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 use of cold-expanded polyurethane makes traditional methods of constructing furniture redundant. One series of sculptural furniture objects stands out amongst the furniture designs of the Studio 65 group, since it makes radical use of the freedom of design allowed by this new material. And the style of this furniture demonstrates characteristics originating in the pictorial arts of the 1960s: the softening of a Claes Oldenburg, the naive stylization to be found in comics and commercial art, or the giant, intoxicated dimensions assumed by 1960s objects.

Alongside an armchair in the shape of a pillared Greek temple and a Babylonian shrine as a playsystem for children, Studio 65's contribution to the radical design included a sofa in the shape of a woman's mouth. The subtitle Studio 65 gave to its Sofa Bocca: alias lips, alias Marylin, is a reference to the inspiration for this design and its symbolism. Salvador Dalí, to whom the idea for a design of this kind has been attributed, was quoted by Studio 65 in this context as follows: "Objects with a symbolic function leave no room for formal considerations. They are characterized only by each individual's idea of love and are above any notions of shape."

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.