A somewhat bleary-eyed group of Society members met at Viscoe’s Leamington headquarters on Friday 21 August 2026 for an early 9.00 am start. We were met by Matthew and Dan, who escorted us around the facility, with Dan providing informative and entertaining insights into the company’s background and the assembly processes we were observing. Vitsoe produce modular furniture that is best known for its aluminium shelving designs.
There is no need to dwell too long on the company’s history, as it has been well covered in a recent Coventry Society News article (https://www.coventrysociety.org.uk/2026/08/17/dieter-rams-and-vitsoe/). Although the firm was launched in 1959 by Niels Vitsoe in Germany, it was to produce the designs of Dieter Rams. It then moved to London in the 1990s, and to Leamington in 2017, on the old Ford Foundry site.
The UK and the USA are their main markets (with retail outlets in London, Leamington, and New York), but the Asian market is growing. The move to Leamington was to be closer to their suppliers and to have room for expansion, which was difficult at their previous Camden base.
The Leamington building does little actual manufacturing but assembles the structural elements provided by suppliers and then packages them for distribution. The company’s philosophy is based on well-made products crafted from sustainable materials and designs that are not influenced by fashion. This results in a long product life, the opposite of the wasteful, ephemeral product life of many mass-market furniture companies. This means expensive products but also has the economic benefit of longevity.
A good example of how this philosophy is applied to the packaging process is the use of hard-wearing, reusable Vitsoe packaging ‘wallets’ to deliver furniture parts to customers, which are then returned to the factory. Although costing £200 each, they have a long lifespan of many years. This contrasts with one-use cardboard packaging needed for products sent to America that cost £25 each.
The Vitsoe mind-set is evident in many aspects of the factory’s design. It is made almost entirely of a form of laminated wood that is strong enough to span the 25 metres of the building’s width. It is naturally fire-retardant. Its modular construction allows simple enlargement or replacement of elements. Construction was mainly carried out off-site, and all 135 metres were erected in just 23 days.
The multi-ridged roof features traditional north-facing windows on one side to create even light and solar panels on the other. Although the underfloor heating is gas-fired, it is hoped that a heat pump system might prove viable in the near future.
Landscaping surrounds the building on three sides, with a design based on the old ridge-and-furrow system, creating an attractive setting with an exaggerated wave of grass and wildflowers that offers a more verdant view from the inside than the road to the west and the railway to the north.
Undoubtedly Vitsoe produces a premium product that would be unaffordable to many. Despite many of its products being designed more than sixty years ago, they have proved to be an ongoing success. This, in itself, is a testament to the company’s philosophy of longevity.
At the far end of the building was a showcase of Dieter Rams’ minimalist designs from his time working for Braun, spanning the 1950s to the 1990s. It was also possible to inspect the company armchairs and iconic shelving units. Despite the whole building being open plan, it was not a noisy environment. It was therefore possible to enjoy the delicious coffee and cake provided in the company cafeteria alongside the exhibition.
The visit proved to be an eye-opening experience, and, in addition to learning much about the product and the ideas behind it, what also impressed was the sense of a friendly workplace culture.
NB: “Living better, with less, that lasts longer” – the company motto on our free tote bag that was, unsurprisingly, very substantial in construction!
