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 Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Gäu (district), Gäu in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Solothurn (canton), Solothurn in Switzerland. History Egerkingen is first mentioned in 1201 as ''in Egri ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. 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 ( ; ; ; ; ) is a town, a municipality, and the capital of the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located in the north-west of Switzerland on the banks of the Aare and on the foot of the Weissenstein Jura mountains. The town is ...

. 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 most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland *Sw ...

(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 Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and the

University of Fribourg The University of Fribourg (; ) 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 founded the Collège Saint-Michel in the City of Fribourg ...

, 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 Sout ...

''. 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 design, strategy, project management and supply chain techniques to control a creative process, support a culture of creativity, and build a structure and organization for design. The objective o ...

, 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 Migros ...

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 an international, annual design competition for product and industrial design, brand and communication design as well as design concepts, in which the Red Dot quality label is awarded to winners. The Red Dot Design A ...

and

Neocon Neoconservatism (colloquially neocon) is a political movement which began in the United States during the 1960s among liberal hawks who became disenchanted with the increasingly pacifist Democratic Party along with the growing New Left and ...

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 The Tel Aviv Museum of Art ( ''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 both from Israel and around the world. History The Tel Aviv ...

. 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 hono ...

from the

University of Tel Aviv Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and research of the ci ...

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