Vipp launches in U.S.
Bin by Bono creates a din at auction
Susan Dickenson, Retail Editor -- Home Accents Today, 11/11/2008 8:22:00 AM
Danish design company Vipp has entered the U.S. market, bringing with it a new bath an
d towel collection and a promise of more to come. A fundraising auction hosted by Helena Christensen in September celebrated the launch of the company’s new products, its new Tribeca showroom (photo, right) and the company’s expansion in the U.S. market via new retail channels. For almost 70 years, Vipp has been manufacturing its metal foot-pedal trash bin, toilet brush and soap dispenser, all of which have become iconic examples of Danish design. Now the company is adding towels, hooks, bars, roll holders and shelves, a collection that took its design lab more than two years to develop.
The accessories are made from high quality steel and rubber and incorporate the same horizontal lines and soft edges that characterize the Vipp pedal bin company founder Holger Nielsen first invented and built in 1939 for his wife Marie, a hairdresser. Customers in Marie's salon loved the bin, Holger received commissions for more, and eventually the company began producing on an international scale. Today Vipp International is managed by Holger and Marie’s daughter, Jette Egelund. Jette’s son, Kasper Egelund, recently moved to New York to oversee the product launch and opening of the company’s first U.S. to-the-trade showroom in Tribeca. Vipp is also expanding its line with U.S. retailer/design studio chain Waterworks and just confirmed that Garnet Hill will be carrying its new 2009 limited edition yellow collection.
The auction
To celebrate Vip
p’s U.S. launch and dedication to high design, the company held an auction in September of one-of-a-kind trash bins re-designed and decorated by 34 designers and celebrities. The event, hosted by Danish-born supermodel Helena Christensen, raised over $60,000 for the Food Bank for New York City and Chernobyl Children’s Project International.
Participating designers included Todd Oldham, Jamie Drake (Drake's bin design is shown in photo right with a bin designed by glass artist Dale Chiluly), Karim Rashid and Colin Cowie. A bin designed by U2’s Bono (photo, below left)and filled 
with some of his original handwritten lyrics sold for the highest amount at $30,000.
Auctioning redesigned bins for charity is something Vipp first did in 2005 at the Paris lifestyle store Silvera where 30 designers helped raise money for Handicap International. This was followed by similar events in London (2006 at The Conran Shop benefiting Oxfarn) and Lisbon (2006 at Arte Assinada Gallery benefiting abandoned children). Photo images of the designer bins from all of the auctions may be viewed and downloaded from the following sites:
New York Auction, September, 2008: http://photo.vipp.com/files/folders/7282/thumbnails/
Paris Auction, 2005: http://photo.vipp.com/files/folders/7286/thumbnails/
London Auction, 2006: http://photo.vipp.com/files/folders/7288/thumbnails/
Lisbon, 2006: http://photo.vipp.com/files/folders/7287/thumbnails/
The products
Like the earlier Vipp products, the new bathroom series is hand-assembled in Denmark from high-quality stainless or powder-coated electroplated steel with rubber parts to ensure a long product life. The industrial design idiom is reflected, for example, in the towel bar, which features a groove covered with rubber to form a smooth surface, preventing the towel from sliding off the bar and onto the floor.
“The Vipp bin is known to last many years, and customers should be able to expect the same from this series,” said Vipp designer Morten Bo Jensen. “We have therefore spent considerable time finding the right materials and thoroughly testing them so we are certain they meet our requirements.”
In addition to Waterworks, Vipp products are carried by The Conran Shop, Giggle (NY, Calif. and Conn.), Unica Home (Las Vegas), Kuhl-Linscomb (Houston), Fitzsu Society* (Los Angeles) and Zinc Details* (San Francisco).
Fitzsu is stocking Vipp’s towels, described on the shop’s Web site as "made from a bamboo fiber and cotton blend with a shimmering surface effect… each with a silicone hanging strap attached." The towels come in three sizes, are available in white, cream, grey and black and retail at Fitzsu for $22-$66 each. Both Fitzsu and Zinc offer the toilet brush set (about $220) and different sizes and styles of the pedal bin. Retail prices at both stores start at around $225 for a 1-gallon bin and go up to about $400 for the 6- and 8-gallon bins.
*Fitzsu Society and Zinc Details were named to Home Accents Today's 50 Retail Stars list in 2008 and 2007, respectively.
