Vitra Company
VitrA is a Turkish manufacturer of sanitaryware, bathroom furniture, brassware, and ceramic tiles. It is part of the Eczacıbaşı Group, a multinational corporation involved in building materials and consumer products.
VitrA was founded in 1942 by Nejat Eczacıbaşı, the same year its first factory was built in Kartal, Turkey.
After the war, the company started growing rapidly. Its core products at the time were ceramic plumbing fixtures. This represented an innovation in the Turkish market, dominated by marble. The ceramic novelty brought to an immediate success, so much so that in 1958 the company changed sectors from tile manufacturing to sanitaryware to meet the increasing demand.
In 2002, Vitra changed its logo after 11 years, to try to make the company a world brand. In 2006, the company changed its logo again; the new logo was introduced at the UNICERA Ceramic and Bathroom Fair in Istanbul.
In 2011, VitrA started its production branch in Russia by building a factory in Serpukhov, Moscow, which cost about 30 million Euros. In 2019, the company opened its first branch in Italy.
In March 2020, the company won the 2020 iF Design Award in the awards’ 66th year. In 2021, VitrA was awarded the TPM Excellence Award by the JIPM (Japanese Institute of Plant Maintenance).
Ferit Erin, who joined the Eczacıbaşı Group in 2009, started as the general manager of Vitra on July 1, 2018.