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.

Charles and Ray Eames developed this model in connection with the Low Cost Furniture competition held by the Museum of Modern Art in New York and for the Herman Miller company, who produced various versions of the chair between 1951 and 1967.

As with their plastic chairs, the seats and backs are again modeled on the human body. In the case of DKR, however, the result is a comfortable organic form even though such a hard and cold material as steel wire is used. Manufactured on an industrial scale, it proved possible to sell the chair successfully at a relatively low price. In 1952, the design won the Trail Blazer Award given by the Home Fashions League in the United States.

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.