Vipp x Merci
With their talent for playing with words and typography, the Parisian concept store Merci pays tribute to the almost 75-year old Vipp bin by launching a special limited edition.
During Paris Design Week 2013, starting September 5th, the Vipp bin will be dipped in Merci’s peculiar graphic universe that covers the store’s many gadgets and famous paper bag created by its graphic design studio be-pôles. Wrapped in a text describing the object itself, Merci celebrates this old icon that, despite its upcoming 75 year anniversary, has not aged a day.
Since the Vipp bin was created in 1939 by Danish craftsman, Holger Nielsen, for his wife’s hairdressing salon, only the shape of the lid has been modified. But this enduring object, renowned worldwide as a design classic, was never ‘designed’ in the strict traditional sense but got its visual expression in response to a series of functional criteria: a pedal to free the hands; a large foot for stability; a domed steel lid for easy cleaning; ears on the side of the body for easy transportation; and use of solid materials to make it last a lifetime.
Subject to Merci’s graphic system, this design philosophy has been wrapped around two sizes of Vipp pedal bins kicking off Paris Design Week at Merci.
The 14 & 18 liter Vipp bins will be available in a numbered limited edition in Merci and via vipp.com from September 5th.