering comfort, support, and softness without relying on large amounts of foam or padding, but instead through the elasticity of a technical fabric stretched over a tubular steel frame.
The result was a seat that was light, transparent, and enveloping—equally at home in modern interiors or more classical settings.
The Slow Chair pioneered a new design language: an elastic textile that acted like a second skin, wrapping the frame and creating a suspended, welcoming effect. Paired with cushions, it offered an airy comfort and perfectly calibrated support.
The Bouroullec brothers envisioned the Slow Chair as a safe harbor, a place to slow down and detach from the rush of daily life.
As Ronan Bouroullec explained:
“At the time, Erwan and I had the idea of trying to create a soft supportive armchair that achieved superb comfort through finesse rather than excessive amounts of foam.”
In 2025, nearly twenty years later, after months of research and development, Vitra and the Bouroullecs extended this philosophy with a new piece: the Slow Sofa.
If the Slow Chair embodied structural lightness and transparency, the Slow Sofa builds on that legacy with more generous proportions, updated materials, and a stronger commitment to sustainability.
Designed as a two-seater, the Slow Sofa answers a real need: compact dimensions that fit small apartments, contemporary living rooms, and hybrid spaces where work, relaxation, and social life intersect—without compromising comfort or aesthetics.
Like the chair, the sofa is built on a tubular steel frame, but here it is clad in the new Flocca technical knit—lightweight, breathable, and durable.
The seat cushions use recycled PET fibers, while the back and neck cushions are filled with 100% post-consumer recycled polyester. This material choice makes the Slow Sofa not only comfortable and inviting, but also a clear expression of responsible design. The sofa is available in a palette of seven shades, from soft powder beige to deep blue, and can be complemented with matching cushions and poufs.
With Vitra Cushions—offered in 40 fabrics and 585 colors—the possibilities for customization are nearly endless.
For Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, the Slow Sofa is not just an aesthetic object but an intelligent response to contemporary living.
As Ronan Bouroullec noted:
“The Slow Sofa has a much softer shape, making it possible to group a number of the seating units in a very organic manner, ideal for spaces such as hotel lobbies, without being tied to a grid-like layout or something overly geometric.”
The 2006 Slow Chair marked a turning point in seating design, becoming an international benchmark. With the Slow Sofa in 2025, the Bouroullecs and Vitra carry that same philosophy forward, presenting a sofa that is compact, flexible, and sustainable.Together, chair and sofa form an iconic family, embodying the values of contemporary design: comfort, lightness, personalization, and environmental responsibility.
