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.

The Johnson Wax Chair is characterized by round forms which also reflect the lines of a famous building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, namely the S.C. Johnson & Son Company Administration Building in Racine, Wisconsin. When it was opened in 1939, the company building caused a veritable sensation. Illumination is exclusively by means of surface lighting and the pictures of the offices featuring a forest of the round pillars complete with leaves and buds were seen the world over. Wright believed the furniture, rooms and even the building itself were an abstracted organic continuation of the surrounding landscape or cityscape.

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.