Urs Felber (born 10 July 1942), a pioneer of furniture design, was the CEO of Vitra USA. Felber was also the board director for several companies including Swissflex and was chairman and principal shareholder for the furniture company Dietiker AG. Felber was born

Egerkingen Egerkingen is a municipality in the district of Gäu in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. History Egerkingen is first mentioned in 1201 as ''in Egrichen''. In 1212 it was mentioned as ''in Egerchingen''. Geography Egerkingen has an ar ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. He studied engineering at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) before going on to get design management degrees at Stanford University and the University of Fribourg. He then went on to become the president of Vitra USA and board director for several companies. Felber died on 26 April 2010 at the age of 67. His daughter, Nathalie Felber, then became the CEO of the Swiss company Dietiker AG.

Life and career

Felber was born on 10 July 1942 in

, a small town in the canton of

Solothurn Solothurn ( , ; french: Soleure ; it, Soletta ; rm, ) is a List of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the Capital (political), capital of the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located in the n ...

. His family ran a local carpentry workshop. From 1962 to 1965, he studied mechanical engineering at the

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology The Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology are two institutes of higher education in Switzerland (part of the ETH Domain): * Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland *Swiss people ...

(ETH) in Zurich. In 1964, he replaced a fellow student in his field study at a small furniture manufacturer company, De Sede. In 1966, he became a system engineer at De Sede. He took a 50 percent stake in the company. By 1978, De Sede was exporting to over 70 countries. In 1979, he obtained a PhD in Design Management at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and the

University of Fribourg The University of Fribourg (french: Université de Fribourg; german: Universität Freiburg) is a public university located in Fribourg, Switzerland. The roots of the university can be traced back to 1580, when the notable Jesuit Peter Canisius ...

, achieving ''

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...

''. He authored ''Systematic Design Management in the Enterprise: Fundamentals and Concepts'' which heralded the birth of

design management Design management is a field of inquiry that uses project management, design, strategy, and supply chain techniques to control a creative process, support a culture of creativity, and build a structure and organization for design. The objective ...

, design science and methodology. In the 1980s, he became a business partner and CEO of Vitra USA, the world's leading contract furniture manufacturing firm. Parallel to his US activities, he became a board director in several companies, including Wilkhahn International, Wilkhahn Switzerland, Swissflex and Team by Wellis. In 2001, Urs Felber bought the Swiss furniture company Dietiker AG from the supermarket chain

Migros Migros () is Switzerland's largest retail company, its largest supermarket chain and largest employer. It is also one of the forty largest retailers in the world. It is structured in the form of a cooperative federation (the Federation of Mig ...

and transformed it into a recognized brand by incorporating contemporary designs, with products winning the

Red Dot Design Award The Red Dot Design Award is a German international design prize awarded by Red Dot GmbH & Co. KG. There are prize categories for product design, brands and communication design, and design concept. Since 1955, designers and producers can apply ...

and

Neocon Neoconservatism is a political movement that began in the United States during the 1960s among liberal hawks who became disenchanted with the increasingly pacifist foreign policy of the Democratic Party and with the growing New Left and count ...

Innovation Award. Dietiker became a leader in Switzerland and Europe in the contract furniture market.

Awards and honors

In 1999, Urs Felber was made a Honorary Fellow of the

Tel Aviv Museum of Art Tel Aviv Museum of Art ( he, מוזיאון תל אביב לאמנות ''Muzeon Tel Aviv Leomanut'') is an art museum in Tel Aviv, Israel. The museum is dedicated to the preservation and display of modern and contemporary art from Israel and aroun ...

. In 2002, he received

Doctor Honoris Causa An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

from the

University of Tel Aviv Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...

On 20 May 2003, the Aviva and Urs Felber Jubilee Plaza was inaugurated at Tel Aviv University in recognition of his commitment to the university.

Death

Urs Felber died from a heart attack on 26 April 2010.

References

External links

Urs Felber's lecture on Good Design at Iidex Neocon, Canada, 2007

* * * ttps://web.archive.org/web/20110708191720/http://www.contractdesign.com/contract/Design-Industry-Mour-1724.shtml Urs Felber, Contract Design magazine
Urs Felber, Office Work magazine

Urs Felber, Fachwerk magazine

Aviva and Urs Felber Piazza at Tel Aviv University

Urs Felber, Moebelkultur magazine

Urs Felber and Dietiker, Interieur Suisse Magazine

Urs Felber, Acade magazine

Urs Felber interview at Neocon on Vimeo

Urs Felber, Neoconeast

Dietiker and Urs Felber, Interior Design magazine

Hommage a Urs Felber, La Revue du DesignInsideout Contracts – Contract Furniture specialists
{{DEFAULTSORT:Felber, Urs 1942 births 2010 deaths Swiss businesspeople Swiss engineers