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 Organic Armchair was a submission for the Museum of Modern Art's 1940 design competition for Organic Design in Home Furnishings. Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen, who that year worked together for the first time, won first prize with their design. One of the conditions for competition entries was that the object was suitable for industrial production.

In 1941, the Eames developed a method for three dimensional molding of manufacturing the award-winning chair. The 3D seat, made possible by means of incisions made in the veneer and cutting pieces out of it, was covered in foam rubber and upholstered in fabric. As a result of the war-time economy and the initially high manufacturing costs, despite the original competition brief the prototypes did not go into series production.

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.