The museum's collection, focusing on furniture and interior design, is centered on the bequest of U.S. designers Charles and Ray Eames, as well as numerous works of designers such as George Nelson, Alvar Aalto, Verner Panton, Dieter Rams, Jean Prouvé, Richard Hutten and Michael Thonet.
These works, originally the private collection of Rolf Fehlbaum, are now not permanently on display, with the exception of a representative selection of designer chairs that can be seen in Zaha Hadid's fire station on the Vitra premises.