For over two decades, the Vitra Design Museum has been making miniature replicas of milestones in furniture design. The Miniatures Collection encapsulates the entire history of industrial furniture design - moving from Historicism and Art Nouveau to the New Objectivity of Bauhaus and Radical Design, and from Postmodernism all the way up to the present day. Exactly one sixth of the size of the historical originals, the chairs are all true to scale and precisely recreate the smallest details of construction, material and color. The high standard of authenticity even extends to the natural grain of the wood, the reproduction of screws and the elaborate handicraft techniques involved. This has made the miniatures into popular collector's items as well as ideal illustrative material for universities, design schools and architects.

On the occasion of the XIth Milan Triennial in 1957, Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni presented their first prototype for the Mezzadro. The stool went on show in its current form that same year in an interior setting displayed at the "Colori e forme nella casa d'oggi" exhibition in the Villa Olmo in Como.

The designers used a common tractor seat for the springy metal seat, fastening it with a wing nut to the spring-based arched steel strip utilized in tractors to absorb the shock of uneven ground. They enhanced the stability of the cantilever structure by a wooden cross-strut that resembled the rungs of a wooden ladder.

Each of these parts clearly embodies its task as a part of a functional whole. And what strikes the eye is the recourse to an artistic method exemplified by Marcel Duchamp's found objects or Pablo Picasso's assemblages. The Castiglionis considered a design successful only once they had managed to eliminate all the unnecessary components and an optimal formal expression had been found for this concentration on the essential.

Each Vitra miniature is true to the original in construction and materials, and reduced in size on a scale of 1:6. Each miniature is packaged in a wooden box, accompanied by an informational booklet. Production notes: Each of the delicate objects are made by hand; on average, each miniature requires five hours of careful manual work. Ongoing quality control ensures that every miniature corresponds to its larger original in terms of finishing, details and materials.